Arriva has announced the successful completion of a major European sustainability project that aims to cut freshwater consumption by over 70% across participating bus depots.
The LIFEH2OBus project, which was co-funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme, was co-ordinated and co-financed by Arriva, and saw a joint operation involving transport operators, technology specialists and academic partners from across Europe to trial new ways to capture, filter and reuse fresh water and rainwater.
Taking place over three years at bus depots across Italy, Hungary and Croatia; Arriva trialled a number initiatives such as rainwater harvesting, water recycling and reuse systems for bus washing, optimisation of washing cycles and procedures and the use of digital monitoring tools to track and reduce overall water consumption.
During the three-year trial period, more than 20 million litres of water were found to have been saved each year – the equivalent of 24 Olympic-sized swimming pools, with early estimates showing that nearly 100 million litres of water could be saved if the tested method were implemented beyond the initial three-year period.
Angelo Costa, Managing Director Arriva Italy, said:From cutting water use in our bus depots to investing in zero-emission vehicles and modernising our infrastructure, Arriva is committed to making our operations more sustainable in practical, measurable ways.
Projects like LIFEH2OBus show what’s possible when innovation is backed by strong partnerships. By working closely with the EU and industry partners, we can test new ideas, scale what works across our European network and help accelerate greener public transport for the communities we serve.
We’re pleased with the strong results from this trial and are now exploring how these solutions can be rolled out more widely across Arriva’s portfolio.
