Government funding granted for region’s electric buses

The Government has awarded £9.4m to Liverpool City Region to fund 58 electric buses in the drive to decarbonise public transport.

Last December, Liverpool Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram, announced that the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority had submitted a bid for £9.4m to fund 58 double decker electric buses, matched by LCRCA resources for a total of £31m.

Today’s announcement by Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, sets out the £9.4m funding, which the Government says will enable the CA to put the 58 buses on the road.

The funding is part of the £143m investment from the second round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) programme, which will see new electric buses across towns, villages and cities across England, many of which will get zero-emission buses for the first time.

The Government said Liverpool City Region will also benefit from more than £2.2bn from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements programme (CRSTS) to improve local transport connections from now until 2032, which includes almost £600m of reallocated HS2 funding.

It’s planned that the buses – which will be operated by Stagecoach – will run on the 17, 19, 14 and 20/21 bus routes between Kirkby, Tower Hill, Northwood and Liverpool city centre.

Mark Harper said: “As part of our plan to improve local transport in the North West, we’re providing £9.4m to roll out 58 brand new zero-emission buses for the Liverpool City Region.

“This latest investment into our bus fleet comes on top of the £3.5bn we have invested into our bus network since 2020, protecting and improving bus routes into 2025 as well as extending the £2 bus fare cap until the end of 2024, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.”

LCRCA confirmed today (March 22) that it has provided £22m of match funding and Richard McGuckin, CA Executive Director for Place, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the announcement of our successful bid to Department for Transport’s ZEBRA 2 fund.

“We know this was a highly competitive process so this award speaks to high quality of our submission and the hard work of colleagues.

“The money secured will, along with the match-funding already committed by the CA, help to bring dozens of new zero-emission buses to the city region enabling us push forward with our ambitions to decarbonise our transport network and improve air quality.”

Alison Edwards, Director of Policy & External Relations at the Confederation of Passenger Transport said: “The transition to a zero emissions bus fleet is a huge opportunity for Britain to lead the world in creating a modern zero emission bus network that offers a growing number of passengers one of the most sustainable forms of transport.”

The new zero-emission buses will not only be cleaner, helping improve local air quality both for bus users and the local communities, but they will also be more modern and replace older diesel buses.

They will also meet Enhanced Accessibility Standards, and will come with the latest passenger experience features such as wi-fi and USB charging sockets.

Stagecoach Chief Operating Officer, Sam Greer, said: “We welcome this allocation of funding to local authorities for investment in new zero-emission buses. This support gives renewed confidence to the whole supply chain and will unlock significant private sector investment into new, clean vehicles.

“This is a positive step forward in helping to reduce carbon emissions and deliver cleaner air, building on the funding already made available to support bus services in England through the £2 fare cap.

“We look forward to working with our local authority partners to deliver our shared ambitions for thriving bus services that support local communities.”