Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus will add 30 new ADL Enviro400H buses to their most popular routes by September.
As part of the £9.2m investment, the buses will also be fitted with SmartVision mirrorless camera monitoring systems from 21st Century.
The new vehicles should run on electric power only through Brighton & Hove’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), a technique known as geofencing.
Despite being hybrids, the buses’ electric motors provide drive at all times. A small diesel generator is used to top up the battery but does not drive the wheels. Regenerative braking provides the bulk of the recharging on the move.
When the buses are running in zero-emissions mode – through the ULEZ – not even the generator will be operating.
Brighton & Hove and Metrobus’ Engineering Director, Steve Ambury, said, “The peripheral view and the clarity of the picture on the monitors is far better than normal mirrors. It’s much easier to spot a bike coming down the side of the vehicle, for example. It shows it from a long way away.”
