The Arrecife City Council announced this Monday the bidding process for the purchase of two large buses for 1.2 million euros and will debut another four in December.
The urban mobility strategy, with a budget of nearly 6 million euros for this term, has as one of its priorities to encourage citizens to use public transport on urban buses more for their journeys around the city.
Mario González Altube has emphasized that "to improve the service, buses are necessary, as the current fleet has an average age of over 15 years, and some even up to 20, all diesel combustion." In this first part of the mandate, the Municipal Bus Service premiered two large electric buses last December, both accessible, and the purchase of four large units was put out to tender last fall, which are expected to arrive in Lanzarote at the end of this fall, for immediate entry into service.
These units will be joined in 2026 by two other large vehicles for passengers, electric and accessible, which were put out to tender this Monday, October 13. The Arrecife City Council, through the Department of Transportation and Mobility, under the direction of González Altube, is allocating an investment of 1,150,000.00 euros for this acquisition. Interested companies, according to the announcement on the Public Sector Procurement Platform, have until November 10 to compete in this new official tender.
The city's mayor, Yonathan de León, has detailed that "this large investment in improving municipal public transport by bus, with nearly 6 million euros during this municipal term, is the best indicator that Arrecife will have an efficient, synchronized, and sustainable local public transport system, the most important in the last two decades, since the Urban Bus Service was created."
For his part, the Councillor for Transport and Mobility has already stated that "there are plans to create new routes, stops and frequencies to connect the neighborhoods with the city center, which will be implemented progressively with the arrival of the new buses that are being acquired. Based on experiences in previous tenders, the companies that are awarded the contract will need a period of between 8 and 12 months for the construction and assembly of the buses."
High demand on event days in the capital of Lanzarote
Arrecife's Urban Buses, belonging to the City Council, have managed to spectacularly increase the number of passengers transported in two years. Last year, 2024, according to data provided by the Department of Transportation and Mobility, 560,352 passengers traveled on the capital's buses, while in 2022 there were only 358,751.
During the past year of 2024, Arrecife closed with a 7.3% increase in the number of users on the city's buses. Compared to the 521,848 passengers transported in 2023, the first year of the current Arrecife government's term, 2024 closed with a positive balance of 560,352 passengers.
In December of last year, the city debuted its first two large buses, which have reinforced the service during this year. They joined the three micro units, acquired in the previous term, and which, with the change that the Department of Transportation and Mobility will introduce during 2026, will be destined for direct routes and through narrow streets of the capital of Lanzarote.
