Report

Pilot projects for innovative public transport buses

Public transport is particularly suitable for testing the sustainable innovative fuels and drive technologies required for the transition to a sustainable world with radically reduced carbon emissions. Over the past few years, seven pilot projects have received a subsidy from the Dutch ministry of Transport and Public Works. In return, the bus service operators involved must implement the innovative drive technologies and fuels in their day-to-day operations. None of the technologies had been previously implemented in a regular transport service in the Netherlands.

The aim of each project was to operate the buses for a minimum of two years and monitor performance. For all seven pilots a monitoring report has been prepared to inform public transport stakeholders about the potential of the technologies used. These stakeholders include concession grantors, local government and transport operators.

The following pilots were implemented:

  • five projects with diesel hybrids
  • one project with a throttle-free gas engine burning LNG
  • one project with a fuel-cell hybrid running on hydrogen.

Using the data obtained in the course of the projects, CE Delft has assessed the various technologies, focusing on: the technology itself, performance in regular operations, fuel savings, maintenance, user experience and outlo0ok for the future. On this page the reviews (in Dutch) of the seven projects are available as well as an overall presentation.