[NEWS] Zemgale: e-bus has carried 5,000 passengers

The opening event of the electric autonomous bus in Zemgale took place on August 14. In total the e-bus has covered 1,050 kilometres with 5,694 passengers.

Zemgale Planning Region together with partners from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Estonia and Poland has completed the project “Sohjoa Baltic”, during which an autonomous bus ran in Zemgale for a month.

The opening event of the autonomous bus in Jelgava took place on August 14 and there were two stops on the route from the entrance to Pasta Island to the active recreation area. Here, in two weeks, the electric vehicle has travelled 618 kilometres and carried 3,817 passengers. In Aizkraukle, the bus was opened on September 9, and it ran on the route from Aizkraukle History and Art Museum to Aizkraukle St. Theresa's Church of the Child Jesus. Over a period of two weeks 432 kilometres were travelled and 1,877 passengers were carried here. In total, on Zemgale routes the autonomous bus has covered 1,050 kilometres with 5,694 passengers. Moreover, these figures are very high compared to those of the partners, given that the demonstrations of the autonomous bus in other countries took place for a much longer period of time.

“Sohjoa Baltic” project manager Raitis Madžulis points out that this type of project is being implemented in Latvia for the first time - the novelty was the scope of the project, as well as the specifics and the procurement procedure. “We are pleased that in both Jelgava and Aizkraukle we received many positive words from residents and visitors. It was also a pleasure to cooperate with state institutions and local governments, because a lot can be solved and done together. Also, work with the bus suppliers was enjoyable.” summarizes the project manager. He points out that he does not want to stop at what has been achieved, because there are several cities in Zemgale where this technology could be tried, maybe even on a bigger scale.

Here you can find a video about the electric autonomous bus (with English subtitles): https://youtu.be/NMat1dTE3WU