Local public transport is now completely powered by electricity. And there is to be a hydrogen filling station, Bavaria is funding the project with two million euros. Five new electric buses are in use on all local and pool transport routes, covering around 350,000 kilometers per year. “Bad Füssing is once again setting standards,” says Füssing’s mayor Tobias Kurz.
The project is another central building block on Bad Füssing’s path to an environmentally conscious and resource-saving future as a tourist community. The trend towards more ecology opens up great opportunities and potential for tourism, according to Bad Füssing’s spa and tourism manager Daniela Leipelt. “It is important to more and more people to go on vacation with a ‘clear conscience’.”
The e-mobility project was made possible in close cooperation between the municipality and the Bad Füssing bus company Eichberger Reisen from Manfred Eichberger. The five modern low-floor buses used in Füssing have a range of more than 400 kilometers. The new vehicles can be lowered and are therefore barrier-free.
The company invested around 3.6 million euros in the new buses and the necessary charging infrastructure. This was made possible by extensive funding from the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria. “The trend towards electric mobility in local public transport is unmistakable,” says Manfred Eichberger. “Bad Füssing has a lead of at least five years, also because of the very complex charging infrastructure.”
Bad Füssing is already working on the next big project: a hydrogen filling station is to be built in the village. “The gas station will be open to the public,” says entrepreneur Manfred Eichberger. Later on, municipal vehicles or even garbage trucks and ultimately private cars could also use this new offer. Ideally, according to Eichberger, the hydrogen for this filling station is generated on site from solar power using an electrolyser.
The Bavarian state government is funding the construction of the public hydrogen filling station by Eichberger Reisen with around two million euros. Six new e-charging stations with a total of twelve charging points will be built in Füssing in the coming months. This year, around 1,600 conventional street lights in town will also be converted to LEDs. The municipality is investing more than one million euros in this.
The annual power consumption for street lighting is to drop from 250,000 to just 35,000 kilowatt hours per year. The municipal council has also already decided to draw up an energy master plan, which is intended to show new ways towards the energy solutions of the future.
More guests again
The spa town of Bad Füssing recorded almost two million overnight stays with around 280,000 overnight guests in the previous year, according to tourism manager Daniela Leipelt.
This means that 80 percent of the pre-corona level has already been reached again. “We see a noticeable increase in guest arrivals in January and February compared to last year.” The forecasts indicate that Füssing is heading back to the level of 2019, says Leipelt. In any case, the length of stay of the guests is outstanding, Bad Füssing averages 6.7 days.
Author
Dieter Seitl
Local editor Innviertel
Dieter Seitl
