Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram invited people to see how the region’s new hydrogen buses would look with a demonstrator vehicle on display between Sunday 25 and Wednesday 28 September at Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock. The demonstrator gave the public the first chance to view the new Metro livery and learn more about the benefits that the zero emissions hydrogen buses will bring to the region.
The event came a week after the introduction of the region’s £2 maximum adult single fare, which is intended to make it cheaper and easier for passengers to travel by bus.
The Mayor said: “Buses are the backbone of our region’s public transport system, with more than 400,000 journeys taken by bus every day. With so many of our residents relying on their services to access work, education and other vital public services, I want to ensure we can provide them with better, faster, cleaner journey to take them from A to B.
“Our new hydrogen fleet is more spacious, more accessible, and more befitting of a high-quality service you’d expect of a modern city region like ours – and even better, they’ll be owned by us. It’s a big statement of intent for my ambitions for the future of public transport in our area to make travel cheaper and easier for residents, having recently taken a big step towards that goal with the launch of our £2 bus fare.
“This investment in the future of our buses is only the start of our plans – we’re pressing ahead with work to re-regulate our bus network to deliver much greater public control over things like fares, timetables and routes. Working towards a London-style transport system, we can build a more reliable, more efficient, more affordable network that puts the public back at the heart of public transport. If it’s good enough for London, then it’s the very least that our region deserves.”
Having set a target for the Liverpool City Region to become net zero carbon by 2040 at the latest, the hydrogen buses will be a significant addition to the region’s existing fleet, which is already more than 70% low-emission. They will be used on busy route 10A route between St Helens, Knowsley and Liverpool city centre as part of the first ‘Green Bus Route’ in the city region; Green Bus Routes are expected to make bus journeys faster and more reliable by introducing priority lanes, traffic signal upgrades and remodelled junctions to prioritise buses over other road traffic.
The Combined Authority has ordered an initial fleet of 20 hydrogen vehicles from Alexander Dennis, the first of which are expected to arrive towards the end of the year. The demonstrator on display previously saw use with Transport for London.
