Greener Mobility Projects for Leon, Mexico City

Swedish Volvo is currently performing a pilot test with the government of Leon, Guanajuato, of one of its electric buses. The project will allow Volvo to analyze the impact of the bus and its operations in the city and determine how much energy is consumed by this type of bus. This is part of a local strategy to make Leon a greener city and to understand how much fewer emissions would be generated if more similar buses were to be implemented and has sparked the interest of investors.

Governor of Guanajuato, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, had announced the pilot test of a Volvo electric bus as part of the city’s Integrated Transportation System (SIT), reported Automotores Rev. The bus is a Volvo bus model 7900, which is 12m long and 2.5m wide but 45 percent lighter than similar-sized buses that are not electric, making it easier to maneuver. The pilot test, which would last for 50 days, aimed to analyze its impact and performance. Rodríguez said that initiatives such as this one could make Leon one of the top cities in mobility. This program could also protect the environment and spark the interest of other companies willing to run their own green mobility tests, argues Portal Movilidad.

Other similar initiatives might arrive at the country, argued Daniel Villaseñor, President of the Board of Directors of Transportistas Coordinados de León and the Pagobus Administrator Body. “We are negotiating more tests for electric buses with other brands since they have also expressed their interest in testing their units in Leon, such as the Spanish Iriza, the Chinese BYD and Yutong, and the German Mercedes Benz,” he said to Portal Movilidad.

Mexico City’s government has also made efforts to guarantee sustainable and safer mobility in the country’s capital. “This administration has a very ambitious plan for mobility to continue to integrate, improve and protect its transportation systems and users. In the medium and long term, we have plans to improve the quality of air by 2030 in Mexico City, as well as a project to improve the minibus network since it is used in seven out of 10 trips,” said María Fernanda Rivera Flores, General Director of Road Safety and Sustainable Urban Mobility Systems in the Ministry of Mobility, in an interview with MBN.