Sustainable public transport with 13 electric buses

The operation of the local transport lines 1–12 with 20 buses was put out to tender in Joensuu. The winner of the competitive tendering was Länsilinjat Oy from Tampere. In summer 2022, 13 electric buses will start operating in Joensuu. The rest of the vehicles will be Euro VI diesel buses. The emissions and noise levels of bus transport will decrease with the new transport equipment.

The Clean Vehicles Directive (CVD) determines electricity, biogas, hydrogen and biofuel as clean driving powers. In future tenders, the clean vehicles directive will determine the number of clean vehicles. However, the directive was already applied in this tender due to the long contract period in question and the 2025 carbon neutrality target of the city. 

The tender required 8 clean buses until Spring 2026 and 12 clean buses as of Summer 2026.The tenderers could decide the driving power of the vehicles. The most points were awarded for electric buses, followed by biogas buses. The tenderers got points also for using renewable diesel or if they had switched over to Euro VI equipment earlier than required. 

The transport under the new contract started operating in June 2021. The contract period lasts seven years, and can be extended for three years.