"Green" buses take passengers in 50 large municipalities in our country

Over BGN 745 million will be directed to the modernization and improvement of urban and interurban transport

Over BGN 745 million will be invested through the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works for the modernization of public transport in 50 municipalities with a population of more than 15,000 people. About BGN 645 million of the resource is set aside under the European Program for Regional Development until 2027. The remaining BGN 100 million are funds in the budget of the Ministry under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, for the pilot scheme for "green mobility". This was announced by Ivaylo Stoyanov - Head of the Strategic Planning and Programming Department at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, who is participating in a forum dedicated to the sustainable development of public passenger transport. The organisers of the discussion are the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Confederation of Bus Carriers, the European Transport Cluster and the Association of Bulgarian Enterprises for International Transport and Roads (ABEITR).

Stoyanov pointed out that for the first time bus carriers in partnership with municipalities are able to develop joint projects to replace old buses with new, environmentally friendly vehicles to serve urban and interurban lines through schemes for sustainable urban mobility and integrated urban transport. In the past two programming periods, only the largest municipalities had access to the program. It is an obligatory condition for the projects to be envisaged in the territorial strategies of the municipalities and to be identified and supported by the local communities. They should include different combinations of measures related to public transport. In addition to new zero- emission buses, the introduction of intelligent transport systems that regulate urban transport will be financed - traffic lights, virtual electronic boards and other digital solutions. There will be an opportunity to upgrade the transport infrastructure - construction of new stops with digital capabilities, bicycle and pedestrian areas and alleys as an element of multimodal transport in municipalities, electric charging stations, improving accessibility, road safety measures.

With the new approach to support the regions in the country, the opportunity is given to the private companies to look for an opportunity for partnership in the municipalities in order to realize their projects in this direction. "Thus, adequate, high-quality and sustainable projects will be proposed," said Ivaylo Stoyanov.

The collection of project proposals is about to start.