PSOE Claims Two Electric Buses Bought by Benidorm City Council for €1.5 Million Remain Out of Service

The Socialist Municipal Group has denounced the fact that the two fully electric buses purchased by Benidorm City Council for €1.5 million in early 2023 remain out of service, gathering dust in a depot operated by the company responsible for the city's urban transport.

Socialist spokesperson Cristina Escoda described the situation as yet another example of the “neglect, lack of planning and poor management” of the local government led by Mayor Toni Pérez. “The People's Party's inability to manage public affairs has left these state-of-the-art vehicles, which received significant funding from the Ministry of Transport, sitting idle when they should be helping to reduce polluting emissions in the municipality,” she said.

Escoda also accused the local government of cynicism and hypocrisy, arguing that Mayor Toni Pérez promotes one message while acting oppositely. “The PP never misses an opportunity to boast about its commitment to sustainable mobility, zero-emission transport and the modernisation of urban public transport, encouraging residents to leave their combustion-engine vehicles behind and improve their quality of life. However, the reality of its management is that it has been completely unable to put into service two electric buses that have been registered since 2025,” she stated.

The Socialist Group stressed that this is not an isolated case but rather reflects the usual way in which the PP administration manages public grants. Escoda pointed to the recent and controversial example of the brown bins for the separate collection of organic waste, which have still not been installed on the city's streets despite costing €1.5 million. “Everything suggests that we are going to lose the €800,000 European grant for these containers, and we hope the same does not happen with the funding we received for the electric buses,” she said.

Finally, the Socialist Municipal Group called on Mayor Toni Pérez to stop focusing on public appearances and social media photo opportunities and instead work to resolve the issues preventing these electric buses from entering service, so that Benidorm residents can benefit from vehicles that cost millions of euros.