July 3 (SeeNews) - Stolichen Avtotransport, the public bus transport company of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, is preparing to open a tender for the supply of 20 electric buses, the city's mayor Yordanka Fandakova said on Tuesday.
Sofia is expecting the delivery by the end of the year of its first 20 electric buses, which have already been contracted, Fandakova said in a Facebook post.
The company is also expected to sign later on Tuesday a deal for the supply of 22 gas buses, according to Fandakova.
In April, Stolichen Avtotransport signed a 22.2 million levs ($13.7 million/11.3 million euro) deal with local leasing company Eurolease Auto [BUL:9K2F] for the supply of 20 electric buses.
Also in April, Stolichen Avtotransport ranked first an offer by local company Bulgarian Automotive Industry for the supply of 22 gas buses. Bulgarian Automotive Industry offered to supply the 22 buses for 8.1 million levs.
Sofia is also currently testing a hybrid bus manufactured by Czech company Solaris, Fandakova said.
The average age of Stolichen Avtotransport's bus park fell from 20 years in 2014 to 10 years in 2016, and is expected to further decrease to six years in 2019.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)