NLD-Keolis Utrecht Buiten

Keolis Utrecht Buiten

In November 2022 the final “programma van eisen (PvE)” (tender document) was published by Utrecht Province, together with the concessionUtrecht Binnen. Interested parties could submit their offers from July 2023,Vanaf juli 2023 konden vervoerders zich inschrijven op beide concessies. Arriva and Keolis submitted offers for Utrecht Buiten. On 11 June 2024 it was announced that Keolis had won the concession, which lasts for a period of 10 years.

The concession covers the eastern and western parts of Utrecht province and includes Amersfoort and Woerden urban services. Added to the concession is the Wijk bij Duurstede area, which previously belonged to Utrecht.

The Utrecht Buiten and Binnen concessions will use the same liveries: yellow for U-bus routes (normal bus routes), yellow with an orange front end for U-link services (faster, more direct routes) and blue for U-liner services (longer distance express services). The yellow livery is the one that was used already in Utrecht. The U-liner services are new. The U-link livery was a two-tone grey.

As Keolis was already the operator in this concession (under the Syntus name), it had the opportunity to make use of the existing fleet rather than having to buy all new buses at the start of the concession. While the intention is a full electric fleet it would be an impossible challenge to transfer the full area to electric vehicles from the start. Keolis opted for a full fleet of Yutong electric buses in two phases: one part at the start of the concession in December 2025, and the second phase in 2028.

New buses are:
8101-81xx: Yutong U12, U-bus yellow
8201-82xx: Yutong U12, U-link yellow with orange front end
8301-83xx: Yutong U15, U-liner blue
8501-85xx: Yutong U15, U-bus yellow
8601-86xx: Yutong U18, U-bus yellow
8701-87xx: Yutong U18, U-liner blue
????-????: Yutong U9, U-bus yellow (only in 2028)

Imported secondhand buses:
8403-8412: MAN Lion’s City G, ex Keolis Sverige, U-liner blue

Retained existing buses:
xxx: Setra S415LE Business, ex Syntus series 1001-1101
xxx: Setra S415LE Business, ex Syntus series 1602-1645, Pouw 1646-1654
xxx: Setra S418LE Business, ex Syntus/Pouw 1701-1729
xxx: Setra S418LE Business, ex Qbuzz 4701-47  (ex Wijk bij Duurstede area)
xxx: Rosero P First, ex Syntus 1800-series
xxx: Mercedes-Benz Citaro C2 G, ex Syntus/Pouw 1200-series
xxx: BYD K9U, ex Syntus 1902-1903
xxx: BYD K9UD, ex Syntus 1904-1908

Also, minibuses will be retained. Exact numbers of buses to be retained are not yet known.