Skip to main content

UK Government funds cleaner, greener bus journeys

The UK Government has made US$39 million (£30 million) of funding available to bus operators and local authorities in England, enabling them to buy low emission buses and install chargepoints and other infrastructure. In total, the 13 successful bidders will be able to add 326 buses, including electric, hybrid, hydrogen and biomethane buses, to their fleets, and install more than US$9 million (£7 million) worth of infrastructure. Among the winners is Sheffield City Region, which has been awarded US$1.7 m
July 26, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The UK Government has made US$39 million (£30 million) of funding available to bus operators and local authorities in England, enabling them to buy low emission buses and install chargepoints and other infrastructure. In total, the 13 successful bidders will be able to add 326 buses, including electric, hybrid, hydrogen and biomethane buses, to their fleets, and install more than US$9 million (£7 million) worth of infrastructure.

Among the winners is Sheffield City Region, which has been awarded US$1.7 million (£1.3 million for) 44 buses fitted with hybrid technology.

Other successful bidders include West Midlands Travel, which has been awarded more than US$4 million (£3 million) to fund 10 hybrid and 19 fully electric buses, and install electric charging facilities. Birmingham City Council and 1466 Transport for London have jointly won US$3.6 million (£2.8 million) for 42 state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell buses, while Merseytravel has received US$6.4 million (£4.9million) for a total of 72 biomethane, hybrid or electric buses and associated infrastructure. Nottingham City Transport has been awarded US$5.7 million (£4.4 million) for 53 biomethane buses and infrastructure.

The low emission bus scheme builds on the Green Bus Fund, which saw US$116 million (£89 million) of government funding put more than 1,200 green buses on England’s roads – representing four per cent of buses in service. The government has also invested more than US$34 million (£26 million) since 2013 to retrofit more than 2,000 buses in pollution hotspots with low emission technology.

Related Content

  • August 22, 2017
    DfT appoints TRL to evaluate performance of low emission buses
    The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has been commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) to monitor and evaluate the performance and impacts of low emission buses in 13 locations across the country. Positioned across the UK, variations of gas, full-electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses will be procured and operated by bus operators. TRL will carry out data collection and analysis of bus and infrastructure performance, cost savings and environmental impacts to create insig
  • July 16, 2015
    London to get more electric buses
    Transport for London (TfL) has announced that two further bus routes will operate entirely with electric buses from autumn next year, lowering carbon emissions and helping to improve London’s air quality. The five-year contract to operate the routes has been awarded to Go Ahead following a competitive tender process, and will mean that 51 electric buses will operate across the two routes that will become the second and third pure electric bus routes in the Capital. Go Ahead will confirm which manufactu
  • October 23, 2023
    £150m boost for UK local bus services
    Money is part of reallocation of £36bn due to be spend on now-abandoned HS2
  • April 11, 2012
    Hydrogen filling station operating in California
    Linde North America, a specialist in the design, construction and operation of hydrogen vehicle fuelling systems, has commissioned an installation at AC Transit, the bus operator for 13 cities in the East Bay Area, including Emeryville, Oakland and Berkeley, and also operates trans-bay service to San Francisco. The Emeryville hydrogen fuelling station, which is now fuelling 12 fuel cell buses and up to 20 passenger cars a day, is one of two Linde is supplying to AC Transit. The second, located at the Oaklan