New hybrid Villavesas

At an event held on 9 July at the Transporte Urbano Comarcal bus depot, the Association of Municipalities of the Region of Pamplona presented the 10 new hybrid buses that will join the company’s bus fleet from today. The event was attended by the Transport Director of the Association of Municipalities of the Region of Pamplona, Jesús Velasco, and the Managing Director of the Moventia Group, Josep María Martí.

The 10 new vehicles are ‘Lions’s City 19C EfficientHybrid’ articulated MAN vehicles measuring 18 metres in length. They are powered by 265 kW hybrid diesel-electric motors. Each vehicle can carry a total of 141 passengers (38 seated), plus two wheelchairs.

The new buses comply with the EURO VI pollution limits set by the European Union. They are all fitted with safety screens (all TUC buses have been fitted with screens to protect drivers during the pandemic) and security video cameras, meaning that almost the entire fleet has this system. Furthermore, the ten Villavesas are fitted with the Mobileye active safety system that uses five cameras on each vehicle to warn the driver of any imminent collision risks. Finally, it should be pointed out that the new vehicles have a wheelchair access ramp approved by CERMIN (the Committee of Entities Representing Persons with Disability of Navarre) since an improved, more stable and functional model was launched in March and added to new vehicles joining the fleet in 2020.

The purchase of these vehicles was awarded in 2020 and they are ready to enter service now that the registration paperwork has been completed. Each vehicle has cost 402,850.00 euros (excl. VAT).

Jesús Velasco said that “the arrival of these ten new buses has injected new material into the fleet, increased safety and advanced the sustainability of our service. All this will have a positive impact on both the people who use the transport service and the driver staff who will work on the new vehicles”.

In turn, Josep María Martí spoke about the exceptional situation in which the TUC has found itself since 14 March last year, recognising the efforts made by all employees to continue providing the service. He also wished to remind everyone that the TUC is a safe means of transport to which hygiene and control protocols have been applied.

LATEST HYBRID DIESEL-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
The buses revealed today are the latest hybrid diesel-electric vehicles to join the Transporte Urbano Comarcal fleet following approval at the MCP Assembly on 30 June for the 2nd Less Polluting Energies Plan of the TUC aimed at the progressive replacement of polluting buses. As a result, the MCP will steadily abandon the use of diesel in the Urban Transport fleet and will seek to add buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) with a Guarantee of Renewable Origin (GdO).

The final goal is for the association of municipalities to start providing carbon-neutral services in 2030. The main action in this regard is a circular economy project under which the biogas produced from the treatment of waste water and organic material in rubbish will be used as fuel for the heavy vehicle fleets operated by the association of municipalities: the TUC buses, the rubbish trucks and the Integrated Water Cycle maintenance vehicles.

A FLEET OF 159 VEHICLES WITH AN AVERAGE AGE OF 6.76 YEARS
The addition of these 10 new vehicles and the removal of the eight oldest vehicles means that the TUC fleet will consist of 159 vehicles (two more than a year ago) with an average vehicle age of 6.76 years. Of all the vehicles in the fleet, 61 are articulated (18 metres), 96 are 12-metre buses and two are 10-metre buses. It should be noted that the addition of these new vehicles means that Transporte Urbano Comarcal now has 66 hybrid and six electric vehicles. In other words, 45% of the fleet consists of environmentally efficient vehicles.

Moventia, another year with the Palace of Catalan Music

Moventia is renewing its partnership with the Palace of Catalan Music for another year as a Protector Patron in order to help promote the artistic schedule organised by the Orfeó Català-Palace of Catalan Music Foundation.

A benchmark in sustainable mobility, the company stands firmly by its commitment to promoting culture as it believes this to be a key sector for rebuilding the local economic fabric and creating jobs. This action forms part of Moventia’s Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Plan, which was created as a way for the company to voluntarily help build a better society.

According to Sílvia Martí, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs, Internal and Institutional Communication of Moventia: “Culture is a driving force for investment and enhances our reputation as a country but, unfortunately, it has been hit hard by the fallout from the pandemic. These are all reasons why Moventia remains committed for another year to this organisation, which uses its activities, concerts and choirs to promote musical practice and training, and, in short, to bring knowledge of Catalan heritage and culture closer to a wider audience, a reflection of our society”.

In the words of Mariona Carulla, Chairwoman of the Orfeó Català-Palace of Catalan Music Foundation: “We are very pleased to continue receiving the support of Moventia in our patronage programme. Contributions like those made by this company are essential to promoting our artistic activity and continuing our mission to bring music to all”.

