First Bus and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) have announced a further £11.2m investment in the operator’s Bramley depot which will make half the fleet zero emission before the end of 2024.
WYCA with support from First Bus have been successful in securing £3.4m in a ‘variation request’ from the Department for Transport (DfT) Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) project.
First Bus is investing £7.8m which will introduce an additional 22 double-decker electric buses, increasing the total at the depot to 79.
The depot is now home to the largest fleet of zero emission buses in West Yorkshire, and has been transformed with the capacity to operate a fully electric fleet from earlier ZEBRA funding and investment totalling £29m.
The current fleet of 57 electric buses – 32 single-decker GB Kite Electroliners 25 StreetDeck Electroliner double-deckers – entered service in March.
These buses are manufactured by Wrightbus with features including audio visual next stop technology and USB charging points.
Each bus saves around 75 tonnes of CO2e a year, making a total of 4,275 equivalent tonnes of carbon annually.
Megan Hope, Operations Director of First Bus in North & West Yorkshire, said: “We’re seeing a positive reaction from customers to the electric buses and believe they will attract more people to consider bus travel by realising the real impact this has in reducing congestion and creating cleaner air and quieter streets.”
Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, Cllr Peter Carlill said: “These state-of-the-art electric buses will help West Yorkshire towards its goal of becoming a net zero economy by 2038.”
