Emil Boc: "We signed over EUR 16 mln-worth of 18 electric buses"

Emil Boc, mayor of Cluj-Napoca, announced that the city's local government has signed an agreement to bring 18 Solaris Urbino electric buses on the road.

"The municipality of Cluj-Napoca plans to expand its public transport fleet by purchasing electric buses to be a green, non-polluting city - we aim to increase the quality of life - as part of the European network of 100 climate neutral cities," the mayor said on his Facebook page.

With a length of 18 meters, each bus bears a capacity of 131 people (44 seats) and will serve the route from Cluj-Napoca to Florești, a nearby commune. The latter has seen an enormous amount of newcomers, mainly those who work or study in Cluj but retreat to communes not too far from the city due to staggering prices in real estate sales/rentals.

The mayor expects the buses to arrive and fully operate in Cluj-Napoca within the next 12 months. Each bus also has spaces for wheelchairs and baby carriages, and the package comes with 6 fast charging stations and 16 slow ones.

"In addition to these 18 buses and the related charging stations, already financed by PNRR, another 22 buses and stations will arrive in Cluj through projects submitted under other operational funding programs from European funds, the total amounting to 40 new buses in the period next," mayor Boc also said.

Cluj-Napoca's "Green Friday" initiative, in which passengers can take buses & trams free of charge every Friday, has also expanded to Florești starting March 2023.

(Photo source: Emil Boc/Facebook)