Conclusion of the IV TRAM Barcelona Open, with Moventis

 

The IV TRAM Barcelona Open, held between 19 and 22 May at the Royal Polo Club in Barcelona, took place without incident thanks to the health and safety protocols implemented by the organisers and their partners. This globally benchmark international wheelchair tournament was supported by Moventis-Transports Ciutat Comtal (TCC) as the official transportation provider for the 40 participating athletes from 13 different countries.

In the words of José Coronado, Director of the TRAM Barcelona Open: “involving Moventis – TCC in the tournament as sponsors this year represented a huge leap forward in quality for us. We were able to offer an adapted transport service of the highest quality from a company with extensive experience in mobility for people with functional diversity that is merely enhanced by the spectacular image of the minibuses. The result was a complete success and the players made a point of saying so during the tournament.”

 

The tournament concluded this year’s event with victory in the men’s category for Gustavo Fernández from Argentina, who beat Vandorpe from Belgium 6/1 and 6/4 in an exciting final. In the women’s category, Diede de Groot from the Netherlands was crowned as the TRAM Barcelona Open champion. The number one in the world and hot favourite at the tournament beat Yui Kamiji from Japan (second in the world and second seed at the event in Barcelona) in the grand final 6/4 and 6/1.

The Spanish doubles team of Martín de la Puente from Galicia and Daniel Caverzaschi from Madrid took home the title in the men’s doubles category at the tournament. They are both members of the Spanish national team. De la Puente and Caverzaschi beat Gaetan Menguy from France and Jef Vandorpe from Belgium in the final 6/2 and 7/5. The title in the women’s doubles category went to Macarena Cabrillana from Chile and Diede de Groot from the Netherlands, who beat Angelica Bernal from Colombia and Charlotte Fairbank from France 6/2 and 6/2.

MOVENTIS TCC TRANSPORT OFICIAL BCN OPEN TRAM.mp4 from Videosmoventia on Vimeo.

 

Movento increases the offer from Motospazio with the Hamamatsu dealership

Movento is boosting the presence of Motospazio in central Barcelona, its dealership for motorcycle brands from the Piaggio group. The doors of Motospazio Hamamatsu opened to the public in December. These premises bring together the Piaggio, Vespa, Derbi, Gilera, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia dealerships into one place, as well as the corresponding official garage, which also operates under a multi-brand model. The space can be found at 337 Calle Mallorca, next to Paseo de San Juan.

By adding these premises to the dealership on Calle Calvet, Motospazio has doubled its presence in Barcelona with spaces in strategically central locations offering benchmark services to two-wheeled vehicle users. The Motospazio experience is now more than just a motorcycle sales business, including a showroom area and a repair garage to focus on in-depth services from specialised advisers.

According to Santi Colomer, Managing Director of Movento Diversification, “these new premises once again demonstrate the commitment from Movento to motorcycle distribution and repair that began six years ago with Motospazio and has been recently boosted with new leading brands”. Jorge Carrillo, Head of the Motorcycle Division, also expressed satisfaction with this growth within the Motospazio structure. By opening these premises, Movento is continuing to strengthen its presence in the world of two-wheeled transportation and consolidating its presence in the Catalan capital.

Presentation of the new gas station and depot for the TIB fleet in Calvià

The compressed natural gas refuelling station will also open to the public soon for the refuelling of private vehicles.

The Mobility and Housing Councillor, Marc Pons, was accompanied by the Mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez, the Director-General for Mobility and Road Transport, Jaume Mateu, and the Managing Director of the Mallorca Transport Consortium, Maarten Johannes Van Bemmelen, on a visit to the new depot-gas refuelling station for the TIB bus fleet in Calvià this morning. The Chairman of Moventia, Miquel Martí, and other representatives from the company managing the new intercity public transport concession for the western region since the start of the year also took part in the visit.

The councillor stressed that “this is one of the six gas refuelling stations we have promoted via the new TIB network on the island of Mallorca, and the first to be opened to all members of the public and businesses in general”. Marc Pons wished to highlight the qualitative leap forward made by implementing the new TIB: “Five years of work are producing good results, a very competitive offer and improved public transport to position Mallorca at the cutting edge of a new intercity mobility model”, he said.

