With the BusTower, TruckTower is pursuing a new infrastructure approach for transit agencies facing increasing space constraints in existing depots. The electrification of bus fleets increases the demand for parking space, charging infrastructure, grid connection capacity, and safe operational processes. At the same time, suitable inner-city sites for new or expanded depots are scarce, expensive, or difficult to secure through planning processes in many cities. The submitted project proposal already involves five transit operators with a total of nine potential depot locations or use cases. This range makes it possible to examine different starting points—from densely populated existing urban depots to electrification bottlenecks and operator portfolios, as well as service center applications and new construction or relocation scenarios. At the same time, VerTIBUS remains open to additional operators who wish to contribute their own locations, data, or use cases during the project’s duration.
“With VerTIBUS, we are creating a robust basis for decision-making regarding when vertical depot infrastructure is technically feasible, economically viable, and approvable for transit companies,” says Dr.-Ing. Felix Hackbarth, Managing Director of TruckTower GmbH. “The BusTower is not merely a research concept. TruckTower possesses the systems expertise, the intellectual property foundation, and the partner network to concretely plan and implement such projects today. VerTIBUS is also intended to help systematically evaluate and standardize the application and make it scalable for other European operators.” The project will examine technical variants, safety and fire protection requirements, regulatory frameworks, charging and grid concepts, as well as economic viability models that account for savings from eliminating empty runs. The focus is on a transferable decision-making framework that shows transit companies under what conditions a BusTower can offer advantages over traditional depot expansions, new depot construction, or relocations.
The consortium combines industrial system expertise, applied research, charging and grid infrastructure, architectural and infrastructure planning, safety and fire protection expertise, and the perspective of transit operators. TruckTower serves as the project leader and commercial partner. Key partners involved include Fraunhofer IVI, emutec GRID SYSTEMS, Luetkens Architektur, IPROCONSULT, SiKo, TAIVR / Nicole Noack, and ARRIVA as the operating partner. The submission of the application is an important step toward the further market development of the BusTower system. A funding decision is still pending. If approved, VerTIBUS is scheduled to run for 24 months and create a solid foundation for future implementation and procurement decisions in public bus transportation. Regardless of this, TruckTower is already available today for discussions with transit companies, infrastructure operators, and cities that are examining specific space constraints in bus depots or wish to contribute their own sites to the project’s further development.