Belgium drives electric

Alongside the fact that these city buses are environmentally friendly, their reliability and flexibility also played a crucial role in the purchase decision. Hansea has a contract with public transport companies De Lijn and TEC to operate local and long-distance bus lines. The company also provides school buses, employee transport and coach services. The order was correspondingly varied too: Hansea has ordered the MAN Lion’s City E in both its 12-metre solo version and the compact 10-metre variant which, thanks to its outstanding manoeuvrability, is ideal for narrow city centre streets. In addition to these, MAN will also supply battery electric, 18-metre articulated buses that will show off their strengths on routes with especially high passenger numbers. All these different variants mean that Hansea can use its new fleet of buses for a wide range of applications throughout Flanders.

Arrive safely and comfortably

To ensure that both driver and passengers arrive relaxed, Hansea attached great importance to comprehensive comfort and safety features. MAN OptiView makes cornering easier for bus drivers in heavy city traffic. The mirror replacement system makes blind spots visible, improving safety not only when cornering, but also when changing lanes and manoeuvring. The buses are also equipped with a reversing camera, LED headlamps, electric sunshades, a light and rain sensor, and an ergonomic driver’s seat. Passengers enjoy the ride in comfortable seats with high-quality covers and combined USB sockets.

A deciding factor for this new order was the long-standing relationship with MAN Truck & Bus’s Belgian bus department, combined with the ease of delivery and the excellent MAN service network that Hansea has always been able to rely on – just as it has for many years with MAN eBuses. The first MAN Lion’s City E in Belgium hit the roads of Route 36 in Antwerp back in 2021. Hansea trialled the electric bus, one of the MAN Truck & Bus eBus demo fleet, for a year. This successful test formed the basis for subsequent orders of first 90 and now a further 181 eBuses from MAN. “It’s a genuine success story, and we’re very proud of it,” explained Barbaros Oktay, Head of Bus at MAN Truck & Bus. “After all, it has also significantly helped us to become market leaders for eBuses in Europe in recent years, continuously increasing the production figures for the Lion’s City E.”