A fleet of 12 Scania brand-new biogas buses became operational on February 13 in the City of Vaasa. On the same day the first refueling station for biogas vehicles in the Vaasa region opened at Stormossen. These 12 buses can substitute an equivalent of 280,000 liters of fossil diesel fuel every year. The carbon dioxide emissions are on the same level as fully electric cars.
Chief planner Pertti Hällilä said the biogas bus project is the first of its kind in Finland. “It significantly promotes the initialization of national clean technology in the whole area, in production, distribution as well as the use of biogas in transport. For this project we received an honorable mention from Motiva for promoting the initialization of cleantech,” added Hällilä.
The biogas buses will be covering the busiest routes, 1–4 as well as 7–10. During weekends and during the summer the buses will be in operation on all routes. The vehicles can be recognized by the orange city silhouette of Vaasa and the theme Cleaner by biogas, and are numbered and marked by A1-A12.
According to Hällilä, the buses have been brought to the city by a leasing contract and are owned by a finance company. After the contract runs out the city can, if it wishes, buy the buses for its ownership.
At the Stormossen fueling station the buses fill up the tanks during night time. The organic waste of the households in the Vaasa region as well as the sludge from the waste water of Vaasan Vesi Stormossen can produce biogas for about 1000 cars in addition to the buses. “Together with the bus refueling station there will also be a fast fuelling station for cars,” commented the managing director of Stormossen, Leif Åkers.
Source: City of Vaasa
