Work starts on the West of England’s £59m bus electrification project

Construction equipment has begun arriving at the Weston-super-Mare depot ahead of a £14.9million scheme, which will see the transformation of the two-football pitch sized site, just off the A370, and the arrival of 24 new electric buses on the Weston network next year.

In addition, £44 million is being invested in electrifying the operator’s Hengrove depot in Bristol alongside launching 74 electric buses on the city’s network. The Hengrove transformation is planned to get underway at the end of next month.

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, with the electric buses arriving soon after.

As well as supplying the sites with increased power, the projects will see almost 400 tonnes of steel used across multiple gantries which will distribute power to charge the new buses.

Electrifying the depots will also provide facilities for local companies to charge their electric vehicles, and bring green employment and training opportunities, including upskilling the existing engineering team, and providing apprenticeship opportunities for local people.

Doug Claringbold, First West of England’s Managing Director, said: “This week is a real ground-breaking moment for the West of England, as we see the first signs of a new electric, zero emission era for bus travel in our region.

“These will be the first electric buses we welcome into our West of England fleet, providing not only a comfier, quieter and smoother ride for customers, but also helping us to deliver a more reliable service and, importantly, bus travel that is even better for the environment.

“We’re proud as a company to be investing more than £50m into this project, which will be our biggest in this region for decades, and supports First Bus’ commitment to have a zero-emissions fleet by 2035.”

The electrification programme has been made possible thanks to partnerships between First West of England and the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council, who together secured a total of almost £9m of government funding through its Zero Emissions Bus Regional Areas 2 (ZEBRA2) project.

North Somerset Council’s Passenger Transport Service Manager Carl Nicholson said: “The council is looking forward to seeing the arrival of a modern fleet of electric buses in our region, building on the success of the Bus Service Improvement Plan and helping us to achieve our ambitious goals to decarbonise transport, whilst making the bus an attractive environmental alternative form of transport for our residents."

West of England Mayor Dan Norris said: "Zero emission buses will attract more passengers onto the region's buses and cut carbon. Road transport makes up 40% of all our carbon emissions so moving away from petrol and diesel to cleaner solutions is urgent. The delivery of electric buses is a sizeable step for our green plans to decarbonise the transport network.   

“My Mayoral Combined Authority is investing to ensure the West has a fleet to be proud of that's better for passengers and our planet.”

The electric buses will carry passengers on the following routes: X1 (Weston to Bristol), X4 (Portishead to Bristol), 8 (Temple Meads to Clifton via city centre), 24 (Southmead Hospital to Ashton Gate), 70 (Hengrove to UWE Frenchay via city centre), 72 (Temple Meads to UWE Frenchay), 73 (Whitchurch to Bradley Stoke via Temple Meads) and 75/76 (Hengrove to Henbury/Cribbs Causeway via city centre).