UK bus service operator First Bus West of England & Wales has started work on two multi-million-pound projects to electrify bus depots in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare.

The company is investing £37.4 million in electrifying its Hengrove depot in Bristol to launch 74 electric buses on the city’s network. It will receive an additional £6.6 million in funding from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) program. The project is planned to get underway at the end of October.

The £14.9-million Weston-super-Mare project, where construction equipment has started to arrive, will add 24 new electric buses to its network next year. First Bus is investing £12.8 million and will receive an additional £2.1 million in ZEBRA funding.

The new buses will mean 33% of the total fleet in Weston will be electric, and 65% will be electric in Hengrove.

Work at both depots, which is being carried out by construction teams from engineering specialist NG Bailey for Hengrove and Magnus Construction Group for Weston-super-Mare, is expected to be completed by March 2025 and the electric buses will arrive soon after. Electrifying the depots will also provide facilities for local companies to charge their EVs.

“We see the first signs of a new electric, zero-emission era for bus travel in our region. We’re proud as a company to be investing more than £50 million into this project, which will be our biggest in this region for decades,” said Doug Claringbold, Managing Director at First West of England & Wales.

Source: First Bus West of England & Wales