Coventry will receive £50m to fund 297 all-electric buses for the city by 2025.
The funding will be secured once a final business case is approved by the West Midlands Combined Authority on 19 March.
Highways officers believe it will save around 55 tonnes of Nitrogen Dioxide every year. The £50 million will be invested by the Department for Transport and the work will begin from April 2021
The bid was secured by Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
As well as funding for new vehicles, the grant will also cover investment in wider infrastructure such as charging points and upgrades to the electric grid.
Councillor Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration at Coventry City Council, said: “We already have a range of schemes to improve air quality and this will help exceed our targets.”
“We already have excellent partnership working with bus companies like National Express Coventry and together we have been striving to make our public transport network better, greener and cleaner.
“Our approach is about making a long-lasting impact on those that live and work here, and visit the city. That’s exactly what an all-electric bus fleet will help deliver.”
David Bradford, managing director at National Express Coventry, said: “We all have a part to play in making cleaner, greener choices, so it’s worth remembering that a double decker bus can take up to 75 cars off the road. By choosing public transport we can reduce the level of traffic on our roads, which in turn makes journeys quicker, and the air cleaner for everybody’s lungs.
“Early last year National Express proudly announced that every new bus we buy will be zero emission. This was followed by the launch of 10 fully electric buses in Coventry towards the end of summer.
“We’re looking forward to bringing hundreds more zero emission buses to the city of Coventry, complementing other measures being delivered through the Bus Alliance to drive even more improvements for new and existing bus customers.”
This story was first published by: www.transportandenergy.com
