Nestled alongside a mountain popularly known as “La Silla” Hill lies the vast metropolitan city of Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León. A city that speaks for itself, Monterrey boasts a strong industrial development centered on the automotive and food industries. Its strategic location—just two hours by bus from the United States—makes it an attractive destination for foreign investment. Monterrey is also renowned for its prestigious educational institutions that foster entrepreneurship, making it a cradle of ideas for social and economic development. It’s no surprise that this prominent city is known as “The Sultan of the North” or “Mexico’s Industrial Capital.”

In this region, home to over 5 million people in its metropolitan area, the city’s rapid growth brings significant challenges, particularly environmental ones.

Industrial activity, extensive construction projects, excessive use of fossil fuel-powered vehicles and transportation, population growth, and the city’s atmospheric and geographical conditions have made Monterrey one of the five most polluted metropolitan areas in Mexico.

On a daily basis, the public transportation system serves approximately 17 million passengers monthly, utilizing the metro (Metrorrey), feeder routes (Transmetro), and bicycles (Ecovía) as means of transit.

Amid these environmental and mobility challenges, GGGI has built a significant partnership with the government of the state of Nuevo León, aiming to gradually transition its public transportation fleet to a low-emissions model, with a focus on e-mobility.

It all began in 2020, when GGGI developed the Country Program Framework 2021–2025: A Mexico transitioning toward green growth and sustainability. This document was created through the participatory engagement of various sectors and key stakeholders, including government, industry, academia, and civil society. It identified the country’s key programmatic solutions and strategic priority outcomes, resulting in the following areas of intervention:

1. Mobilization of green investments
2. Climate action activities
3. Sustainable mobility
4. Climate-resilient agriculture solutions
5. Solutions and actions focused on sustainable landscapes
6. Waste management

Within these areas, specifically regarding sustainable mobility, GGGI began working on key topics such as clean mobility and the electrification of public transportation.

Initial Experiences: Electrification of the Metrobús in Mexico City

Once sustainable mobility was identified as a national priority, GGGI’s first objective was to determine which states at the subnational level considered this issue important and to begin working collaboratively.

Prior to 2020, GGGI engaged with organizations such as C40, which, together with The ICCT and WRI, formed the ZEBRA Alliance (Zero Emissions Bus Rapid Accelerator). This alliance aims to provide solutions that accelerate the deployment of low-carbon electric buses in cities across Latin America.

Together with the ZEBRA Alliance, GGGI provided technical assistance to the Government of Mexico City from 2020 to 2022. This effort led to the transformation of Line 3 of the Metrobús (Tenayuca–Santa Cruz Atoyac), making it the first public transportation route in Mexico City to be 100% electric, with 60 electric buses.

During the launch event for these units (February, 2022), the then Head of Government of Mexico City, now President of the country, Claudia Sheinbaum, highlighted:
“Today, we are fulfilling a personal, academic, and great dream for Mexico City: having the first fully electric Metrobús line in the city—Line 3.” She also emphasized that while many cities already have electric transportation systems, very few have high-floor BRT systems, which significantly enhance user mobility.[1]

GGGI’s technical assistance included:

1. Supporting the evaluation and improvement of documents and technical annexes related to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the supply of charging infrastructure.
2. Providing support to Metrobús during the bidding process and developing a set of evaluation criteria to guide the selection of the most cost-effective and technically viable proposals.
3. Assessing the project’s financial model, offering recommendations to strengthen it, and providing Metrobús with transaction advisory services to select the best credit terms from a wide range of financial providers (commercial and development banks).

In addition to Line 3, GGGI, together with ZEBRA, supported the deployment of 55 electric buses on Line 4 of the Metrobús (Buenavista–San Lázaro) in Mexico City.

The Electrification of Public Transportation Reaches Northern Mexico’s Most Important City: Monterrey

Building on its prior experience with Metrobús and after a series of discussions with the Government of the State of Nuevo León, GGGI signed a Memorandum of Understanding on September 22, 2022. This agreement marked the beginning of the first phase of technical assistance to Metrorrey, set to last one year.

