Passengers welcome almost 60 new electric buses

Passenger Sam Smith described the new double-decker buses as "a joy"

Passengers have welcomed the introduction of 59 electric double-decker buses.

More than £37m has been spent on converting 60% of the vehicles operated by First Bus in Norwich.

Its depot, in Roundtree Way, is now home to the first fully-electric bus fleet outside of London, the company said.

Passengers praised a reduction in fumes and a smoother ride.

The buses take two to three hours to charge and have a range of about 200 miles (322 km)

Colin Daniels, 51, who is registered blind, described the new vehicles as "fantastic".

"They're very smooth, very quiet and I like the fact they've got wi-fi," he said.

"The only downside is that it doesn't announce the stops yet, it only says 'door opening and door closing' which isn't very helpful but I'm sure that's coming."

Passenger Colin Daniels said he rode one of the first electric buses when they entered service in November

Work to convert the Roundtree Way depot began in July 2023 with the first zero-emission buses becoming operational in November.

Sam Smith, 79, said he regularly used the bus to get from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to the city centre.

"It's such a joy to [have] less fumes as you walk around the city," he said.

"And it's such an improvement on the previous stock which chugged so noisily."

The government provided almost £15m to help buy the buses and transform the depot following a joint bid by Norfolk County Council and First Bus, with First Bus funding the remaining £22m.

Each double-decker cost about £500,000 and it was thought they would save about 75 tonnes of CO2 per vehicle, per year, when compared to diesel busses.

Bus driver Gordon Lowe said the new vehicles were so quiet he could overhear passengers' conversations

Bus driver Gordon Lowe, said the buses could travel a long way on a full charge.

"On the blue line we have the buses running out of the depot at 7 in the morning and coming back at midnight with about 20% charge," he added.

First Bus said it hoped to have 11 electric single-decker buses in service by the end of March and that all new electric vehicles would have audio and visual next stop information added in the coming weeks.