With electric buses and new trains: we are moving towns and cities in a new direction
Low-emission, inclusive mobility also works well in rapidly growing metropolises in the Global South. This is demonstrated by the Transport and Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI). To mark its tenth anniversary, the initiative is looking back at success in 120 cities and ringing in the next chapter: more rail transport.
A. Javed parks his bus at the station contentedly. The 25-year-old bus driver from Bengaluru, India’s fourth largest city, does not like to think back to the times when he still drove a diesel bus. ‘The exhaust fumes meant that the old vehicles caused pollution for other people on the road.’ He now sees the difference that the modern buses make to his city. The air has become measurably cleaner.
Electric mobility on track for success
Javed drives one of nearly 1,800 electric buses in Bengaluru. On the roads of India’s tech capital, operating the buses saves around 140 tonnes of CO2 a day. Bengaluru is one of 120 partner cities worldwide in a network headed by GIZ . In total, we have provided support to procure 100,000 electric buses since 2021.
The United Nations estimates that cities are responsible for up to 75 per cent of global CO2 emissions. For the ambitious centres in the Global South, there is an opportunity to set the course for climate action at an early stage. Financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), together with the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and nine other partners, we are driving the transport transition.
A door opener for sustainable investment
Attractive and inclusive services are important so that more people are motivated to use public transport. We have supported 40 cities in developing concepts for reliable and innovative local transport. This has resulted in follow-on investments worth more than EUR 5 billion. São Paulo is one such example: Here, 500,000 passengers and the climate benefit from the modernisation of two underground train lines. The project uses signalling technology from Siemens Mobility and brakes from Knorr – the project in Brazil is thus also filling the order books of German companies.
New partnerships for regional mobility
The initiative is now hitting the tracks. TUMI projet manager Jens Giesdorf says: ‘More and more people are travelling across city boundaries. In Africa alone, the urban population will double by 2050. This is why we want our network and experience to facilitate new partnerships for strong rail travel.’ Dialogue between European and African representatives from the rail industry at InnoTrans 2026, the leading international trade fair for transport technology, is a first step in this direction.