Monterrey had three elevated metro lines, which, under the current aspirations of the state government, are set to expand to six. While Metrorrey operates these metro lines, it faces the challenge of providing complementary transportation services for the more than 5 million residents of this northern city.

To address this, the so-called feeder routes of Transmetro, composed of bus lines, play a crucial role in filling this missing piece of the puzzle and enhancing Metrorrey’s mobility system.

The challenge was clear: to electrify these feeder routes by converting their current diesel buses into fully battery-powered electric vehicles.

Challenges of the Collaboration

During GGGI’s engagement with Metrorrey, several challenges arose that impacted the implementation process:

Technical Issues Related to Electrification Deployment

1. Charging Technology: Identifying the most suitable charging technology, factoring in bus range or how many kilometers a bus can travel without recharging.
2. Energy Consumption: Evaluating the energy usage of buses, accounting for necessities like air conditioning and other elements that may reduce available energy.
3. Passenger Capacity: Understanding how many passengers a bus can carry without compromising transport efficiency or mobility.

Financial Challenges

1. Service Pricing: Transitioning to a per-kilometer cost model to improve efficiency, replacing manual fare collection while factoring in state subsidies for public transportation.
2. Financial Projections: Conducting financial analyses to demonstrate to the state government whether converting a route to electric makes economic sense.

Legal and Regulatory Challenges

1. Contract Support: Providing legal assistance to ensure transparency and certainty in contracts and bidding processes.

José L. Amaya, Deputy Country Representative and Subnational Coordinator, who led this collaboration, highlighted the sensitivity of public transportation:

“If service isn’t provided even for a single day, it’s a major red flag for operators. This could lead to a false debate about whether ensuring high-quality public service should take precedence over decarbonizing public transportation. But the reality is that both can be done simultaneously: introducing better technologies and improving service at the same time.”

Amaya also stressed the importance of public transportation budgets being executed based on long-term benefits, rather than cost-cutting. He noted:

“Shifting from diesel or gasoline to an electric energy matrix significantly reduces emissions and improves air quality by lowering suspended particulate matter from fossil fuels.”

GGGI’s Contributions

Using resources from the Korean Green New Deal Fund (KGNDF), GGGI supported Metrorrey as follows:

1. Technical Support: Addressing the requirements for deploying electric buses, leveraging experience from similar Latin American systems like Chile’s Transantiago and Colombia’s TransMilenio, as well as the recent Metrobús experience in Mexico City. Pantograph charging technology was chosen for the electric buses.
2. Financial, Legal, and Regulatory Support: Providing technical assistance during bidding and facilitating dialogue between bidders and financial institutions. Virtual sessions allowed financial institutions to present funding options to private bidders, ensuring equal financing opportunities. Additionally, GGGI developed a carbon market roadmap to monetize opportunities in the electric mobility sector, paving the way for future green investments.

Results and Environmental impact

Thanks to this collaboration, 66 electric buses were deployed on Transmetro Line 3 (Hospitalidad Metropolitana–Zaragoza), benefiting 46,000 daily passengers.

The positive environmental impact includes avoiding the emission of 24,000 tons of CO2e and 4,000 tons of black carbon over the 15-year project lifecycle.

Roberto Abraham Vargas Molina, General Director of Metrorrey, stated:
“GGGI’s technical assistance has been invaluable in decarbonizing Metrorrey’s fleet and achieving the goals of our State Development Plan.”

Following this intervention, the Government of Nuevo León has signaled its ambition to electrify its entire public transportation fleet.

Next Steps: Towards a Future with Low-Carbon Transportation Options

Building on these two successful experiences (Metrobús and Metrorrey), GGGI will continue supporting subnational governments in transitioning their fossil fuel-powered public transportation systems to more sustainable mobility options, such as electromobility or other low-carbon alternatives. At the same time, GGGI will provide technical advisory services to strengthen its financing schemes, all within a framework of green growth and sustainability that benefits society, the economy, and the environment.

[1] Information from: https://www.jefaturadegobierno.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/pone-en-marcha-claudia-sheinbaum-primera-linea-de-metrobus-100-por-ciento-electrica-en-el-mundo

Pictures: GGGI Mexico.