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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Transport industry experts gather in Brussels to commit to hydrogen mobility
    September 22, 2017
    Transport industry leaders have gathered in Brussels today to confirm their commitment to expanding the deployment of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure across Europe Global vehicle manufacturers, including Audi, BMW, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Symbio and Toyota, as well as leading hydrogen refuelling infrastructure providers, are gathering at the Hydrogen for Clean Transport conference to discuss and debate hydrogen-based solutions towards a zero emission transport
  • FTA urges government to rethink Clean air Zones
    December 21, 2015
    The UK’s Freight Transport Association (FTA) says exempting cars from the proposed Clean Air Zones in five English cities is a missed opportunity to significantly improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton, Nottingham and Derby would be required to introduce Clean Air Zones to reduce concentrations of nitrogen dioxide by 2020 at the latest.
  • Major Midlands junction improvement open
    March 17, 2017
    Highways England’s US$236 million (£191 million) scheme to improve journeys for drivers using a major interchange on the M1 in the Midlands has been officially opened. The major upgrade to improve the flow of traffic at junction 19, where the M1, M6 and A14 meet, is intended to the journeys made by more than 150,000 vehicles through the area every day. The new east-west link between the villages of Catthorpe and Swinford now runs beneath the M1-M6 link, and the M6, and connects the villages with the A
  • Design contract awarded for M40 noise barriers
    November 17, 2015
    A new milestone in a project to develop innovative ways of reducing noise along the M40 has been reached, with the award of a design contract worth up to US$3 million. The contract will see WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff review sites along the M40 between junctions 3 and 8, which have been identified as areas where road noise is a particular issue and help decide where the barriers would be of benefit. Earlier this year, Highways England, working in partnership with the M40 Chiltern Environmental Group, (M40