Announcing the new buses at Palma town hall yesterday. | Monica Gonzalez

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter Palma 28/12/2018 18:30

The board of the Palma EMT bus company has approved the purchase of 100 new buses. The approval was made yesterday, and the president of EMT, transport councillor Joan Ferrer, announced that the first of the new buses will be introduced during the first half of 2019 and that the bulk of them will be delivered in the second half.

Ferrer noted that no new buses have been bought since 2009 and that the fleet, which consists of 177 vehicles, is up to seventeen years old. The new buses will mean the gradual withdrawal of the vehicles purchased in 2001 and far fewer breakdowns.

The new buses will run on natural gas. They are costing 32.5 million euros, fifteen million of which is coming from the European Investment Bank. There is also a total of 7.1 million euros under agreements for capital city funding.

The councillor added that the new buses will have 20% more capacity. There are different dimensions. Sixty buses are twelve metres long. Others are up to fifteen and eighteen metres.