New electric bus fleet to cut 'tonnes' of carbon

The buses will be delivered over the next few weeks

A new fleet of electric buses is set to hit the roads in the West of England following a £59m project to upgrade two key bus depots.

A total of 98 new buses will soon be operating across nine services in Bristol and North Somerset following the installation of rapid chargers at depots in Hengrove and Weston-super-Mare.

The buses can travel up to 230 miles on one charge, and can be fully charged in just one hour and 15 minutes.

Newly-elected West of England Mayor Helen Godwin said: "It's better for the environment, and a reliable way to travel, which is what people are asking us for."

The first 24 new electric buses are already operating from the Weston-super-Mayor depot, while the Hengrove depot in Bristol is set to get 74.

Over the next year, 258 new electric buses are set to be delivered across the West, with Bath routes being electrified in 2026.

The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) estimates each electric bus will save an average of 75 tonnes of carbon per bus a year, equivalent to taking 54 cars off the road.

The whole fleet will reduce global warming gas emissions by the same amount as 14,000 cars produce, it added.

First Bus, one of the UK's largest bus operators, provided £50m of the funding, while the remaining £9m came from central government.

"The electric buses are comfier and more reliable," said Mayor Godwin

Local Transport Minister Simon Lightwood officially opened the Hengrove depot on Tuesday.

He said the government was bringing "cleaner, quieter and smoother bus journeys to Bristol and beyond".

Mr Lightwood added: "Better buses help deliver our Plan for Change - creating green jobs, boosting the local economy, and building a more sustainable future."

Mayor Godwin was among the guests at the launch. She told the BBC that the buses will provide an overall better experience for passengers.

"They're better for the environment, they're cleaner in terms of emissions, they're new, they're comfortable, have a lot of passenger capacity and they're more reliable.

"They're less likely to break down and I'm hopeful that the more of this fleet that we get, we can start to see the difference in the performances of buses in the region."

First Bus's Rob Pymm said the new buses were more reliable than engine-powered vehicles.

Rob Pymm, acting managing director for First Bus in the West of England, said that as well as being good news for the environment, the buses are also a lot more reliable than diesel-powered vehicles.

"They have many fewer moving parts, and we have just found they break down less often," he explained.

He said that by 2026, roughly half the company's bus fleet in the region would be electric.

"Having three quarters of a million passengers every day travelling by electric bus - that's pretty exciting news," he added.