UK bus operator First Bus West of England & Wales has started work on two million pound electrification projects at Bristol and Weston-super-Mare bus terminals.
The company is investing £37.4 million in electrifying its Hengrove depot in Bristol to introduce 74 electric buses to the city's network. It will receive £6.6 million in funding from the government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. This program is scheduled to begin at the end of October.
The £14.9-million Weston-super-Mare project, where construction equipment has started to arrive, will add 24 new electric buses to its network next year. First Bus is investing £12.8 million and will receive a further £2.1 million from ZEBRA funding.
The new buses will mean 33% of the fleet at Weston will be electric, and 65% at Hengrove.
Work at both depots, carried out by construction teams from engineering specialists NG Bailey of Hengrove and Magnus Construction Group of Weston-super-Mare, is expected to be completed by March 2025 and the electric buses will arrive soon after. Electrifying the depots will also provide facilities for local companies to charge their EVs.
“We are seeing the first signs of a new era of electric, zero-emission buses in our region. We are proud as a company to invest over £50 million in this project, which will be the largest in the region for decades,” said Doug Claringbold, Managing Director of First West of England & Wales.
Source: The First Bus in the West of England and Wales