Located in the Son Bugadelles industrial estate, the depot includes a parking area for 42 buses, a bus wash area, an office and a rapid compressed natural gas refuelling station with two refuelling lanes fitted with NGV1 and NGV2 pumps. The gas refuelling station supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) to the TIB bus fleet owned by Moventis. It will soon open to the public for the CNG refuelling of both private cars and trucks, coaches and vans.

Miquel Martí, Chairman of Moventia, expressed gratitude for the support provided by the public authorities in the Balearic Islands and especially Calvià Local Council, which did everything it could to help open the premises and launch the service in record time. “This is the second gas refuelling station opened by Moventia: the first in France and now in Mallorca, which is the first within Spain. It is a clear commitment to public transport, sustainability and decarbonisation”, he said. He went on to add that, “despite the complicated times being caused by the health situation, the Moventis Illes team made it possible to launch this service from 1 January through tenacity and a huge effort, and we are very pleased with the demand we saw in January”.

The Mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, underlined the improvement made to such an important municipal service as public transport, as well as to the compressed natural gas fuel system in terms of the environmental impact and noise. He also stressed that, due to their location in the heart of the municipality, these installations will enable greater efficiency in the service and will also be an advantage in the future for the refuelling of another public service – taxis.

Redexis was responsible for building both the gas refuelling station and the gas supply installations leading to the premises. The energy company built five distribution gas lines to supply gas to a total of six gas refuelling stations located at the headquarters of various concessionaires for the TIB service in Mallorca, making a fleet of 198 compressed natural gas buses possible and thereby promoting more sustainable and economic mobility. Miguel Mayrata, Head of Business Diversification for Redexis said that “Redexis welcomes the opening of this gas refuelling station, which represents the ongoing promotion of the necessary energy infrastructure for both the Moventis fleet and the professionals and citizens of Mallorca to have access to more economical, sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility solutions”.

Besides the depot presented earlier today, Moventis also has another two depots located in the Son Castelló industrial estate. The depots owned by the concessionaire in the western region are home to a total of 55 vehicles, including 12-metre buses, articulated buses, intercity buses, microbuses, etc. so all road and service types can be covered. 50 of these vehicles run on CNG and the remaining five are hybrid electric. It is an entirely new fleet, with which the group wishes to anticipate new mobility habits and therefore base its offer on innovative and sustainable technologies from an environmental and social standpoint.

Moventis takes part in an event to present on-demand transport service in Calonge

The Chamber of Commerce of Palamós and Calonge i Sant Antoni Local Council organised an information day entitled “On-demand transport: the Shotl service, your bus closer to you and only a click away” at Calonge Castle this morning. The goal was to raise the profile of this kind of flexible transport services in which the vehicles adapt their route in real time to meet demand. This is a service offered by Moventis that has already been successfully implemented in other municipalities around Catalonia, such as Sant Cugat.

The event discussed the need for this Shotl service in municipalities such as Calonge and Sant Antoni, as well as other towns on the Costa Brava with numerous geographically disperse urbanisations and areas with no conventional public transport services, in order to facilitate mobility for their residents.

The event was attended by Pol Fages, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Palamós; Miquel Martí Pierre, Managing Director of Moventis; Roger Cumeras from Shotl; Pere Aguilar, Head of the Public Transport Department of Sant Cugat del Vallès Local Council, the first municipality where Shotl was launched; David Saldoni, the Director-General of Transport and Mobility of the Regional Government of Catalonia; and Albert Ros, Mobility Councillor for Calonge i Sant Antoni.

The main advantage of the Shotl service lies in that it enables public transport to reach areas with very little demand at present while also representing an economic saving and generating less pollution given that the bus only operates when there is a demand for the service. This avoids bus journeys with no passengers, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The advantages also include the ease with which users can request a pick-up by the bus – using an app or the telephone – and reduced waiting times.

The second part of the event consisted of a Shotl demonstration on the streets of Calonge and Sant Antoni: how a pick-up is requested, how the service is confirmed, how the driver is told about the shortest route and how the user can see on the app where the bus currently is and their current waiting time.

Moventia maintains its support for society

Moventia has agreed to maintain its partnerships with all the social entities it has been providing resources to for many years. This decision has been taken based on the effort and commitment that, now more than ever, our society needs from companies within the business fabric to help deal with the complicated situations we are experiencing as a result of the crisis caused by COVID-19.

Over the course of recent years, Moventia’s solidarity partnerships have been focused on a commitment to guaranteeing mobility to the public and people with difficulty in accessing these services. However, the coronavirus crisis has led Moventia to make the funds provided under these partnerships available so they can be allocated wherever needed and deemed most appropriate in order to alleviate and improve the tough situations being caused by COVID-19. These are difficult times for everyone, including Moventia, but the company wishes to maintain its commitment to working with society.

