Important foreign contract for Ferrovie dello Stato. Qbuzz, a Dutch company of the Group, controlled by Busitalia, got a grant of one billion euros to manage the services of local public transport (TPL) in the province of Fryslan (Friesland) in the Netherlands.
The concession has a duration of ten years, from 2024 to 2034, and provides for transport of 155 million passengers per year in this northern province, which has 650.000 inhabitants.
FS in Holland: 260 buses for 80 lines, fleet renewal planned
Qbuzz will handle 260 buses for 80 lines, offering a total of 26 million kilometers per year to Dutch citizens. The contract provides for the hiring of 660 new employees by the company.
During the grant period, there will be a investment of over 218 million of euros for the fleet renewal and technological innovation. The passenger hub company of the FS Group will make these investments to improve the comfort and environmental sustainability of the connections.
The low environmental impact of Qbuzz buses
This assignment has a strong environmental focus, as Qbuzz is a leader in the use of buses with low environmental impact. The fleet of the Dutch company includes 310 zero-emission buses, of which 32 run on hydrogen and 278 are electric, making them a model of excellence in Europe. It is also being tested fuels with low environmental impact, such as HVO, which has already been used successfully.
FS continues growth abroad
This new concession represents a further step in the path of the Group led by Luigi Ferraris, who aims to increase revenues from abroad from 1,8 billion euros in 2019 to 5 billion by 2031, as foreseen by the Industrial Plan.
Qbuzz, currently the third largest public transport operator in the Netherlands, is growing and aims to become the second operator most important in the country. The company already operates Local Public Transport (LPT) services in several regions, including Utrecht, Groningen-Drenthe and DMG (Drechtsteden-Molenlanden-Gorinchem), and has recently obtained a new concession in the Randstad metropolitan area between Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, valid from December 2024 to December 2039.
Map of Qbuzz concessions in the Netherlands