The company says that the trams will become operational on the 4th tram line to Imanta by the end of 2016. The deal is set to cost about €70m. The new tram procurement won't influence the price of public transportation in Rīga, says the company.
The tender requires that the winner has to deliver 15 three-section and 5 four-section low-floor trams. The first tram has to be delivered no more than 12 months, while the last tram - no more than 18 months after the agreement has been concluded.
The repayment date cannot be shorter than 15 years after concluding the agreement. The tender is open until 14:00 of October 15, 2015.
The announcement also shared some details about the current trams used by the city's chief public transportation company. Of the 189 trams, 26 have a low floor, and they are currently running on the 6th and 11th tram lines.
Trams are environmentally friendly and are furthermore quite agile. The average speed of a tram in Rīga is 16.07 km/h, and tram rails stretch for some 124 kilometers in Rīga. There are a total of 242 stops. A whopping 34 million passengers are carried each year in Rīga's trams.
Last year the Rīgas satiksme municipal public transportation company, which is owned by the city of Rīga, posted losses of €4.6 mln whereas in 2013 the figure was €0.679 mln.
A ticket for a single ride in Rīgas Satiksme's trams, buses or trolleys costs €1.20 in a newsstand or €2.00 if you buy the ticket from the driver, but the costs are heavily subsidized for low-income groups such as pensioners, students and disabled persons.
