At the beginning of this year, Solaris began selling its products on the Finnish market. In March 2012, the company won a tender and secured orders for the production and delivery of the first two buses featuring the green dachshund logo. In recent days, the Solaris buses have arrived in Tampere.
The first Solaris brand vehicles on the Finnish market are two 12.9-meter hybrid Urbino buses. These eco-friendly vehicles, which consume up to 30% less fuel compared to traditional buses, have been distinguished in the Tampere bus fleet with special decals. To select the most interesting graphic design, the carrier announced a competition among the residents of Tampere. The winner was Timo Huusko, who used the symbolism of blue drops and the city’s clean streets in his design, titled BlueBlob.
– Finland was the last Nordic country where Solaris buses were not yet present. We are very happy that we managed to change that. We hope this is a good omen for the future and that Finnish public transport passengers will like Solaris buses just as much as the Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes do – says Małgorzata Olszewska, Member of the Board for Sales and Marketing at Solaris.
Tampere, located in southern Finland, is one of the country’s largest industrial centers, which is why it is called the “Manchester of Finland.” Public transport in the metropolitan area, which has over 300,000 residents, is operated by the company TKL. It uses a fleet of 135 buses across 30 bus lines. Among them are the first Solaris Urbino buses in the country. Finland is one of 26 countries where vehicles produced by Solaris are on the roads.