Israeli Busway wins public transport competition for the Coimbra region

The company Busway, a subsidiary of the Israeli group Afifi, won the competition for public road transport for the Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region, the executive secretary of that entity told the Lusa agency today.

The jury proposed the award of the three lots of road transport in competition to Busway, for around 40 million euros (plus VAT) for five years of operation, the executive secretary of the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Coimbra Region told Lusa , Jorge Brito.

The official highlighted that the competition “turned out to be interesting”, with “several competing proposals” and with “variable geometries”, given the possibility of companies competing for just one, two or three lots (the previous competition, launched in 2021, had only registered one proposal and above the base price defined at the time).

According to Jorge Brito, the winning proposal of the competition presented values, on average, “20% below the base price”, remembering that the contract, which has a duration of five years, also provides for the possibility of being extended for another two years (the base price of the procedure, 75 million euros, was defined with the perspective of the maximum duration of the contract).

The executive secretary of the CIM of the Coimbra Region clarified that the weighting of the winner is based on a “combined formula, having, among several factors, the price per kilometric production [preço por quilómetro percorrido] and average age of the vehicles” that will operate.

Jorge Brito also clarified that the final value could be adjusted, depending on the demand for this transport service, which could make it more or less loss-making.

The award proposal, which was presented on Friday at a meeting of the Intermunicipal Council, will now go through a qualification phase, and will then have to receive approval from the Court of Auditors.

Upon launching a new public tender for public road transport in 2023, CIM reviewed the tender’s assumptions and reduced the network by around one million kilometers traveled.

The entry into operation of the flexible on-demand transport system also made it possible to optimize the network that was put out to tender.

According to the tender documents consulted by Lusa, in all lots, service to Coimbra (the main destination for intercity travel) is guaranteed, in a region with around 430 thousand inhabitants.

According to the documents in the process, an annual supply of 6.5 million kilometers traveled must be ensured, more than half to respond to the intermunicipal network, 0.98 million kilometers dedicated to the interregional network and the remainder for municipal services. road transport.

The future operation of this road transport network will be integrated into the intermodal ticket that will serve the entire region (a single ticket that allows you to use this network, but also Metro Mondego and urban transport in Coimbra).

The CIM Region of Coimbra includes the municipalities of Arganil, Cantanhede, Coimbra, Condeixa, Figueira da Foz, Góis, Lousã, Mira, Miranda do Corvo, Montemor-o-Velho, Oliveira do Hospital, Pampilhosa da Serra, Penacova, Penela, Soure , Tábua and Vila Nova de Poiares, in the district of Coimbra, and Mealhada and Mortágua, in the districts of Aveiro and Viseu, respectively.

Busway is a subsidiary of the Israeli group Afifi, which won in 2023, through the company Nativ Express, the road transport competition for the Intermunicipal Community of the Aveiro Region, having started operating in the summer of that year.

Lusa