Leicester is set to receive a delivery of 60 new all-electric buses this coming September, taking the total number of electric buses within the city to 240 by March 2027.
The purchase of the vehicles has been made possible due to the receipt of 8 million GBP worth of Government funding, with Arriva and Centrebus contributing the remaining 18 million GBP to fully fund the transaction.
With this new funding, 100 million GBP has been invested into Leicester’s electric bus fleet over the course of the last four years.
Councillor Geoff Whittle, Assistant City Mayor for Transport and Climate said:Providing zero emission buses across our whole city network is a huge achievement, made possible by the excellent work being done by the Leicester Buses Partnership.
The bus companies have made a huge commitment to cleaner, greener travel in Leicester, and the council has had great success in securing additional funds from the Department for Transport which has been very supportive of Leicester’s aims.
Together, we are bringing to life our ambitious ten-year plan to improve services, vehicles and routes across Leicester, and encourage more people to use the city’s public transport network.
Of the 60 new vehicles; 56 will be operated by Arriva, whilst Centrebus will run the remaining four.
The completion of the new fleet aims to build on the council’s investment in improvement bus priority on routes across the city, as well as its 13.5 million GBP development of St. Margaret’s bus station – which is set to become the UK’s first carbon neutral bus station building.
