New Mercedes Buses Were Put into Service in Debrecen

László Papp emphasised that the vehicle fleet of DKV Ltd. is developing and being replaced in such a way that the prices of tickets and passes did not increase in January this year. The introduction of the buses into service is an important part of the complete fleet replacement that has lasted for two years.

The 18-metre-long, four-door Mercedes Conecto G buses put into service on Thursday can transport 154 passengers, including those with reduced mobility.

The modern vehicles equipped with air-conditioning, WiFi and an external-internal passenger information system are powered by a EURO6 diesel engine, so they emit almost 24% less pollutants than old Volvos.

At the handover of the ten new buses, László Papp emphasised that the past period was not easy from the point of view of public transport, despite this, such and similar developments can be realised at the transport company without ticket and pass prices increasing since the 1st of January.

‘We will have several very important announcements regarding public transport this year,’ the Mayor said.

The modernization of the fleet began two years ago, in January 2022. Since then, a total of 79 vehicles have been replaced and the stock has been expanded with 12 electric buses. In addition to the buses that have just been handed over, thirty new Mercedes-Benz Conecto vehicles will arrive at DKV this year. Thus, the update program started in 2022 can come to an end, as a result of which all 131 vehicles in the stock will be replaced by more modern and sustainable prototypes.

‘These vehicles serve nearly 700,000 trips per year, so in Debrecen’s bus traffic, this means on average 1,920 trips on a daily basis, on weekdays this means 2,200 trips. It is very important that these vehicles are technically reliable, ‘ Szabolcs Tóth, the CEO of DKV Ltd. emphasised.

The new buses were put into service on Thursday afternoon, and the old Volvo buses are gradually being phased out of public transport.  DKV Ltd. had a total of 76 million passengers in 2022, and 77 million last year. This means that the company reached 90% of the number of passengers in the base year of 2019.

Source : Dehir.hu