Making local public transport more sustainable, contributing to the reduction of emissions from urban and suburban lines and improving the quality of service to the public are the objectives of the memorandum of intent (MoI) signed by Enel X, Enel’s global business line dedicated to the development of innovative products and digital solutions, and ASSTRA-Associazione Trasporti, an Italian association grouping around 140 local public transport companies.
The MoI foresees a series of activities promoting sustainable mobility in Italian cities: from the development of new business models that accelerate the energy transition of bus supply systems and ensure more efficient use of public funds made available under the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s (MIT) National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Mobility, to the design of state-of-the-art infrastructure and charging stations, through to the definition of new Smart Cities solutions to cut fleet consumption, maintenance and refueling costs and designing mobility services with higher added value. The agreement also provides for the development of energy efficiency solutions to be applied at public transport depots.
“The partnership with ASSTRA aims to accelerate the energy transition to public electric transport,” said Augusto Raggi, Head of Enel X Italia. “The partnership between a major industrial player such as Enel X and ASSTRA will lead to the identification of innovative business models for an integrated public transport system with energy-efficient, green and digital solutions. In so doing we can increase transport comfort for citizens and reduce operating costs, with advantages for the Public Administration and external benefits for cities such as improved air quality and reduced air and noise pollution.”
Andrea Gibelli, President of ASSTRA, said: “ASSTRA, with the memorandum of intent signed today, intends to further substantiate the work it is carrying out to develop technological innovation applied to public transport. The innovative aspect of the memorandum signed with Enel X Italia lies in the exploration of new business models for electric collective transport systems on buses, aimed at accelerating the energy transition by ensuring a more effective and efficient use of public funds, for a sector whose importance for the country today is emerging dramatically due to the pandemic. Our intention is to look ahead to build today a better future for local public transport and therefore for citizens.”
Within the memorandum, we will develop innovative solutions in line with the regulatory framework and with the involvement of regional public transport operators and local authorities, following a virtuous model of public-private partnership.
Finally, the agreement aims to encourage awareness campaigns about the harmful effects of environmental and noise pollution, with particular attention to urban centers.
Enel X is Enel’s global business line dedicated to the development of innovative products and digital solutions in the sectors where energy is showing the highest potential for transformation: cities, homes, industry, and electric mobility. The company is a global leader in the advanced energy solution sector, managing services such as demand response for more than 6 GW of total capacity at a worldwide level and 110 MW of storage capacity installed worldwide, as well as a leading player in the electric mobility sector, with around 130,000 public and private electric vehicle charging points made available around the globe.
ASSTRA is the national employer’s association of local public transport companies. It groups about 140 urban and suburban transport companies – operators of buses, trolleybuses, trams, underground railways, cableways, all local railways (not belonging to Trenitalia S.p.A) as well as lagoon and lake shipping companies. It also provides international and national support for sustainable and collective mobility, raising public and institutional awareness of the environmental, social and economic values of public transport services.
SOURCE: Enel X