Bla Bla Bus renews contract with Sarfa

Following several months of negotiation, Sarfa has signed a partnership agreement with the company BlaBlabus – the operator of several intercity lines in France – to operate the routes starting or finishing in the city of Barcelona. The specific lines subject to this agreement are:

 

Marseille – Montpellier – Barcelona

Marseille – Nîmes – Montpellier – Perpignan – Barcelona

Bordeaux – Toulouse – Perpignan – Barcelona

Lyon – Montpellier – Perpignan – Barcelona

Paris – Lyon – Barcelona

Barcelona – Perpignan – Carcassonne – Toulouse – Paris

 

The agreement will last four years, during which time Sarfa must provide the service according to the image and quality standards and measures defined by BlaBlaBus. The buses are fully identified with the service image and the drivers are especially chosen for their quality and skill, as well as because they can speak to passengers in French, Spanish and Catalan.

 

This agreement consolidates Sarfa’s presence in France, with services it has been providing non-stop since 2014.

 

16 New VILLAVESA Buses

At an event held this morning at the Pamplona City Transport bus depot, the Association of Municipalities of the Region of Pamplona presented the 16 new hybrid buses that will join the company’s bus fleet from today. The event was attended by the Councillor for Territorial Cohesion of the Regional Government of Navarre, Bernardo Ciriza, the President of the Association of Municipalities of the Region of Pamplona, David Campión, and the Managing Director of Moventia Group, Josep María Martí.

Of the 16 new vehicles, seven are ‘Lions’s City 18C EfficientHybrid’ articulated MAN vehicles measuring 18 metres in length. They are fitted with hybrid 265 kW motors. Each vehicle can carry a total of 152 passengers (37 seated), plus two wheelchairs.

The other nine vehicles (12 metres in length) are the ‘Lions’s City 12C EfficientHybrid’ model from MAN. They are also fitted with 206 kW hybrid motors. Each of these vehicles can carry a total of 105 passengers (23 seated), plus two wheelchairs.

It should be stressed that all 16 vehicles meet the EURO VI pollution limits set by the European Union. They are all fitted with safety screens and security video cameras, meaning that the entire fleet has this system.

The purchase of these vehicles was awarded in 2019 and they are scheduled to enter service during the first fortnight of July once the vehicle registration process can be completed following a delay due to the coronavirus crisis.

A fleet of 159 vehicles with an average age of 6.75 years

The addition of these 16 new vehicles and the withdrawal from service of the five oldest means that the TUC fleet now consists of 159 vehicles with an average age of 6.75 years. Of all the vehicles in the fleet, 57 are articulated (18 metres), 100 are 12-metre buses and two are 10-metre buses. In anticipation of future needs due to possible capacity restrictions over the coming months as a result of COVID-19, 11 of the buses that should have been replaced by the new vehicles are being kept in temporary reserve and will be withdrawn from service at a later date.

It should be noted that the addition of these new vehicles into the fleet operated by Pamplona City Transport means there are now 56 hybrid vehicles and six electric vehicles running in the region; in other words, 39% of the fleet consists of environmentally efficient vehicles.

Auser now also doing business in Manresa and Vic

Auser, the official Renault and Dacia dealership of the Movento Group, is expanding its sphere of influence with two new official dealerships and garages in Manresa and Vic after taking over the dealerships for these brands in Bages and Osona. Auser has thus boosted its distribution activity for Renault and Dacia by including a strategic area into its already solid network in the cities of Pineda de Mar, Mataró, Badalona, Cerdanyola, Rubí, Sabadell, Sant Cugat del Vallès and Terrassa.

By opening these facilities, Movento – a benchmark group in private mobility services with 67 years of history – has consolidated its operation in an area where it already operates alongside Sarsa (Audi and Volkswagen), Stern Motor (Mercedes and Smart) and Auto Pla Vic 4×4 (Jaguar and Land Rover).

The combination of experience and professionalism offered by the Auser team, together with Movento’s regional knowledge, will enable a new and exciting project to be launched to provide the best purchase experience and an after-sales service of the highest quality to its customers.

“We are very pleased and excited to be able to now offer our services to customers in this strategic area for us, and we are convinced that we will become the benchmark dealership for the area thanks to our high-quality personalised service”, explains Antoni Sánchez Aguirre, Auser Manager.