The new buses will have the same interior spec as the Yutongs already in the Newport Transport fleet
Newport Transport has placed an order with Pelican Bus and Coach for an additional 16 fully electric Yutong buses, with an expected delivery of December 2021.
The operator has ordered five new Yutong E12 single-decker buses and 11 Yutong E10 single-decker buses, all to the same specification as the 15 E12s and one E10 already in service since October 2020. The fleet investment is supported by £2.8m of funding from the UK Department for Transport (DfT) and Newport Transport’s commercial partnerships.
Once the new vehicles arrive, a third of the Newport Transport fleet will be electric. This also means that by 2022, 43% of the daily bus services provided by the company will use zero emission vehicles.
Newport Transport said it will use the new shorter Yutong E10 vehicles in areas not suitable to the longer E12 vehicles, such as St Julians and the Gaer.
Scott Pearson, Newport Transport managing director, said: “At Newport Transport, we are committed to delivering a green recovery to the people of Newport. This earlier than expected financial support from the DfT enables us to deliver at pace on our vision of a fleet with zero emissions at the tail pipe.”
Pearson highlighted that the new investment brings Newport Transport’s total spend on electric buses and the related infrastructure to £15m over the financial years 20/21 and 21/22.
“I would also like to extend our thanks to Steve Meersman from Zenobe Energy and Ian Downie from Pelican Bus and Coach, without whom it would have taken us a lot longer to deliver emission-free transport to the people of Newport,” he added.
