Bristol Community Transport and First West of England launched their new gas bus filling station on 1 July. Richard Sharman was in attendance to find out more about how this came about and the technology used
Bristol Community Transport (BCT), part of the HCT Group, jointly launched Bristol’s first gas filling station with its partner First West of England on Monday 1 July.
The new bio-methane gas bus filling station has been built at BCT’s large Bedminster depot, situated 1.7 miles from Bristol city centre.
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The new station will be used to fuel the 21 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 CBG City-bodied Scania N280UDs used on the metrobus m1 route from Cribbs Causeway to Hengrove Park. Service m1 is operated by BCT under contract to First West of England. The new station represents an investment of £960,000 by First West of England, which has been supported by the Low Emission Bus Fund from the Government’s Office of Low Emission Vehicles. The permanent station replaces a temporary station that had been in use since January when the service started operation.
The opening speech was given by Dai Powell, Chief Executive of the HCT Group: “BCT has been an integral part of the fabric of Bristol for the last 30 years; HCT merged with them a few years back with the intention of building a social enterprise business model. 
“We have a great relationship with the local authority and First, and for anyone who has seen the metrobus passenger numbers, it has been very much a success story. We know from everything that is talked about on climate change that we need to get people out of their cars and on to the bus. We have to get a public transport system that is aspirational, and metrobus is that. It is starting to be seen nationally as a success.
“For us to be able to bring in the gas station is another huge plus, to get people out of their cars and onto buses, as operators, ourselves and First have to be the best bus operators by doing what we say we will do.”
James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England continued the opening speeches by saying: “Today is the beginning of a new era, with the launch of this new gas station that shows that bio-methane is here to stay in the Bristol bus market.
“I want to explain why we are setting off on this voyage to transfer to bio-methane as a fuel for public transport in Bristol. You hear so much in the media about other forms of green transport, you might want to know why on earth we have chosen this one. We are not alone, if you go to Nottingham, you will find gas buses galore.
“Bio-methane allows us to run a carbon-neutral vehicle, but most importantly, it allows us to run it economically. The great thing about the bio-methane vehicle for us is that you can actually sustain this in the long term commercially. We can invest in more bio-methane buses out of the fares; we don’t need capital grants from central government or large amounts of goodwill from other financial pots in order to make this work.
“We are very happy to have received almost £5m from the Government’s Low Emission Bus Scheme to get things started in Bristol. Most of that money has gone on the gas station we are opening here and the one that is about to be built at our Lawrence Hill depot in the city. Between them, they will allow us to not have just 99 bio-methane buses – which we will have achieved by April 2020 with everything that is currently ordered – but most importantly to have many more after which work off the same infrastructure.
“So there is a great deal of additionality available now the base scheme is here. Bio-methane for me as a gas bus operator is using gas bus technology, which is well understood and is extremely reliable. The green biogas bus that has been in our fleet for the last few years is the most reliable bus in the fleet. From a reliability point of view, thank you Scania, it works like a dream.
“It is economically better than a Euro VI diesel, never mind electric, hydrogen fuel cell, all of these things which are still of the future to some extent. The great thing about the bio-methane fuel is that it is here now, it works, it is happening and here is the evidence.”
West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said: “It’s great to see this new gas bus filling station open, as part of our aim to help reduce congestion, improve air quality and keep people moving. It supports my ambition to improve public transport in the region, giving people more sustainable ways to travel.
“More than 70,000 people now choose to use metrobus every week and a recent passenger survey shows a 19% shift from car to metrobus. We plan to build on that success with more services and better connections as part of our wider objective of getting more people to switch to public transport across the West of England.”
CBW asked Mark Oliver, UK Bus and Coach Fleet Sales Manager for Scania UK, how sales of the Enviro400 CBG City were progressing. “Nottingham City Transport currently has 67 vehicles being delivered now, so in total they will be operating 120 by September/October. 77 are on order for First West of England, with build at ADL due to start in October, so by April next year there will be 99 in service in the Bristol area.
