Berlin seeks partners for city-wide digital depot management system
A major European city is procuring a long-term depot management and charging system for 3,500 vehicles, highlighting a wider shift to smart transport operations.
A major European city is procuring a long-term depot management and charging system for 3,500 vehicles, highlighting a wider shift to smart transport operations.
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Berlin’s main public transport operator is preparing to introduce a depot management system that will bring vehicle allocation, charging and real-time tracking for up to 3,500 vehicles under one digital roof, backed by a decade of hardware and software support.
On 21st November 2025, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) published a contract notice for the BVG Depot Management System. The project’s aim is clear: to implement a system that digitalises and optimises processes at up to 15 depots across the city.
The planned system will cover three core functions: vehicle allocation, charging management and real-time tracking. Together, these are intended to give BVG a unified view of what is happening across its depots and fleet, replacing fragmented or manual processes with a single digital layer.
The scale is significant. Managing up to 3,500 vehicles across as many as 15 sites demands tight coordination of vehicle movements, parking, maintenance access and departures. A dedicated depot management system is intended to help ensure that the right vehicles are in the right place, ready to enter service when needed.
Vehicle allocation functionality should support planners and depot staff in matching vehicles to duties and routes, taking into account factors such as availability, maintenance needs and charging status. Real-time tracking for up to 3,500 vehicles promises much better situational awareness inside and between depots.
Charging management is a central element. While the notice does not spell out the propulsion mix in detail, the inclusion of charging management within the depot system suggests that BVG is designing for an expanding share of electric vehicles and for the operational complexity that follows.
The contract also provides for comprehensive hardware and software support over a ten-year period. That duration underlines that BVG is not buying a short-lived IT tool, but a long-term operational backbone that will need to be maintained, updated and supported as vehicles, depot layouts and wider systems evolve.
As bus and municipal fleets electrify, depots are becoming energy hubs as much as parking and maintenance sites. Digital control of charging is therefore moving into the core of transport operations rather than sitting at the margins.
In June 2025, NEW AG for NEW mobil und aktiv Mönchengladbach GmbH launched a contract for Depot and Load Management Systems. That project combines a depot management system for electric buses with a load management system to optimise charging and scheduling for a growing e-bus fleet. The emphasis on synchronising charging and operations echoes BVG’s decision to embed charging management within its own depot platform.
In September 2025, Göttinger Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH issued a prior information notice on a Charging, Load and Energy Management System, seeking ways to manage and monitor charging infrastructure for its expanding electric bus fleet, with a focus on operational efficiency, safety and energy management. Again, digital control of charging is framed as an operational necessity rather than a purely technical add-on.
The same pattern is visible in projects that go beyond battery buses. In October 2025, Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH outlined plans for GMH Charging Infrastructure at a new operating yard for hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric buses, including medium-voltage systems, DC chargers and a load and charging management system. Here too, intelligent management of electricity demand is central to the design.
Infrastructure planning is adapting in parallel. In August 2025, Stadtwerke München GmbH sought planning services for HVAC and related systems at a new fully electrified bus depot in Fröttmaning, explicitly tied to charging infrastructure for electric buses. While that project focuses on building systems rather than software, it reinforces the idea that depots must now be engineered around power flows as much as vehicle movements.
Against that backdrop, BVG’s choice to anchor charging management inside a city-wide depot management system positions the depots as a meeting point between energy management and service delivery. The system is likely to be critical in balancing charging needs with vehicle availability and grid constraints.
Depot systems are only one part of a wider digital architecture that now stretches from vehicles and workshops through to control centres, ticketing and passenger information. Across Europe, operators are procuring systems that, taken together, form a connected layer over physical infrastructure.
In June 2025, Barnimer Bus Company tendered a Control Center Software Solution that combines operational control with offer planning in a modular design. The system is intended to use vehicle telemetry and real-time data to improve maintenance and scheduling. Where Barnim’s project focuses on the control centre, BVG’s depot system is directed at ground operations, but both rely on continuous, high-quality data from vehicles and depots.
