Quickly posting this during my lunch hour as its pretty big news…
Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, has today (22 March 2024) announced the winners of £143m Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) programme.
The fund sees 25 councils win a share of the money, which will be invested in 955 buses. Rural areas have been prioritised in this second tranche of ZEBRA funding, with the first £40 million for rural communities.
The south west is to receive the largest share of the funding, with £43,400,000 due to go to the region to pay for 352 buses. The second biggest share is to go to the south east, which is set to receive £30,200,000 for 179 buses (see below for a breakdown of how much each region is due to receive).
Today’s investment follows over £270 million to 16 Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) and councils from the first round of ZEBRA funding, bringing the total government support to roll out zero-emission buses to more than £413 million across 41 LTAs.
Over half of electric buses from the first round of the ZEBRA scheme are manufactured in the UK.
The new zero-emission buses follow £4.7 billion of reallocated HS2 funding invested directly into the North and Midlands through the Local Transport Fund.
Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, said: “As part of our plan to improve local transport across the country, we’re providing a further £143 million to improve journeys for bus passengers particularly in rural areas, with almost a thousand brand new, zero-emission buses due to hit the road.
“This latest investment into our bus fleet comes on top of the £3.5 billion we have invested into our bus network since 2020, protecting and improving bus routes into 2025 as well as extending the £2 bus fare cap until the end of 2024, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.”
South West
Cornwall Council - £1,300,000, 8 buses
Devon County Council - £5,300,000, 41 buses
Gloucestershire County Council - £5,900,000, 58 buses
North Somerset Council - £2,100,000, 24 buses
Plymouth City Council - £9,500,000, 50 buses
Somerset Council - £2,200,000, 25 buses
Torbay Council - £7,100,000, 49 buses
West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - £6,600,000, 74 buses
Wiltshire Council - £3,400,000, 23 buses
South West total: £43,400,000, 352 buses
https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/zebra-2-funding-announced/
so I make that 148 new buses for Devon & Cornwall…
I will start looking at these schemes in more detail over the coming week but felt it good to get this out there today!
Amazing news. Finally some positive moves for the industry after a rocky couple years
ReplyDeletei think we can safely say this was not expected - but is very much welcomed - also bare in mind that the buses themselves are for the Council, not the Bus Companies in question, so this could be a very interesting time indeed.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't for the council for example in Plymouth 50 new buses are going to cost £34 million, Go Ahead and the city council are paying for most of it with £9.5 million coming from the government to cover the additional cost of electric buses instead of Euro 6 diesels.
DeleteIs there nothing for Stagecoach in Plymouth from this?
DeleteTorbay and the wider Devon are getting quite a lot of new buses, which will see some of the newer Euro 6 buses displaced, so I would imagine more MMCs for Plymouth. What routes in Devon will get electric buses I don't know as most of it is too rural I would have thought.
DeleteApologies, I missed the part where Go Ahead applied with PCC. Makes sense now. In terms of Stagecoach for DCC, I think we'll have to wait and see, stagecoach still have a large number of older vehicles they'll need to dispose of. I don't necessarily think their fleet needs changing for Plymouth, but having more MMCs on standby will be much handier for breakdowns etc
DeleteI belive Torbay will see them on the 12 and 22, and I think I have seen the 4s mentioned for Exeter
ReplyDeleteExeter - routes 4, A and Green P&R; Barnstaple 21, 21A and Barnstaple town services. Total 41 buses. Torbay 49 buses, so 90 for Stagecoach Devon by early 2026
DeleteAlso 25 for First South West for Taunton routes 1, 2, 21, 22 and 28
DeleteCornwall's bid sems to be 7 for Truro P&R snd 1 for OTS route 60 in Falmouth. Not sure of the operator involved in Truro P&R as it's not claimed by First, Go-Ahead or Stagecoach, presumably it will be a new tender as First had indictated previously that they wanted out. Six of Plymouth's 50 are for the 70, 70A and 70B around Rame.
ReplyDeletePCB are obessed with the 70, it does my head in!
DeleteAgreed new buses always go on Routes 21, 50 or 70 and every other route getting the subsequent cast offs.
Deletethe 70 gets them as Cornwall County pay towards them, just like when under First where they also occasionally saw new buses. The 50 hasnt seen new buses since the good old days of the yellow Flash. We get the same old ex London buses as everyone else. The routes which get the newer buses are the 21s and the 42s quite rightly as they are the busiest and should be the most profitable. When the new buses arrives the displaced City 400s will moves across to routes like the 50.At least I hope so!
Deletefinally the E200s from GNW are on their way! 4011 - 4019 thanks to JB for the info as ever
ReplyDelete@didbygraham once the 50 electrics arrive that will be half the fleet as electric. I then assume the sparks and 69 plates will see off the scanias and ex london e400. though I can't confirm. you get on my bus so you know who this is and how reliable my info usually is...
ReplyDeleteaccording to several sources, you're right - the 50 electrics will replace a number of older doubles 05/55/06/56/07/57, but this will also open some buses which are currently used on Rame to be re-purposed, so there could be a few movements around that - not forgetting that GSW have already got more buses arriving from other parts of the UK thanks to other Electric bus introductions. Interesting times ahead for sure.
Deletesounds great on paper, not to be negative but i’ll believe it all when we actually get the new buses! it does all seem very exciting though
Delete@anon 30th March 09.44 - it's possible the Plymouth deal could fall through - a couple of the bids from the first round of ZEBRA funding were withdrawn, although these were Arriva bids rather than Go-Ahead who have always been at the forefront of electrifying their bus fleets. The actual buses will take some time to arrive; the orders can only be placed once the funding has been secured and do not have to go in until January 2025 (although I would hope PCB are quicker than that!). Then there is the lead-time for the buses to be manufactured and delivered, Milehouse Depot electrified and engineering and operating staff trained on the new vehicles. All that said, I confidently predict that all the new vehicles will be in full operation towards the end of 2025.
ReplyDeleteThere is always a chance it could fall through, but as you say Go Ahead seem very keen to go electric (as is Stagecoach and First). For some reason Arriva were less keen. Not aware of any others that have pulled out of these deals.
DeleteThe next stages will be interesting. 955 buses is a significant amount of vehicles to be allocated build slots, alongside other 'normal' bus orders. Not all can be built at once and some operators will have to be at the back of the queue just as someone will be first. There is also a lot of depot infrastructure to be installed before any buses can be delivered - four sizeable builds in Devon alone. One would hope that a way can be found to procure most of the buses from UK manufacturers - it would seem rather incongruous for the UK government to provide funding if it then goes into the pockets of overseas manufacturers. It seems that currently ADL and Wrights are running some months behind as it is, e.g. Brighton & Hove's current deliveries were originally due before Christmas. I can see ZEBRA 2 deliveries extending well into 2026.
DeleteAs I understand it, Arriva's apparent lack of interest has been more to do with their owners DB imposing an investment embargo whilst they were looking to sell the business. Once the sale goes through, one would hope that they can start to catch up....
DeleteG you're bang on - there's a large backlog for a lot of them, i think some companies may opt for Yutong, so might not all be reliant on Wright or ADL - i'm sure that time will tell, but from the looks of the way the e-bus market is going, ADLs new E100/400EV looks to be the best lifetime bus to get based on their latest models for distance per kw etc. I think the original estimate for deliveries was for 2026 anyway, with purchase orders going in from 2025, so i again wouldn't be surprised on the timeline front.
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