Bus fleet renovation to be completed by August 25
First Deputy Ulaanbaatar Mayor in charge of Economic Development and Public-Private Partnership J.Sandagsuren reported on measures taken for improving public transportation on April 14
He is leading a working group set up to estimate, study and develop proposals for the introduction of environmentally friendly, electric vehicles in the public transport sector as part of the work to improve public transportation services in Ulaanbaatar and reduce traffic congestion.
“Today, 985 public buses operate on 101 routes. To make public transportation more accessible, it is necessary to run 1,432 buses on 124 routes, or increase the number of routes by 23 and the number of buses by 447. We also looked into what kind of buses would be more profitable in the future. Electric buses require a high initial investment but have been proven to be profitable in the long run. Of the 1,240 buses currently registered for public transportation, 75 percent have been in use for more than 10 years old and 18 percent for seven to nine years. Five percent of them have been in use for four to six years old and 0.7 percent for less than three years. More than 500 buses need to be decommissioned or upgraded this year. Therefore, this year, 150 electric buses and 441 diesel buses will be purchased and the bus fleet will be renovated. So far, 60 have been purchased but their delivery has been delayed at the border.”
To improve the quality and accessibility of public transport services, the Ulaanbaatar City Council decided to present to the government the challenges faced in developing and improving the management of taxi transportation services and renovating the public transport bus fleet with foreign and domestic financial resources. It also instructed the working group to complete the procurement of a new public transportation fleet by August 25 in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and to report on it to the government and relevant authorities. A proposal to exempt electric and diesel buses from customs and value-added tax will be developed and submitted to the government within 14 days.