Hermes is investing heavily in the quality of public transport and the further greening of the Eindhoven region.
Dozens of city and regional buses from public transport company Hermes, responsible for bus transport in Southeast Brabant, drive hundreds of kilometers every day through the Eindhoven environmental zone, even though they are actually too old and above all too polluting for that. The environmental zone was established to improve the air quality in Eindhoven.
A sample of the Eindhovense Dagblad earlier this week showed that roughly half of the buses running on fossil fuels should not actually enter the environmental zone. According to the ED, the vehicles do not meet the standards of the Eindhoven environmental zone: they emit too much. The diesel buses are still equipped with a Euro 5 engine. From the beginning of this year, only trucks and buses with engines of emission class 6 are allowed to enter the environmental zone.
environmental zone
Since 1 January 2022, access to the environmental zone has been further tightened. The environmental zone is only accessible for trucks, buses and coaches from emission class 6. In theory, Hermes must apply for an exemption for every license plate that does not meet the environmental standard.
If they can demonstrate that a sufficiently clean vehicle has been ordered, they can obtain a temporary exemption until the moment of delivery. If the municipality of Eindhoven takes a positive decision, you will receive an exemption for the period up to and including one day after the expected delivery time.
The public transport company expects that these polluting buses will have been replaced by 2023 new, electric ones by the end of 64. They were ordered from VDL some time ago, but the delivery was delayed. According to VDL, missing parts are the cause of the delay in the delivery of the new buses. This order from VDL was an important next step in the tender issued by the province of Noord-Brabant.
electric mileage
VDL Bus & Coach has grown into one of the most important players in Europe in the field of e-mobility. VDL has been active in the field of electric transport for over 25 years. Since the introduction of the first Citea SLF-120 Electric in Geneva during the UITP Mobility & City Transport fair in 2013, VDL Bus & Coach has focused strongly on electric mobility. With more than 800 buses in 10 countries and more than 135.000 kilometers daily in many European cities and regions, the magical limit of 100 million electric kilometers has now been reached.
