Russian city invests in CNG buses to prepare for FIFA World Cup 2018

GAZ Group, a member of Basic Element, Russia’s largest diversified industrial group, has supplied 49 semi-low-floor LiAZ Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) city buses to Samara, Russia’s sixth largest city located in Russia’s south east Europe region.

The LiAZ-529370 CNG buses were supplied as part of the city’s fleet upgrade before the FIFA World Cup 2018, with 33 more CNG buses to follow in late March.

Pursuant to the FIFA requirements, the buses have low floors, a minimum passenger capacity of 85 seats, and special equipment for wheelchaired person transportation. Standard configuration for these urban transporters is 24 seats and maximum passenger capacity of 100, still retaining wheelchair accommodation.

The bus is equipped with a 255 hp 8.2 liter Euro IV Cummins engine, an automatic gearbox and mechanical ramp for easy wheelchair access. Low floor entry at the front and medium doors accelerates access to and from the bus.

LiAZ vehicles were also supplied for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. These 30 LiAZ-529230 buses have subsequently been deployed in Saint Petersburg.

Oleg Fursov, Chief of the City Administration of Samara, welcomed the addition of modern buses. “It is for the first time in 20 years that our city has received such a large bus batch. In the light of significant wear and tear of the Samara bus fleet, 82 new LiAZ buses are a great solution of some transportation problems of the city. We want to increase comfort of our citizens by further bus fleet upgrades.”

Nikolay Merkushin, Governor of the Samara Region, added that the city will purchase additional buses on a yearly basis leading up to the 2018 World Cup.