Sofia City Hall Overhauls Entire Trolleybus Park

The trolleybus park in the Bulgarian capital Sofia will be replaced nearly 100% in the next year to year and a half.

Thirty new trolleys have been purchased with EU funding in 2010, which is about 30% of the existing trolley park in the capital. 50 new trolleys are to be purchased as part of a project for integrated public transportation.

Lyubomir Hristov, Deputy Mayor for Transportation at the Sofia City Hall, has informed that the above said project is already in Brussels, at an advanced stage, which has given him optimism that the capital will have all new trolleys in the next 18 months.

Hristov has voiced regrets about the deplorable State of Sofia's buses, pointing out the management of the municipal company "Capital Automotive Transport" has been working and is near completion of a 5-year program for the renewal of their buses. In addition, under a public tender for concession of public transportation routes to private companies, 60 new buses have appeared in the city.

Three new subway trains have also been purchased in 2010 for BGN 20 M.

According to the Deputy Mayor, the City Hall had made significant investments in public transportation, but the capital still suffers from the lack of such regular investments in the past.