Transdev Blazefield has placed the first of 20 Mercedes-Benz eCitaro battery-electric single-deckers into service at its The Harrogate Bus Company business.
They are part-funded by the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme. The first will be used on the 1 group of services between the spa town and Knaresborough. In total, £9 million has been invested in the eCitaro fleet by the operator and its funding partners.
Work to provide charging facilities at both Harrogate depot and the town’s bus station has been completed. Arrival of the first eCitaro follows use of a demonstrator supplied by Daimler Buses UK, which was utilised to fine-tune the specification of the production buses.
Later eCitaro deliveries will convert route 7 between Harrogate, Wetherby and Leeds and service 24 between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge to zero-emission.
A fleet of Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV battery-electric double-deckers are on order for flagship route 36 between Ripon and Leeds, while an older batch of Volvo 7900e single-deckers have been in use in Harrogate for some years.
Speaking about the eCitaro debut, Transdev Blazefield Operations Director Vitto Pizzuti says: “We are excited to introduce the first of these stunning new vehicles into service on our route 1, delivering a revolution in quality for our customers while dramatically cutting our carbon footprint.
“The interior specification has been carefully devised to make travelling by bus comfortable, accessible and attractive, with fast and free wi-fi and USB charging, custom-designed seating in a part-leather, part-moquette design unique to us, a hearing loop, and two colour audio-visual information screens, one facing the wheelchair user space.”
Rollout of the eCitaro fleet will continue over the weeks to come, Transdev Blazefield adds.
