‘Fantastic for our city’: Hull’s first electric buses en route after council orders 40
‘COMMITTED TO NET ZERO’: Councillor Mark Ieronimo, left, and city council leader Mike Ross
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Hull’s first electric buses will soon be on the streets after the city council’s cabinet approved the purchase of 40 of the new vehicles.
The announcement comes alongside £2m of funding from the authority for the installation of charging infrastructure to support the roll-out of the vehicles in the city, including for the use of local bus operators and the council’s own fleet of passenger vehicles.
It follows a successful bid to the Government to fund electric buses in Hull and the East Riding. In December 2023, the council, alongside Stagecoach, East Yorkshire Buses and East Riding Council, submitted a joint bid to the Government’s ZEBRA2 (zero emission bus regional areas) scheme and was awarded nearly £6m in March.
Although buses make up a small proportion of overall emissions, transport is now the UK’s largest emitter of carbon, with over 200 diesel buses regularly operating in Hull.
Cabinet’s approval paves the way for replacing part of both Stagecoach and East Yorkshire Buses’ existing fleets with fully electric buses, which run on rechargeable batteries and can have a range of up to several hundred miles.
The buses are charged externally, usually at the depot on a plug after the end of service and, unlike diesel buses, produce no carbon emissions or nitrogen oxides, so can also contribute to improved air quality as well as combating climate change.
Electric buses are also quieter, a smoother ride, and are easier to maintain, the city council said.
Councillor Mark Ieronimo, portfolio holder for transportation, roads and highways, said: “As a council, we are committed achieving net zero by 2045.
“These new electric buses will play an important part in combatting climate change by replacing parts of the existing diesel fleet on 16 of the 46 routes in the city.
“Electric buses are greener and cleaner and will have a transformative impact on public transport throughout the city.
“There are currently no electric or hybrid buses operating on public bus services in Hull so, in addition to the environmental benefits, the new vehicles will have a wider impact by changing how our residents, and visitors to the city, see buses and help encourage, and increase, passenger demand.
“The council’s capital investment towards infrastructure costs will act as a springboard for both bus operators to introduce electric buses in the city and support them to make future investments in fleet replacement.”
Ben Gilligan, managing director of East Yorkshire Buses, said: “The news that we have funding to bring zero emission buses to Hull is a fantastic for our city and will make a real difference to the quality of the local environment due to the elimination of tailpipe emissions and reduced noise.
“This is a step change for the users of buses and will encourage more people to make the switch to sustainable transport modes.”
Matt Cranwell, managing director at Stagecoach East Midlands, said: “The bus operators in Hull are making a major capital investment in new electric buses to take public transport into the next era of cleaner, quieter, and more environmentally friendly service delivery.
“The council’s funding commitment towards infrastructure costs was a significant factor in the success of the Hull Bus Alliance submission for the Department for Transport's ZEBRA grant.
“Buses underpin the local economy by providing essential transport connections for people to reach employment, education, healthcare and retail services, which makes investing in sustainable transport an important strategy for the future development of Hull.”