February 24, 2022. Scania has just delivered the last vehicle of a tender launched by the Paris Autonomous Transport Authority (RATP) in 2016. This market, whose service dimension is provided by Scania Île-de-France and its team dedicated to cars and buses, also involved the Scania Adaptation and Preparation Center (CAPS) in Angers.
The tender included the supply of several hundred compressed natural gas (CNG) articulated buses. At the end of a long negotiation, the Swedish manufacturer won a batch of 100 vehicles at the beginning of 2018, which led to its production by the CAPS. Upon receipt by the customer, a first order of 49 units was placed in June 2020, then a second of 51 in October of the same year. With the delivery of this last order, a total of 101 buses is reached.
All identical, the 18-metre Scania Citywide CNG models equipped with metro-type doors, are equipped with an anti-aggression door for the driver’s seat and, like all RATP units, have very specific equipment: remote surveillance systems, monitoring, feedback of incidents, geolocation, etc.
“All the equipment was installed and configured at the CAPS, which also took care of labelling,” says Olivier Toublanc, Manager of Large Customers for Cars and Buses at Scania France. The recognized experience of the brand in the field of alternative energies and, in particular, natural gas engines was, of course, a determining factor for the RATP.
The production of the second series was completed at the end of June 2021 and the CAPS then ensured preparation at the rate of four to five vehicles per week. “This represented approximately 120 hours of work per vehicle over a period of six months,” details Toublanc. It is, therefore, a very large contract for the CAPS, which has had to adapt to face it: “The workforce has increased to 24 technicians to ensure this market and the others in progress, instead of the usual 7. We are proud to have created a dozen jobs in these few months”, assured the French businessman.
