50 new buses to be added to Tbilisi fleet in December

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze on Tuesday said 50 out of the 160 18-metre-long MAN buses newly purchased by his office would be introduced to the public transport fleet in the Georgian capital next month.

Kaladze, Deputy Mayor Irakli Bendeliani and executives of Tegeta Holding automobile company met with representatives of the MAN Truck and Bus Company in the German city of Munich to inspect the new buses, each designed for 162 passengers, with 43 seats.

Photo: Tbilisi City Hall

The buses are fully adapted for people with disabilities, equipped with a voice system, internal and external video monitoring systems, mobile charging points, air conditioning and ventilation system, while also offering free Wi-Fi connection to passengers, Tbilisi City Hall said.

Photo: Tbilisi City Hall

Irakli Papiashvili, the Director of Business Development of Tegeta Holding, which will provide parts for the bus fleet, said Tbilisi would soon have “brand-new eco-friendly municipal transport” with the introduction.

Burak Ceyhan, the Head of MAN sales department in the Middle East, said the company was “happy to see some of the buses [coming to] the streets of Tbilisi by the end of 2023”.

Photo: Tbilisi City Hall

The City Hall plans to eventually introduce 160 new buses running on compressed natural gas, with the full fleet to involve 400 new buses by the end of 2024.

Naming overcrowded buses as one of the main challenges for the capital, Kaladze said the City Hall would “do everything to make public transport accessible” for residents of the city.