The shuttle service providing a connection between the Budějovická (C) metro station and Brumlovka is 100% electric. Two SOR electric buses have been in operation since February 2016, and a third electric bus started operation in September of this year. The reliable emission-free vehicles have travelled more than 300,000 km in over 7 years, which is equivalent to circumnavigating the world eight times. These are the first free electric buses that have been put into normal operation in Prague’s public transport. Passengers appreciate their quiet and smooth ride and the possibility of connecting to Wi-Fi for free.
“Electric buses have earned a solid place among passengers between Budějovická and Brumlovka. More than 2.5 million passengers have used them since the start of operations. Our latest survey showed that 58 percent of people heading to Brumlovka use them at least occasionally. 94% of passengers are satisfied with the shuttle service, mainly due to cleanliness, sufficient capacity and intervals of routes. Compared to the time before the introduction of the electric buses, we recorded an increase in satisfaction by almost 20 percentage points. The predominantly positive feedback led us to the full electrification of the route, so we are adding a third electric bus to the September timetable,” stated Martina Draper, Customer Relationship Manager & ESG of Passerinvest Group, a.s.
“Despite the heavily sloping terrain, the electric buses surprised us in normal operations with their reliability and the minimum difference between their summer and winter range, which is only five percent. Compared to the expected five-year lifespan, the batteries in both electric buses lasted two years longer and we only changed them this spring after 150 thousand kilometres. This was certainly helped by the practice of slow night charging in the garages. We also know from our drivers that the people on electric buses appreciate their quiet operation, smoother starting and stopping, higher acceleration and more flexible driving characteristics,” listed Daniel Adamka, CEO of Arriva.
“The electric buses at Brumlovka run over 200 kilometres a day and have proven their usefulness and reliability in operation. Zero-emission drive simply belongs in cities and we see it as a natural mission to support their development. Just as we were at the birth of the first free electric buses seven years ago, today, thanks to the 100% electrified fleet, we are setting trends for transport companies across the country together with our partners at Brumlovka. ČEZ Group has been behind the development of electric buses in various forms in public transport in more than a dozen Czech and Moravian cities. Of course, we are also continuing to expand the most powerful Czech network of public charging stations, where drivers on average will fill their car batteries the fastest in the Czech Republic,” said Tomáš Dzurilla, Director of Electromobility at ČEZ.
In 2016, ČEZ became the main partner of the project of Passerinvest Group and Arriva, which deployed the first two electric buses of type SOR EBN 9.5 in the shuttle service on the BB routes in addition to regular buses. The regular contribution to the operation of the electric buses is an expression of ČEZ’s support in the development of electric drive in the Czech Republic as well as the responsibility for the emission-free transportation service to Brumlovka, to which more than 4.5 thousand people travel by mass transit every day. The success and popularity of electric buses among passengers led the “consortium” of operators to replace the third vehicle with an electric bus and thus to the full electrification of the shuttle service in Brumlovka.
