Zurich electric bus tender concluded: Yutong and Daimler Buses replace the Hess–MAN pairing

Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich’s (VBZ) electric bus tender, launched in January this year and widely discussed both in professional circles and in Switzerland, has been concluded. The public transport operator issued the call for tenders after persistent technical and operational reliability problems emerged with the fully electric Hess and MAN buses procured earlier. On July 29, Zurich City Council approved the financing for the procurement, under which VBZ will acquire eight rigid electric buses from Yutong France and twelve articulated electric buses from Daimler Buses Schweiz. The new vehicles are expected to enter service from mid-2027.

The total value of the procurement is around 17 million Swiss francs, although the 20 buses now ordered represent only the first step. The contracts also include substantial option volumes: further vehicles could be procured from Yutong for up to 107 million Swiss francs, and from Daimler Buses for up to 121 million Swiss francs. The options partially overlap, so VBZ is keeping both manufacturers in contention for the time being and will decide on later call-offs only on the basis of operating experience with the first vehicles. As an option, the public procurement also allows for the purchase of a further 100 trolleybuses, which could be supplied exclusively by Yutong, as Daimler Buses does not manufacture trolleybuses. If the full option quantity is called off, the total value of the project could reach 300 million Swiss francs.

The result now announced brings to a close a strategic decision made at the end of 2025. At that time, VBZ decided not to exercise the remaining options available under its framework agreements with Hess and MAN, but instead to select new suppliers through an open public procurement procedure. The earlier agreement between the Zurich transport operator and Hess would have allowed the procurement of a total of 166 articulated and bi-articulated trolleybuses, while the contract with MAN would have enabled the purchase of up to 35 rigid and 80 articulated battery-electric buses by the end of the decade. However, only a small part of the available quantity was called off.

The change of course was prompted by persistent technical and operational reliability problems affecting vehicles placed in service in 2022 and 2023. In the case of the Hess trolleybuses, recurring issues were caused primarily by failures of the heating and ventilation systems, while on the MAN Lion’s City E electric buses faults arose in connection with the running gear, door system and heating. The manufacturers were given months to remedy the shortcomings, but the situation was not resolved, so the transport operator ultimately decided to put new manufacturers into competition. The seriousness of the problems is underlined by the fact that, at the end of 2024, VBZ was forced to procure ten used diesel buses in order to maintain services.

For the first time in VBZ’s history, a Chinese bus manufacturer has won a significant order. The eight rigid electric buses will be supplied by Yutong’s French subsidiary, Yutong France, while the twelve articulated vehicles will be delivered by Daimler Buses Schweiz; the latter will be Mercedes-Benz eCitaro G models. According to the transport operator, the decisive factors in both categories were primarily the favourable price and short delivery time.

The decision may be particularly sensitive for Switzerland’s Hess, which, as the country’s only bus manufacturer, had been one of VBZ’s most important suppliers for decades. With the outcome of the current tender, however, it has been completely excluded from the procurement, which not only represents a major loss of prestige for the company, but also shows that this time the customer clearly favoured competitive bids over previous supplier relationships. The result of the Zurich tender therefore goes beyond the 20 buses now ordered and sends a clear signal to European bus manufacturers as well: traditional market positions and a domestic connection no longer guarantee orders on their own. If a manufacturer cannot offer adequate operational reliability, a competitive price and short delivery times, transport operators are increasingly prepared to turn to products from new manufacturers – including Chinese ones.

VBZ’s rubber-tyred fleet currently consists of 266 vehicles: 92 Hess trolleybuses, 49 MAN Lion’s City E battery-electric buses in rigid and articulated versions, 16 Hess lighTram 10 Plug electric midibuses, 16 Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid and 32 Volvo 7900A Hybrid buses, as well as diesel buses built by Mercedes-Benz, MAN and Neoplan. The transport operator’s long-term goal is to electrify the entire fleet, enabling all buses to operate on the streets of Zurich with zero local emissions in the future.

The images in the article are for illustration purposes.