UK Transport Minister Norman Baker today announced the 14 organisations that will share £15 million to support the purchase of new ‘green’ buses.
Under the second round of the Green Bus Fund, over 170 new hybrid and electric buses will be bought by transport companies up and down the country.
The largest grants went to Transport for London (£5 million) for the purchase of 54 buses, Stagecoach (£4.1 million) for 47 buses in the North East and Yorkshire, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (£1.6 million) for 19 buses and the Oxford Bus Company (£1.3 million) for 17 buses.
Other smaller grants will see new buses on the road in the Bristol region, Nottingham, Dorset, Reading and Stratford-upon-Avon.
The new vehicles, which the Department for Transport says will save up to 50,000 tonnes of CO2, will be on the road by March 2012.
“Low carbon buses use at least 30% less fuel and emit nearly a third less carbon than a conventional bus, yet they currently make up just 0.2% of buses on the road,” says Baker.
“The Green Bus Fund is vital to unlocking this potential and will also stimulate a growing market,” he adds.
The first round of funding shared £30 million between 24 organisations for the purchase around 350 new buses, which are now on the road in Oxford, Manchester and Durham.