Hydrogen buses start running across region

The buses will run on the 10A route between St Helens, Knowsley and Liverpool City Centre

The first of Liverpool City Region's hydrogen buses have started running for passengers.

The publicly-owned zero emission vehicles operate on the 10A route between St Helens, Knowsley and Liverpool city centre.

There are 20 buses which will be "brilliant for those congested routes where air quality is a real problem," Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said.

The buses are part of a plan for Liverpool City Region to become net zero carbon by 2040.

"The only emissions out of the tail pipe will be water," Mr Rotheram said, adding: "It is a proud moment."

He said the buses, which feature phone chargers, reading lights and internet access, were a "statement of intent" about "where we want to take our public transport in future".

"We want to replace the whole fleet with zero emission buses whether electric or hydrogen," he said.

"We want more people to use our public transport system and we need to provide them with a genuine quality alternative to jumping in the car."

The vehicles also have increased capacity for wheelchair users and passengers with prams or buggies and feature audio and visual announcements for next stops.

In January a new £500m fleet of publicly-owned trains, including several battery-operated trains, began running on the Merseyrail network.