First Bus Scotland is to spend £35m on 74 new electric buses and supporting infrastructure, taking emission free buses in Aberdeen to more than 50% of the city’s fleet.
Announcing the move to mark World Car Free Day on Thursday (22 September), the firm said the single decker buses will save approximately 4,474 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year – the equivalent of removing carbon emissions from 2,116 diesel cars.
An order worth £19.7m for 50 buses has been placed for Glasgow, where £4.8m will be spent in the Scotstoun depot to install rapid charging points to support the new fleets.
A further 24 buses, worth £8.4m, have been ordered for Aberdeen, where £2.1m will be spent on the King Street depot.
The new vehicles, which will be built by Alexander Dennis Ltd and Yutong, will start to arrive in the cities next year, while work to transform the sites into EV charging hubs is expected to take 12 months.
First Bus said Glasgow will have a fleet that is 40% electric while Aberdeen will become 50% emission free, following the introduction of its hydrogen-powered fleet last year.
The firm said the investment has been supported by £18.6m from Transport Scotland through its Scottish Zero Emission Bus funding. The Scottish Government looks set to miss a pledge the to remove the majority of the country’s diesel buses by the end of next year, even taking into account anticipated purchases like this one.
First Bus Scotland managing director Duncan Cameron said: ‘We’re proud of the progress that we’ve made across Scotland; these new buses will make a significant impact to our mission to be emission free by 2035.
‘What we hope will make an even more sizeable impact on emissions and air quality, is people’s decision to choose bus as their preferred mode of transport.’
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