Malta has added two new fully electric buses to its public transport fleet

Malta Public Transport (MPT), which operates the public transport system in the country, has added two fully electric buses to its fleet, as part of its push to delivering a decarbonised public transport system for the country. This investment, equating to approximately €1 million, is part of a series of vehicle acquisitions and upgrades that will contribute to delivering their objective of a clean public transport system.

Since 2015, MPT have bought 300 buses for its fleet, all fitted with Euro 6 diesel engine technology. The other 120 buses in the fleet have the older Euro 5 engine technology. The chairman of MPT sees the decarbonisation of public transport as “an important player when fighting climate change”. The buses in the public transport fleet travel over 30 million kilometres every year, so trying to ensure that these journeys are as clean as possible will represent a large opportunity for carbon reduction in Malta.

The implementation of MPT's decarbonisation strategy will continue in the autumn with the introduction of a free public transport scheme, in which those with a 'tallinja card' (MPT's intelligent contactless bus card) will be able to use buses for free. This policy will be introduced on 1 October 2022, with the aim of incentivising those who may usually drive to their locations to reduce their climate impact and travel by bus instead.

This article was originally posted on Intelligent Transport.