Funding secured to bring dozens of new electric buses to Liverpool City Region
Publish date
Friday, March 22, 2024
More than £9m has been secured to help bring 58 fully-electric double-decker buses to the Liverpool City Region, further bolstering the existing zero-emission fleet.
The £9.4m has been awarded to the Combined Authority (CA) following a successful bid to the latest tranche of Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area fund (ZEBRA 2), which covers up to 75% of the cost difference between the zero emission vehicles and a standard diesel engine bus.
As approved when the bid was submitted in December 2023, the Combined Authority will also be contributing £22m in match-funding to the project, bringing the total amount of money committed to the project to more than £30m.
The new vehicles will join the city region’s current fleet which is already more than 70% zero or low emissions, including state-of-the-art hydrogen buses as well as buses powered by hybrid electric and biomethane gas.
It’s planned that the buses – which will be operated by Stagecoach – will run on the 17, 19, 14 and 20/21 bus routes between Kirkby, Tower Hill, Northwood and Liverpool city centre.
“We’re delighted to welcome the announcement of our successful bid to Department for Transport’s ZEBRA 2 fund. We know this was a highly competitive process so this award speaks to high quality of our submission and the hard work of colleagues.
“The money secured will, along with the match-funding already committed by the CA, help to bring dozens of new zero-emission buses to the city region enabling us push forward with our ambitions to decarbonise our transport network and improve air quality.”Executive Director for Place at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority