Seven new extra-urban buses enter service in the provinces of Florence and Arezzo. These are 9 meter vehicles, already ready and set up, which will be put on the road in the next few hours, which will partly serve the Pontassieve area and its hamlets and the Sansepolcro area.
The new vehicles, financed with regional funds deriving from the DM81 loan, and which integrate the complex renovation operation that Autolinee Toscane is carrying out, were presented this morning, in the Montelungo Hub in Florence, where hundreds of routes that connect the capital to the hinterland. Present were the President of Autolinee Toscane, Gianni Bechelli, the transport councilor of the Tuscany Region, Stefano Baccelli, the Mayor of Pontassieve, Carlo Boni and the municipal councilor of Sansepolcro Giuliano del Pia.
These are 9.2 meter Otokar Vectio UH, equipped with a latest generation Euro VI petrol engine. They can carry up to 42 passengers (7 standing and 35 seated) and, given its not particularly bulky dimensions, it is adequate and suitable for many extra-urban routes, where the roads are not very wide. Furthermore, thanks to the double central door, the lowered floor and the manual platform, it has very easy access for people in wheelchairs.
Furthermore, they are all equipped with the AVM system, which allows it to be connected to GPS and give real time information. Added to this is the closed cabin for the driver, the presence of the video surveillance system with cameras, the passenger counter, and validator and validator, including the Tip Tap one, which allows you to pay the ticket on board, with the credit card, without surcharge.
“With the arrival of new buses, travel with new, modern vehicles which provide greater reliability, comfort and safety is guaranteed, even in extra-urban areas – comments the President of Autolinee Toscane, Gianni Bechelli – But new buses also means saying goodbye to Euro 2 and Euro 3 vehicles. The objective of Autolinee Toscane is to renew half of the fleet, throughout Tuscany, by 2025, increasing the average age from 12 to 6 years, like the best European companies”.
Since November 2021, the start of management of Autolinee Toscane, over 400 buses have been purchased and put into service. Between now and the end of the year, another 300 will arrive throughout Tuscany for a total of almost 700 in the space of 3 years, so as to replace the older, more polluting and less performing vehicles.
“These new 7 buses in the province of Florence and in the Arezzo area implement the renewal of the vehicle fleet which is an absolute priority of the regional government – comments the transport councilor of the Tuscany region, Stefano Baccelli – For this reason I express satisfaction for the Autolinee’s commitment in this direction. These are latest generation buses that meet the characteristics of environmental sustainability, efficiency, modernity and comfort. The objective is to improve the quality of life of citizens, facilitate their travel with punctual, comfortable means of transport, capable of making the journey accessible to anyone who decides to use the bus: workers, the elderly, young people. For Tuscany it is a concrete turning point towards sustainable mobility”.
THE new vehicles, like all extra-urban ones in Tuscany, are blue and display the “at” logo. Having arrived at the company headquarters in Viale dei Cadorna, Florence, they will take up service in the next few days.
Three of these new vehicles will, in the next few hours, serve the routes that connect Florence with the hamlets of Santa Brigida and Molin del Piano, in the municipality of Pontassieve. “We are very happy with the investments made, because they go with a view to innovation and quality of service – comments the Mayor of Pontassieve, Carlo Boni – The lives of citizens are improved and the territory is placed at the forefront on the issue of public transport . The arrival of three vehicles for our Municipality is of great importance, because we are a large area rich in hamlets but we also have an important bond and connection with the city of Florence. I thank the Tuscan Region and Bus Lines. For us it is a first step in future collaboration which, I hope, will be fruitful for the entire mobility system.”
Four vehicles are ready to move and go into service in the Sansepolcro area. “We are extremely proud to welcome four new vehicles equipped with cutting-edge technologies and designed to guarantee maximum safety and comfort for our citizens, including those with disabilities, for a more sustainable and less polluting public transport – comments the Mayor of Sansepolcro, Fabrizio Innocenti – An important step forward in improving mobility even in our extra-urban areas, where the roads are often narrower and less comfortable. I thank the Region and Autolinee Toscane for the vehicle renewal process, for increasingly safe, reliable and eco-friendly public transport.”
Tuscany Bus Press Office
