Winners revealed, with a first for Wales and significant investment for Manchester
The winners of the latest round of Ultra-Low Emission Bus (ULEB) funding, which will provide £48m support for 263 ultra-low emission vehicles and provide investment for charging infrastructure, have been announced.
Speaking at the UK Bus Summit last week (6 February), Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani revealed the 19 successful local authorities and bus operators in England and Wales:
- Birmingham Airport (six buses)
- Brighton and Hove Buses (20 buses)
- Cardiff City Council (36 buses)
- City of Wolverhampton (one bus)
- Coventry City Council (10 buses)
- First Bus Manchester (12 buses)
- First West Yorkshire (nine buses)
- Go North East (nine buses)
- Greater Manchester Combined Authority (23 buses)
- Manchester Community Transport (three buses)
- Newport Transport (one bus)
- Nottingham City Transport (infrastructure bid only)
- Nottinghamshire County Council (four buses)
- Stagecoach Manchester (32 buses)
- Stagecoach South Wales (16 buses)
- The Big Lemon (five buses)
- Transport for London (63 buses)
- Trent Barton (eight buses)
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority (five buses).
Stagecoach Manchester will benefit hugely from the funding, receiving £6.9m. By putting in £9.6m itself, the combined investment of £16.5m will deliver a new 32-vehicle fleet of zero-emissions buses and associated infrastructure over the next two years.
The first of the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 EV City buses, using battery and power electronics expertise from BYD, are expected to go into service later in 2019, with the new fleet fully in place by early 2020.
The funding will also see the first new electric buses for Wales, with Stagecoach South Wales receiving £2.9m and Cardiff and Newport.
With Stagecoach’s investment of £3.6m, the combined investment of £6.5m will go towards a new 16-vehicle fleet of Optare MetroCity and Solo buses, expected to go into service from 2020.
Brighton and Hove Buses and Metrobus have secured £4.36m towards 20 zero-emission fuel cell buses, while the £617,000 funding for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority will be used to fund a fleet of five ultra-low emission electric buses to serve the new, 1,200 space park-and-ride site at Stourton in Leeds.
In addition, Nottingham City Transport’s fleet of 53 bio-gas double-decker buses will more than double in size, as a further 67 will join the fleet this year, identical to its existing Alexander Dennis-bodied Scanias.
The operator has been successful in securing £1.12m from the scheme, which will be used to expand its bio-methane refuelling station at its main bus depot.
Says Ms Ghani: “The money has been spread across the country and those communities can enjoy the benefits of cleaner, greener bus services benefitting society as a whole.
“This latest investment reinforces the bus industry’s role as a leading contributor to the government’s road to zero strategy and to our future of mobility ground challenge.”
