Half of Leicester’s bus network is electric

^{Image: (from left) Zoe Hands, managing director of FirstBus Midlands, Manchester and South Yorkshire; City Mayor Peter Soulsby; Cllr Geoff Whittle, assistant city mayor for transport and environment; and, Toby France, head of commercial (East and South Midlands) at Arriva UK Bus.}

Half of Leicester’s bus network is now electric, thanks to a partnership that has brought bus companies and the city council together to bring about major improvements to services.

Leicester Buses Partnership has reached one of the milestone targets in its Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP), with 50 per cent of the city’s core commercial network now electric.

The newest additions to the network are Wrightbus’ double-decker Streetdeck Electroliners. 

Twenty-four of these have been introduced to Arriva’s fleet and 18 to First Bus’s fleet, supplementing the 68 electric single-deckers FirstBus already has in use. 

City mayor Peter Soulsby said: “Leicester Buses Partnership has been a huge success and is helping to transform public transport in the city. Passengers have taken more than half a million trips on our free Hop! city centre service, and two thirds of passengers are satisfied that bus services offer value for money – up from 57 per cent previously and reflecting the impact of the national £2 fare. Overall passenger satisfaction is 81%, ahead of the national average.”

Across the network of partners, there are now a total of 134 electric buses in service across Leicester, operating from four charging depots.

The milestone is one of 94 out of 100 commitments delivered by the partnership so far. Now, it is launching its most recent Bus Service Improvement Plan to further deliver improvements against ambitious targets, including having a fully electric network in place by 2030.

So far, £60.5 million has been invested in the Leicester Buses Partnership. 

Of this, £22 million came from The Department for Transport which has funded 116 of the 134 buses through its Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) programme. 

The partnership consists of all local bus operators (Arriva, Centrebus, First, Kinchbus, Roberts Travel, Stagecoach and Vectare) and the city council working and investing together under an agreed long-term plan. It aims to make bus travel electric, reliable, frequent, easy and great value to use.

Local transport minister Simon Lightwood said: “Passengers in Leicester deserve an efficient, modern and sustainable bus network, and it’s fantastic to see that half of the Leicester bus fleet is now zero-emission.

“Our Better Buses Bill will help Leicester continue transforming its local bus fleet by empowering local leaders to finally give passengers the reliable, clean and affordable bus services they can truly rely on.”

Additional investment of around £86.5 million is needed to keep improving and complete the electric bus network by 2030.