NEWS
Bristol and York have won the biggest share of the latest round of Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS) funding from the UK government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), which also gives Wales its first electric buses.
£11.1million supports six schemes and 153 vehicles. This is part of the bidding round that led to last year’s allocation of £30million for 326 vehicles (Buses September 2016). A second round of LEBS bids will be announced later this year.
The largest of these awards — £4.79million — is for a joint bid by local authorities and First West of England, helping unlock First’s £28million investment plan to put 110 biogaspowered vehicles into Bristol by 2019.
Its announcement came three weeks after First unveiled what West of England managing director James Freeman describes as a ‘pathfinder’ biogas double-decker, a bright green Scania N280UD with 70-seat single-door Alexander Dennis Enviro400CBG City body.
This is one of 25 long wheelbase Scanias being delivered as part of First’s 2016/17 new vehicle intake. The other 24 are N250UD Euro6 diesels with dual-door Enviro400 MMC bodies, the first six of which have guide arms and wheels for the 600m guided section of Bristol’s first MetroBus r…
