The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has agreed to a partnership with Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP). RATP is a transit agency whose accomplishments include Lagny, a mixed-use complex incorporating businesses, an office tower and a bus garage with a capacity of 220 electric buses, all in a dense urban environment.
The RATP’s experience with modernizing its bus garages to house electric buses and operating said vehicles, as well as the rich history of collaboration between the two transit agencies, made the RATP a partner of choice for us,” said Pascal Renaud, STM research director for electrification projects.
As part of the agreement, five representatives from the STM electrification program traveled to Paris to learn from RATP Group experts on three main topics:
- Building and fire prevention standards
- Key infrastructures for electrification
- The operation and maintenance of electrified bus garages
Learning from a bold technological and ecological shift
In 2014, RATP Group committed to a major technological and ecological transformation with Bus2025, a plan to convert a large part of its bus fleet to electric and biomethane by 2025. By 2024, RATP Group’s bus fleet will be more eco-friendly, with 4,700 clean buses, including roughly 1,100 electric and 1,600 biomethane. Bus2025 will have reduced the RATP’s CO2 emissions from bus traffic by 50 percent, representing a significant contribution to the organization’s goal of cutting its GHG emissions by 50 percent as part of its 2025 Challenges plan.
Bus2025 will fundamentally change the RATP’s bus garages and update its entire bus fleet. The RATP will convert 50 percent of its bus garages to electric and 50 percent to biomethane by 2025. In total, 25 RATP bus garages will be upgraded by the end of 2024 (not including real estate projects) and filled with electric, biomethane and hybrid buses.
“This is a colossal industrial worksite for the company,” says Josée Danis, vice president, business development, Canada for RATP Dev, a subsidiary of RATP Group. “The work will involve up to 15 bus garages at a time and will have to be done without interrupting daily operations. It will take all the group’s combined skills to direct this major energy transition. Sharing our expertise in electric conversion with the STM is a point of pride and a testament to our know-how.”
Deferring to industry best practices
The personalized support the RATP Group will provide the STM is part of a Europe-wide technological mission aiming to obtain feedback from various transit agencies that operate electric buses. In addition to Paris, the STM delegates will visit seven other European cities to learn from local experts.
While the STM’s current electric buses and related facilities are safe, this professional development process is intended as a responsible effort to learn from the experiences of other industry stakeholders.
Lagny bus garage visit
The learning excursion concluded on Dec. 9 with a technical visit to the Lagny bus garage, one of two electrified bus garages currently operated by the RATP. A unique feature of the complex is it incorporates office space for public- and private-sector businesses above its electric-vehicle storage area.
