Sustainable public transport concessions*

This study, carried out for the Groningen provincial authority against the background of tendering for a new public transport concession in the north of the Netherlands, reviews sustainable transport technologies, considering the following issues:

• Effects on emissions and costs, at the vehicle level, of using sustainable tech-nologies; the focus here was on technologies that can be widely implemented, such as Euro V, EEV and natural gas, as well as more innovative technologies like natural gas and hybrid drives in combination with biofuels.
• Regional impacts of biofuel use.
• Practical experience with the various technologies.
• By modelling the vehicle fleet, the environmental, financial and employment ef-fects of the various technologies were analysed for individual elements of the concession.

This study anticipates the Innovative Concession Procedure that the government is expected to launch soon. Under this scheme, parties granting concessions are eligible for a subsidy for the testing of innovative bus technologies. The study was carried out in collaboration with the provincial authorities of Groningen and Drenthe, regional public transport operators and Energy Valley.