Produced in China, the vehicle was purchased by City Sightseeing Italy in self-financing.
The City Sightseeing Italy Group launches the first double-decker electric bus in Italy for the city view with the hop-on hop-off formula that the bus operator programs daily in 14 Italian cities, including Rome , Florence, Milan, Turin, Naples and Palermo.
Produced in China, the vehicle was purchased by City Sightseeing Italy in self-financing. The presentation event was held in Milan where the bus has already passed about a month and a half of road tests. In the next future it will move to other cities to proceed to as many operational tests on other cities where the City Sightseeing group is present. After completing the prototype tests in the various cities that will take about a year, the group intends to proceed with the gradual replacement of the current diesel fleet, converting it into "full electric" and therefore "full green".
"The aim of the City Sightseeing Italy Group, with this 'green' strategy – explains Fabio Maddii, President of the Group – is to encourage collective mobility while at the same time enhancing the cultural and landscape heritage of Italian cities a tourist vocation through a service of excellence with zero environmental impact; in the coming years, the City Sightseeing brand in Italy must also and above all be a synonym for sustainable tourist mobility. This is the second example of electric tourist bus circulating in Europe (a specimen is in circulation in Paris), reflecting the Group's sensitivity to sustainable mobility, which is one of the key points of the Special Plan for Tourist Mobility in Italy."
The purchase and testing of the bus, at the moment was not supported by any contribution, nor public facilitation; all this taking into account the amount of investment that requires this technology where the cost of purchasing the bus is currently about 2 and a half times the cost of buying a traditional diesel powered bus, to which are added the costs related to the preparation of the technology for the charging station. To foster this "full green" development of tourism mobility, it is hoped, not only at Italian level but also at European level, in a policy awareness on these issues in order to facilitate the investments required for this technology.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
