The UK government has confirmed a £3 million investment in First Bus for 18 new zero-emission buses in Leicester. Northern Ireland-based company Wrightbus will manufacture the electric buses, enabling an all-electric fleet at First Bus’s Leicester depot. This latest investment is in addition to the 68 electric buses already funded for Leicester last year, bringing the total number of electric buses to 86 and making the town home to one of the first fully electric bus depots in the UK.
Janette Bell, Managing Director at First Bus, expressed delight at Leicester becoming a blueprint for the company’s bus depots of the future, helping to refine and iterate the new concept for use across the UK. She added that the co-funding with the Zero Emission Buses Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme would allow the electrification of another five UK depots before March 2024. The depots were part of the first funding round last August for nearly 200 electric buses earmarked for Leicester, York, Portsmouth, Leeds, and Norwich. First Bus aims to have over 500 electric buses operating across the UK by 2024.
See also: First Bus Orders 117 Electric Buses from Wrightbus with British Government Funding
Leicester has benefitted from nearly £22 million in funding from the ZEBRA scheme to support 114 electric buses. ZEBRA aims to help launch 4,000 zero-emission buses in England by 2025, with the government providing almost £300 million in funding for up to 1,400 zero-emission buses in England.
In addition, the government has announced the ‘Bus Centre of Excellence,’ backed by £815,000 in investment, to bring together expertise from local government, bus operators, and industry to boost skills and diversity in the bus sector. This follows the £155 million announced last month to continue supporting bus services and providing affordable journeys by extending the £2 bus fare cap. The latest government funding brings the total amount for buses to over £2 billion since the pandemic, with a further £1 billion invested in improving the quality of bus services through the Bus Service Improvement Plans.
See also: Forsee Power announced substantial order for Zen Slim battery modules from Wrightbus
Roads Minister Richard Holden said the multimillion-pound investment for Leicester’s clean transformation, coupled with the new Bus Centre of Excellence, would help drive the country’s bus sector recovery and provide passengers with cleaner, more affordable buses that run on time.
