August 30, 2021. The Argentine province will incorporate 20 buses with total propulsion of compressed natural gas (CNG), which reduces emissions by 60% compared to diesel engines. The fleet will be added to the 18 100% ecological electric units operated by the Mendoza Transportation Society (STM) since 2019.
The provincial government approved by decree the General Conditions and Technical Specifications for the Acquisition and Maintenance of Buses Powered 100% by CNG. The regulations empower the Secretariat of Public Services to call a public tender to incorporate units that will be added to the STM’s urban public passenger transport service. The investment will be around $ 400.000.000.
In this way, Mendoza continues its path as the only province and urban center in the country in providing sustainable and ecological public passenger transport service.
As the official publication highlights, “the CNG motorization of origin applied to the public passenger transport service generates substantial savings, since in the analysis of performance vs. prices, the primary prospective vision accounts for a scenario with lower operating costs per kilometer traveled with respect to diesel engines, and that the analysis metric applied to CNG source has shown substantial decreases in the production of microgranules or carbon residues combustion, accompanied by a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the order of 60% compared to diesel engines”.
Since November 2020, the STM was chosen to carry out the first tests in the country on this type of fuel. The units have capacity for 60 passengers, air conditioning, air suspension (2 in the front, 4 in the rear), power steering system and electric steering pump, three doors: front, central and double leaf rear door, and ramp for the disabled in the second door.
