Transdev’s 55-Bus Gamble On Dutch Electrification Is A Winner – CleanTechnica

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From Midi To Mammoth Buses In Service

Transdev just placed an order that perfectly captures the chaos of electrifying regional transit: 55 electric buses from Solaris, split between the smallest and largest vehicles the company makes. Forty-two will be compact 9-meter city-crawlers. Thirteen will be double-articulated 24-meter behemoths. Nothing in between.

Transdev is a major international private-sector public transport company based in France. While it operates various modes of transit, including rail and ferry services, it is significantly involved in bus operations globally, with a large fleet of buses and coaches. Is it late? Transdev officials say it’s not indecision. It’s strategy.

The Arnhem-Nijmegen-Foodvalley region is a transit planner’s fever dream. You’ve got villages with populations under 1,000, where roads barely accommodate two cars passing. Then you’ve got the Arnhem-Nijmegen urban corridor, where tens of thousands of commuters need to move efficiently during peak hours. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work here. So Transdev bought the extremes.

Electric For The Edges

The 42 Urbino 9 LE buses are Solaris’s answer to the “last-mile problem” in rural electrification. At just nine meters long with low-entry floors for accessibility, these midi-buses can navigate tight village centers and serve lower-density routes without running half-empty.

Each carries over 400 kWh of Solaris High Energy batteries — enough range to cover rural routes for a full day without opportunity charging. They’re designed to maintain service continuity in areas where traditional 12-meter buses would be overkill, both in capacity and maneuverability.

 Maximum Throughput

On the opposite end, the 13 Urbino 24 electric buses are built for one thing: moving massive volumes of people on the region’s busiest corridors. These double-articulated giants stretch 24 meters — longer than a semi-truck with a trailer — and pack over 500 kWh of battery capacity.

They’re the workhorses for high-frequency routes connecting Arnhem and Nijmegen, where buses run every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 15 minutes off-peak. When you need to move commuters at scale without emissions, you need something this big.

A 10-Year Bet On Standardization

This order isn’t a one-off. It’s tied to Transdev winning the decade-long ANF concession from the Province of Gelderland, running until June 2036. The contract merged two former transport areas (Arnhem-Nijmegen and Veluwe-Zuid) and comes with aggressive service expansion mandates:

• 18 hours of daily coverage, seven days a week, for every town over 500 residents
• A 22% increase in service hours compared to 2024
• High-frequency service standards on major routes

The buses arrive in late 2026, operating under the RRReis brand — the unified transit identity across three Dutch provinces. For riders, it means consistent service whether they’re in Gelderland, Overijssel, or Flevoland.

The Dutch Electric Avalanche

Transdev isn’t new to zero-emission transit. The company already runs 20 hydrogen buses in South Holland and 10 trolleybuses in Arnhem. Last year, it ordered 96 electric buses from Solaris for Utrecht alone.

That’s 126 Solaris vehicles in Transdev’s Dutch fleet when you add this latest order. It’s either brilliant operational standardization — unified maintenance, shared parts, streamlined training — or a risky supplier concentration that leaves no backup if something goes wrong.

The Dutch government has made its intentions clear: zero-emission public transport isn’t aspirational, it’s mandated. Transdev is racing to meet that deadline, and Solaris is its primary partner in the sprint.

What Happens When Batteries Hit The Grid?

The real test comes in 2026 when all 55 buses start drawing power.

Transdev will need charging infrastructure capable of handling both the 9-meter fleet (likely overnight depot charging) and the 24-meter monsters (potentially requiring mid-day top-ups given their intensive urban schedules). The Province of Gelderland has committed to the service expansion. Transdev has committed to the vehicles. Now the grid and charging network have to keep up.

If it works, the ANF region becomes a model for how to electrify mixed urban-rural transit. If it doesn’t, it becomes a cautionary tale about ordering 55 batteries before the plugs are ready.