RATB buys 105m-euro Mercedes buses

EvoBus Romania, the general importer of Mercedes Benz and Setra, won the tender organised by RATB (Transport Regie Autonome in Bucharest) to acquire 500 new Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses, with the first 50 buses planned for purchase this autumn. The total value of the acquisition contract stands at 105 million euros.
According to company representatives, 300 buses will be purchased next year, with a further 150, out of the total 500, finally being acquired in June 2009.
“Following the contract with RATB, Bucharest has now become the capital city with the highest number of Citaro buses, which will bring even more investments from EvoBus to Romania,” stated Deniz Kuluhan, sales and marketing manager at EvoBus Romania. In 2006, the company completed its first contract for the delivery of 500 buses, also to RATB. The company’s investment plans for Romania amount to around 3 million euros, which are allocated for building a service centre in Bucharest this year.
The price for a new generation Citaro bus can reach 210,000 euros, excluding VAT. It is equipped with a vertical Blue Tec engine, in line with Euro 4 pollution standards, air conditioning (not just for the driver, but for passengers as well), and a system that gauges the correct volume of passengers on the bus. In comparison, the price of older generation Citaro buses, which are still running on Bucharest’s roads, is around 180,000 euros, excluding VAT. However, these vehicles are equipped with fewer auxiliary systems. Mercedes-Benz has sold approximately 15,000 units of its new Citaro model for the public transportation systems of Madrid, London, Paris, Rome, Stockholm and Istanbul.
In the tender arranged last month by RATB, 18 companies acquired the tender book, but only four actually submitted concrete offers, along with the exclusion of Neoman Bus due to its failure to deposit the participation guarantee by the set deadline.