In August 2025, Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG issued a contract notice for the modernisation of IT communication systems on trams and buses, including new onboard computers and communication systems to strengthen traffic management and long-term maintenance support. This kind of onboard upgrade complements depot and control-centre investments by ensuring that vehicles can exchange reliable data with back-office systems.
In November 2025, A.T.P. – Azienda Trasporti Pubblici Nuoro in Italy went to market for an integrated AVM and ticketing system. That project brings together automatic vehicle monitoring, GPS localisation, passenger counting, electronic ticketing, on-board video surveillance and various software solutions, all aimed at improving public transport services and operational efficiency. It illustrates how many operators are now buying integrated platforms rather than isolated tools.
Digitalisation is also reshaping smaller and medium-sized cities. In August 2025, the municipality of Dobrich in Bulgaria sought to digitise its public transport system with on-vehicle video surveillance, passenger counting and electronic boards at stops for real-time information. In October 2025, Stara Zagora Municipality followed with a contract for maintenance of its urban transport management system and AVL equipment, including electronic information boards. Both projects, like BVG’s, treat real-time operational data as a core public service asset.
Behind the scenes, workshop and maintenance functions are also moving to dedicated platforms. In September 2025, Rheinbahn AG in Düsseldorf launched procurement of a Workshop Management System to improve digital order and resource planning, enable mobile maintenance work, streamline data collection, cut errors and speed up workflows, with integration into SAP. A depot management system such as BVG’s will sit alongside, and likely interface with, this sort of workshop software.
In this wider context, BVG’s move to a comprehensive depot platform looks less like a stand-alone IT replacement and more like the next piece in a continent-wide effort to create continuous digital control loops across public transport networks.
Within Berlin itself, other public operators are also overhauling how they manage fleets and assets. In July 2025, Berliner Wasserbetriebe published a contract notice for a fleet management system replacement, covering not only new software but also telematics and a vehicle opening system. The aim there is to improve vehicle management and support electrification goals, showing that smarter fleet control is becoming a cross-sector priority in the city.
In October 2025, the Land Berlin – Sondervermögen Immobilien des Landes Berlin (SILB), via BIM Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH, went to market for a new Document Management System. That project aims to improve document handling, support collaboration, ensure compliance and integrate with existing systems as part of a wider digitalisation strategy. While far from buses and depots, it shares BVG’s emphasis on integration and long-term digital infrastructure.
Other sectors are making similar moves around technical facilities. In July 2025, Météo-France initiated works for the deployment of a Building Management System and supervision for its sites. In September 2025, KABEG in Austria went to market for building management technology software, and Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln is procuring maintenance and software migration services for its building management systems. The common thread is the move towards integrated management platforms with long-term support – the same model BVG is now applying to its depots.
Long-term support and incremental upgrades are also shaping traffic management. In November 2025, the Organisation and Control of Transport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, sought technical software maintenance, repair support and development for its traffic management and control system, including equipment upgrades, spare parts and staff training. BVG’s ten-year support horizon for its depot system sits firmly within this trend of treating digital systems as critical infrastructure with defined life-cycle support.
The depot management system now being procured by BVG could reshape how Berlin’s depots operate, from the moment vehicles enter the yard to the point they leave for service. Its success will rest on how well it can be integrated with existing control, maintenance and energy systems, and on how smoothly it can be rolled out across up to 15 sites.
Implementation choices – such as the sequence in which depots migrate to the new platform, the way real-time tracking data is shared with other operational systems, and how charging priorities are set – will determine how far the promised optimisation is realised in day-to-day operations.
With transport authorities across Europe investing in similar digital platforms for depots, fleets and infrastructure, the outcome of this procurement will be watched closely by peers looking to link vehicle management, charging and real-time control into a single, dependable system.
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