How energy transition is affecting the structure of operators and industry players? The Sustainable Bus Tour went live at NME

The first session of the Sustainable Bus Tour 2024 went live last week at Next Mobility Exhibition in Milan, culminating in a conversation between representatives from UITP, ATM Milano, RATP Dev, ZF and Iveco Bus on the evolving landscape of public transport and how energy transition and digitalization are having an impact on companies’ structures, both on the operators and on the industry side.

In representation of the public transport industry Bernd Wachter, Director CV Sales Bus EMEA, ZF Group and Petros Spinaris, Head of Bus Energy Mobility Solutions, IVECO BUS shared their perspective and experience within two groups that are changing shape to meet the growing demand for services, consulting, partnerships aimed at make energy transition real. Sometimes even through the launch of brand new divisions…

Sustainable Bus Tour at NME 2024

The role of introducing the session went to Flavio Grazian, Project Manager of the Knowledge and Innovation Division in UITP that presented the organization’s outlooks on electrification process, operators’ concerns, key trends. According to UITP’s latest survey, “more than half of respondents’ bus fleets will run on clean energy by 2027”. However, the bus market is changing fast and “different regions envisages different energy mixes in order to cut emissions”. What is interesting, bus depot conversion and grid/energy supply are thought to be the main barrier to a successful energy transition (behind the availability of subsidies, of course).

Below, his presentation available for download:

Paolo Marchetti, Head of Business Development, ATM Milano, highlighted how managing complex fleets, with different drivetrains and a higher data background, is leading ATM to review not only the operations of buses but also their role in the mobility mix of the city, with interesting opportunities brought by on-demand transportation. With the goal of raising the bar of efficiency of public transport. Tommaso Rosa, Head of marketing & customer experience, RATP Dev Italy, focused on the marketing efforts developed by the group in order to increase its appeal and acceptance by users worldwide. 

Bernd Wachter from ZF presented to a specialized audience the technical specifications and underlying project of the new generation AxTrax, now available also for Low Entry buses (it’ll be in series production in 2025). Petros Spinaris stressed Iveco Bus’ efforts in matching demand with adeguate production capacity and, mostly, highlighted the evolving role of manufacturers: not just selling buses, but being a partner of customers able to offer a turnkey solution for the electrification of the bus fleet.