Moventis Cruise Bus resumes service with new compressed natural gas vehicles

Moventis is resuming its Cruise Bus service. This is a shuttle bus service connecting the Port of Barcelona with the Moll de Barcelona C next to the World Trade Center and is operated by Transports Ciutat Comtal (TCC) – a company owned by Moventis.
Following suspension of this service due to the pandemic, the Cruise Bus service is now resuming as the first cruise passengers start returning to Barcelona. Furthermore, the service will now use some new compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in reflection of the Moventis commitment to sustainable mobility.
The Cruise Bus service specifically connects the cruise ship terminals at Muelle Adosado and Portal de la Pau with the start of the Ramblas de Barcelona and other transport services that connect with the city centre. The journey takes five minutes and is the best option for both passing cruise passengers who wish to visit Barcelona and passengers either starting or ending their cruise in Barcelona.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.cruisebus.barcelona

 

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, member of the panel for the GFT Banco Sabadell Sustainability Awards

As a benchmark sustainable mobility company that is firmly committed to the quality of our environment, Moventia was one of the entities forming part of the panel for the first edition of the GFT Banco Sabadell Sustainability Awards that was held in June as part of the Investment Forum promoted by IESE Business School.

Sílvia Martí, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs, Internal and Institutional Communication of Moventia, took part in the process to evaluate the nominees and select a winning project alongside other members of the panel made up by executives from major companies in their sectors such as Cellnex, Repsol, Endesa, ITW, Volkswagen and Holaluz.

Organised by Banco Sabadell and the technology consultancy firm, GFT, these awards recognise corporate initiatives of an innovative and sustainable nature. Approximately 40 projects were presented for this first edition, eight of which became finalists. The start-up Nantek was the eventual winner of the sustainability prize. The award was given to this company in recognition of its technological development and the creation of processes necessary for transforming plastic waste into petrochemical products and compounds that can be used to produce fuel and other products.

 

 

 

Foto: IESE

Jordi Castells on TV Sant Cugat

Jordi Castells, Operations Director at Moventis and General Manager at Sarbus, was invited to appear on the La Contraportada programme on TV Sant Cugat to explain how Moventis operates and what it does exactly, specifically in Sant Cugat. During the programme, Jordi Castells also spoke about the challenges faced by public transport in the immediate future. 

 

 

 

 

“Recharging infrastructure must be expanded to promote sustainable mobility”

Josep Maria Martí, CEO of Moventia and Vice-President of Moventis, took part in the 35 IESE Mobility, an annual meeting organised by the IESE Business School and Deloitte. During the course of the event, various executives in the sector highlighted how the automotive industry is getting ready for a decade that – especially in cities – is characterised by a new, increasingly more electric kind of mobility with a greater emphasis on the use of car sharing aimed at combining more different means of transportation.

Among others, this future was discussed at the event by the Chief Digital Officer of ALSA, Carlos Acha; the CEO of RACC, Xavier Pérez; the Director of Mobility of Ferrovial (MC:FER), Andrés Camacho; the Chief Strategy & Development Officer of Renfe, Manel Villalante; the CEO of EYSA, Javier Delgado; the CEO Rolling Stock of CAF (MC:CAF) and Chairman of Solaris (OTC:SPCL), Josu Imaz; and the Quality, Engineering and Strategic Programmes Director Iberia of DHL Express Spain, Rafael Pérez del Monte.

While speaking, Josep Maria Martí insisted that “recharging infrastructure must be expanded in Spain to promote this type of vehicle”, which in Barcelona remains rather lacklustre. “We should have 100,000 recharging points, not 200”, he said at the meeting. Furthermore, Josep Maria Martí stressed that this commitment should involve public-private collaboration to ensure mobility that is “more sustainable and efficient”.

All the executives taking part in the meeting also underlined the importance of harnessing the Next Generation funds to achieve greater, more rational, green, electric and social mobility. Similarly, they agreed that digitalisation alongside new technologies like ‘big data’ will change the existing mobility model in Spain, making it more sustainable, efficient and shared, through such ideas as integrated mobility.

 

 

Miquel Martí at the ACG urban mobility conference

The Chairman of Moventia, Miquel Martí, spoke at a breakfast organised by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) at the Círculo Ecuestre private club in Barcelona on 7 April. The theme for the event was “City Mobility”.

 

Besides Miquel Martí, the other speakers included Mar Alarcón, Founder and CEO of Social Car, and Timo Buetefisch, Co-founder and CEO of Cooltra.  Moderated by Teresa Lloret, Senior Partner at Kreab, the session took place over two blocks around the topic of urban mobility: regulation of the sector and growth projects for companies in the mobility sector.

 

Miquel Martí stressed that a commitment should be made to sustainable mobility but with alternatives to the private vehicle. He underlined the essential nature of investing in public transport and infrastructures within metropolitan areas such as Barcelona. He went on to say that the idea of implementing a toll system at the entrance to the city of Barcelona would reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads and the funds raised could be spent on promoting public transport and mobility platforms.

 

In turn, Mar Alarcón stressed that the crusade against private vehicles in Barcelona is incomprehensible under the current mobility system. The public authorities are moving in one direction while the needs of the sector are moving in another, highlighting the absence of any constructive dialogue.

 

Timo Buetefisch defended the need for regulation in the mobility sector that follows a future-focused mobility plan and model with a design based on public-private partnerships.

 

The event organiser, ACG, is the largest non-profit global community of business leaders and professionals in the corporate world whose interests are focused on sharing experiences and relationships for the development of companies. It was set up in the United States in 1954 and now has over 13,000 members organised into 55 chapters worldwide. It began operating in Spain in 2010.

 

 

Timo Buetefisch va argumentar la necessària regulació del sector de la mobilitat però que per fer-ho són necessaris un model i un pla de mobilitat a futur, dissenyat a partir de la col·laboració publico-privada.

 

L’organitzador de la jornada, ACG, és la comunitat global d’empresaris i professionals més gran del món corporatiu, sense ànim de lucre, els seus interessos se centren en compartir experiències i relacions en el desenvolupament de les empreses. La seva fundació va ser a Estats Units, el 1954, i compta amb més de 13.000 membres organitzats en 55 chapters arreu del món. A Espanya va iniciar activitats el 2010.