First invests £35m in electric buses in Scotland
This World Car Free Day (22 September) First Bus Scotland announces that it has invested £35 million in electric buses. The money is spent on 74 new electric buses and their supporting infrastructure in what the operator describes as the latest step on its decarbonisation journey.
The electric buses have been purchased for service in Glasgow and Aberdeen, with an order of 50 buses, worth £19.7 million, for Glasgow and 24 buses, worth £8.4 million, for Aberdeen.
The new vehicles, which include the Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL) Enviro200EV and the Yutong E12, will start to arrive in the cities next year. Ahead of their arrival, a further £2.1 million will be invested in Aberdeen’s King Street depot, and £4.8 million in Glasgow’s Scotstoun depot, to install rapid charging points to support the new fleets.
The work to transform the sites into state-of-the-art EV charging hubs is expected to take 12 months.
The arrival of these buses will mean the fleet it runs from its Glasgow depot will be 40% electric and its Aberdeen site will become 50% emission free, following the introduction of its hydrogen-powered fleet last year.
First Bus’s significant investment has been supported by £18.6m from Transport Scotland through its Scottish Zero Emission Bus (ScotZEB) funding.
“What we hope will make an even more sizeable impact on emissions and air quality, is people’s decision to choose bus as their preferred mode of transport” – Duncan Cameron, Managing Director at First Bus Scotland
Duncan Cameron, Managing Director at First Bus Scotland, said: “We’re proud of the progress that we’ve made across Scotland; these new buses will make a significant impact to our mission to be emission free by 2035.
“What we hope will make an even more sizeable impact on emissions and air quality, is people’s decision to choose bus as their preferred mode of transport. These state-of-the-art new EVs will provide a more pleasant journey for passengers, and we hope that they’ll encourage more people living in these cities to leave their cars behind in favour of bus travel.
“We recently launched our Modal Shift campaign to put across the message that, with just some small changes to our daily routines, together we have the opportunity transform our city’s congestion, air and noise pollution.”