Alstom debuts electric bus in Chile inspired by tram design

Aptis, the electric bus developed by Alstom that offers the advantages of a tram, will soon begin running on the streets of Santiago, Chile. The 100% electric vehicle is already in Chile being prepared for a pilot within Red Metropolitana de Movilidad, the city’s metropolitan transport system, operated by Redbus Urbano, a Transdev’s subsidiary present in Chile since 2007.

The pilot aims to demonstrate the bus’s benefits to the city’s travelers for a period of three months. It will be the first time that Aptis has been tested outside of Europe.

In 2017, Aptis was awarded the Innovation Award at Busworld, the main international bus fair now being held in Brussels, Belgium. Aptis already been successfully tested in cities such as Paris, Versailles, Lyon, Strasbourg and Marseille in France, Hamburg and Berlin in Germany, and Barcelona, Madrid and Vigo in Spain, among others, where it has stood out thanks to its tram-inspired design, its maneuverability and its outstanding passenger experience, according to company officials.

Aptis features include up to three double doors on both sides for easy boarding and alighting. Its modular interior arrangement allows adjustments to requirements over time. The addition of 20% more glass surface area — compared to a conventional bus — offers panoramic views, and Aptis’s electric traction virtually eliminates noise and vibration in the vehicle.

“We are proud to bring to Chile this futuristic new solution for sustainable mobility, designed to meet the growing global demand for intelligent, inclusive, efficient and clean means of urban transport,” said Denis Girault, Managing Director of Alstom in Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.

In March 2019, Alstom received the first order for Aptis: an order of 12 buses from the Strasbourg transport company CTS (Communauté des Transports Strasbourgeois).