“We are now in tender season, and I am putting in as many tenders as possible. The main thing I like to get across to operators is the known commercial element of the product. These vehicles can achieve a range of 250 miles on a gas fill to 200 bar. Fuel consumption is worked out at kilometers per kilogram, so it is around 2.4 per kilogram for a single-decker and 2 per kilogram on a double-decker. There is not a direct comparison with MPG as you are dealing with weight compared to fuel. We have been impressed by these particular vehicles as they are achieving 20% better fuel usage than we predicted. That is route dependent.
“Gas is not a stop-gap, it’s a different solution. The orders we are getting in through the factory for Europe is also dictating that. Operators have ordered as many electric and hydrogen buses as they have gas buses. This chassis is not going away; it will continue to be developed.
“We are not against electric buses; this is just another option for the bus operator.
“Our ADL Enviro400 CBG City demonstrator, DD19 GAS, will soon be going on loan to National Express West Midlands for use around Birmingham. When we demonstrate this vehicle to an operator, we will also provide a business model. This will give them the answers to the questions that they will need to look at the business case, and then talk to an infrastructure supplier.”
Tanya Neech, Sustainable Solutions Manager at Scania UK, added: “The number of gas buses that will be running in the UK, including all current orders, will stand at 318 in total. Four out of the five big bus groups are now running them. Bus operators are now finding that moving forward, depending on the routes operated, they may be operating a number of mixed technology vehicles from one depot. Gas is another of those options that operators can choose from.”
HCT Group has been operating the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City for over three years now. CBW asked Dai Powell from HCT how the CBG version compared: “They are both very good products, but the gas version is very simple. The technology and engine are known, meaning that our engineers don’t have to learn much extra about how the vehicle operates. We have had remarkably few issues with these new vehicles. It is something we would definitely look at in other parts of the UK.
“We have to, as an industry, understand where society is and have to lead. It is these sorts of projects like here in Bristol, and also in Nottingham and Reading that are leading.”
Also in attendance at the launch was Tony Griffiths, Sales Director at the Gas Bus Alliance, who spoke to CBW: “Gas technology on buses is a 100-year-old technology, it is basic technology has evolved over that time. It provides renewable, sustainable fuel, which is brilliant for the people of Bristol.
“The opening today is our most recent project, prior to that it would have been some work we did at Reading Buses to install the UK’s first Sky Station, which was previously ground-based. Yard space is critical for bus operators, so when John Bickerton at Reading Buses asked for his yard space back, we came up with that solution of putting the entire infrastructure up in the air out of the way. Our next project is to design the gas filling station for First’s Lawrence Hill depot here in Bristol.
“Gas Bus Alliance specialises in back to base refueling – we have had a lot of success with UK bus operators thanks to our expertise in that area. Lawrence Hill Depot will be our seventh installation.
“In terms of Euro VI diesel engines, the exhaust emissions have been dealt with, but the bio-methane equivalent is 50-60% cleaner still. What people need to understand is that the global situation isn’t just about clean air, yes it’s important, but we are talking about the proliferation of Co2. It is killing the planet – until people embrace this and realise what it is about and what is creating the Co2 then councils, governments and operators are sat on the fence about which way to go. It needs a clear lead. Unfortunately, until about five years ago, all agencies looking into this issue were considering all carbon-reducing technologies. Whereas now they seem to have funneled the options down to electric. Electric is a good solution for cars, but it is being pushed into all technologies, and it may not be the right solution for all vehicles.”
The new gas bus filling station comprises two gas compressors, with storage tanks being specifically designed by the Gas Bus Alliance (GBA) to accommodate the requirements of operating the BCT metrobus fleet. The biogas that fuels the buses is also provided by GBA and comes from waste food and is supplied from anaerobic digesters across the UK. Bio-methane gas offers a more than 80% reduction in greenhouse gases and a 95% reduction in Nitrogen Oxide compared to older diesel buses.
