50 zero-emission electric double-decker buses will be coming to Plymouth this year as part of a £31.87 million joint investment in the city’s public transport.
The project, a collaboration between Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council, Plymouth Citybus, the Go-Ahead Group and the Department for Transport, will see new electric buses operating on the 21/A, 42 and 50/51 routes in Plymouth, with six buses serving Cornwall’s Rame Peninsula on route 70.
The new buses will not only enhance the routes they operate on but also help to modernise the entire Plymouth Citybus fleet operating in the Plymouth travel-to-work area, leading to reduced carbon emissions and air quality benefits, because of the cascade of younger buses from the routes being electrified.
This will mean better transport to places of work, education, leisure and healthcare and improvements in air quality.
It will also strongly support the climate change ambitions in the Council’s Net Zero Action Plan.
Background information
In 2023 the DfT made £129 million available to support the introduction of zero-emission buses in England.
Only local transport authorities that had formed an ‘Enhanced Partnership’ with local bus operators or had begun the statutory process to decide whether to implement franchising were able to apply to the ZEBRA 2 (Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas 2) fund.
We formed an enhanced partnership in April 2023 and led Plymouth’s bid, in partnership with Plymouth Citybus (part of Go-Ahead Group Ltd) and Cornwall Council to the ZEBRA 2 fund.
Commercially sensitive information has been removed from the published application form which is why parts of the form are blank.
Funding
The majority of the funding (£19.6 million) is being provided by Plymouth Citybus, supported by a £10.34 million grant from the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 2 Fund and contributions from Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council totalling £1.94 million.
Routes the buses operate on and when you will see them in Plymouth
The buses will operate on the 21/A, 42 and 50/51 routes in Plymouth, and the 70 in Cornwall.
The first 25 buses will come into service this spring and all 50 will be running on local roads by the end of 2025.
Where the buses will be charged and who else will be able to use the charging infrastructure
The buses will be based at Plymouth Citybus’ Milehouse depot, which is being refurbished to cater for their overnight charging.
The charging infrastructure will also be available, in the future, for community vehicles – such as school minibuses – when these fleets are electrified.
What the project delivers
The Plymouth ZEBRA project will deliver
- 50 new battery-powered double decker buses
- a reduction in carbon emissions (the forecast reduction in carbon emissions, compared with diesel equivalents is 9,914 tonnes over the lifetime of the buses)
- air quality benefits (estimates show that the buses will reduce Nox (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) emissions by 28 tonnes and PM (particulate matter) 2.5 emissions by a tonne over their lifetime
- an improved passenger experience (the buses will be more accessible than the diesel buses they are replacing, with a second flexible space that can be used for a second wheelchair user or at least two unfolded pushchairs or prams in addition to the mandatory wheelchair space. They will also have audio-visual route/next stop/bus stopping information)
- wider environmental gains – as part of the ZEBRA project, Wrightbus (the bus manufacturer) has made the commitment that for every vehicle manufactured, 10 trees will be planted in the communities where the buses are deployed
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