• Mobility The secrets of the electric and intelligent base that drives Madrid's buses: 52 pantographs, 613 panels...

"I've seen things you wouldn't believe," said replicant Roy Batty, during his famous monologue in the film Blade Runner. That speech (Tears in the rain was called) could perfectly be that of any of those first bus drivers (1947) of the Municipal Transport Company (EMT), if they traveled to that future in which we find ourselves. If they had before their eyes the design of the prototypes that will cross the streets of Madrid during the next decade. The futuristic figure of those vehicles would not have been out of tune in any scene of Blade Runner. Today it will be presented by the EMT in Barcelona, on the occasion of the Global Public Transport Summit of the International Union of Public Transport (UITP).

By the way, the creature has a name. It is called Horizonte and is the result of the Concept Bus ideas competition that EMT launched back in September last year. The winners have been the creative agency Héctor Serrano Studio, which has already won the second prize in the redesign of the double-decker buses in London, with its Welcome back project. As can be seen in the recreation that accompanies these lines, the metamorphosis with respect to the vehicles that currently circulate through the streets of the city is shocking. And although right now the project is not much more than a handful of images on a computer screen, it is expected that by 2024 there may be some full-scale prototype. These would be located by emblematic places of the capital so that citizens can assess and make suggestions, based on that personal experience.

Capacity for 70 people

But, apart from its galactic silhouette, what would be the attractions of this coming bus?

It will be a 100% electric vehicle that would be charged through inverted pantographs (there are currently fifty in the Carabanchel Operations Center) connected by wifi. The current Strategic Plan of the Consistory foresees an investment of more than 1,000 million euros until 2025 for decarbonization and technological transformation. EMT's electric fleet has 180 100% electric buses, which will be 330 (according to municipal forecasts) by the end of 2023. In 2024 the park will rise to 20.4% and a year later it will be a quarter (25%) of the total.

Project of the future bus of the EMT.E. M.

These future (and futuristic) buses would be manufactured with sustainable materials and in ochre tones, and would be progressively added to the existing fleet until the total renovation is completed. Logically, it is still priceless, but, to contextualize, each of the Bus Rapid models, which have just jumped onto the metropolitan scene (they connect Valdebebas with the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, and have given some other problems in their first days of operation), are valued at half a million euros.

The glazing of the bus, with a panoramic roof, would generate a feeling of spaciousness and luminosity. Its exterior design highlights the signaling band of the route that will be made, as well as the large access door for travelers, who would enter through the center of the vehicle. These points have been very well valued by the jury to win the ideas contest. The new model would not reduce the current capacity: 70 people would be seated and standing.

Could be autonomous

As for the displacement system, the project is designed so that there is a driver at the wheel, but, depending on how technology advances in these years, it could evolve to autonomous piloting. Although the starting point of Horizonte will be to have an employee at the controls.

Project of the future bus of the EMT.E. M.

The competition, convened last autumn, had a jury that evaluated the proposals submitted according to the criteria of alignment with the image of the EMT, the exterior design and its integration into the urban environment, as well as the interior functional design and the elements that make it up. The winning proposal receives an economic endowment of 100,000 euros and the finalist, 50,000.

If nothing goes wrong (and if the EMT plan goes ahead), the next decade, without a specific date, Horizonte, that project that will be presented today in Barcelona, will cross the streets of Madrid. Perhaps then hardly draws attention to that design that today seems more typical of Blade Runner than of the streets of the capital. Although there will always be someone who will look at it with amazement: "I have seen things that you would not believe."

  • Articles Carlos Guisasola
  • Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida

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