Further details have come of operator beneficiaries of the £38 million in additional funding for battery-electric bus procurement in England involving successful local authority (LA) bidders to the second round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA 2) scheme.
A claimed further 319 such examples will be delivered as a result of the extra money, the Department for Transport (DfT) says.
Information on individual operators’ additional vehicles is based on positions shared by those and LAs, although not all the latter contacted by routeone responded. The following is thus a best understanding of the position in mid-May. Infrastructure work is part of some additional allocations.
Via the Brighton and Hove City Council further sum of £2,360,656, 13 battery-electric double-deckers will be purchased by Brighton and Hove Buses. Those are expected to begin operation by September 2026 and will complement 16 such vehicles from the original ZEBRA 2 bid.
Devon County Council has been allocated an additional £772,052. That will see Stagecoach South West take 10 more double-deckers for its Exeter depot. The original Devon award was for 41 buses. All 51 are now due are to be rolled out by early 2026.
A major beneficiary of the supplemental money is Hull City Council. £3,907,844 will go towards 42 buses in addition to the 40 part-funded by the initial ZEBRA 2 bid. Of the extra vehicles, Stagecoach East Midlands will take 20 double-deckers and 16 single-deckers. East Yorkshire Buses accounts for the remaining six.
Isle of Wight Council has been allocated an extra £1,286,923. That will see nine double-deckers go to Southern Vectis above 22 from the original bid. All are expected in service during 2026.
Leicester County Council was allocated £126,000 for a single additional bus but has not provided further details. The prior ZEBRA 2 bid involves operators Arriva and Kinchbus.
Stagecoach East Midlands is also the beneficiary of the Nottinghamshire County Council additional ZEBRA 2 funding of £2,680,057. That will see 42 buses – 33 double-deckers and nine single-deckers – go to its Mansfield depot beyond the 23 that are the fruits of the original bid.
From the Reading Borough Council additional funding of £1,348,680, Reading Buses will see eight more double-deckers. Those will be Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV models, complementing 24 of that type already on order via the initial ZEBRA 2 funding.
Staffordshire County Council was awarded £2,207,439 of supplementary money for a further nine buses according to DfT, although the local authority has suggested that the figure is eight. It has not responded to a request for clarification.
Eight buses will be for Diamond Bus East Midlands in Burton-upon-Trent, complementing six from the initial tranche. It expects to order further Custom Denning single-deckers with the additional money. Staffordshire’s initial ZEBRA 2 bid also included 11 double-deckers for Arriva at Tamworth.
The secondary allocation to Surrey County Council is £1,740,820 for 12 additional vehicles. Falcon Buses will take eight more Alexander Dennis Enviro200EVs above its initial order for 13, while White Bus will receive four more Yutong E10s to go with six ordered via the original ZEBRA 2 bid.
Falcon Buses is in discussion with the local authority to add two more Enviro200EVs, which would ultimately take its fleet of those vehicles to 23.
Torbay Council gets a further £361,319 from DfT. That will part-fund six buses for Stagecoach South West. The overall total for that operator thus lifts to 55, enabling the operator’s Torbay fleet to be converted to battery-electric in its entirety.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) was the biggest winner from the additional funding round. It was allocated £19,890,000 for 160 additional buses, of which 27 will be repowers of diesel vehicles.
All will be taken by First West of England across depots in Bath and at Lawrence Hill in Bristol. The original WECA bid to ZEBRA 2 was for 74 battery-electrics; those, too, are for First West of England in Bristol.
Wiltshire County Council gets a further £1,177,904 for seven additional double-deckers. They will go to Go-Ahead business Salisbury Reds, joining 23 such vehicles from the primary ZEBRA 2 bid.
Meanwhile, Go-Ahead has clarified the position on additional vehicles for Plymouth Citybus. A further nine battery-electrics will be procured via a bid consortium made up of Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council, and the operator. 50 double-deckers are already in the process of delivery from the original ZEBRA 2 allocation.
