From electric to diesel and back again…

…David Jordan reports from Norwich, where the city’s new fleet of electric buses has recently entered service

Norfolk’s county city of Norwich is not somewhere that would traditionally be expected to be at the forefront of a notable development or innovation in public transport. The cathedral city’s tramway network, which largely heralded the start of mechanised transport for the masses, opened in 1900 and only received two small batches of open-top, open platform first generation tramcars to serve its 15 mile system before being sold to the fledgling Eastern Counties Omnibus Company and promptly closed down in favour of motor buses after only 35 years of operation.

From that time, it was another 50 years before public transport underwent any further notable change, when Norwich became one of the cities across the UK to utilise high-frequency, low capacity minibus operation in order to aim to revitalise its network. At the time, ever reducing passenger numbers were being carried on an outdated, overly complex network of services that had not evolved to meet the changing shape of the city’s residential areas which, as the population increased, had simply led to unsustainable levels of congestion across the (also largely outdated) road network. Rather, the focus had been on maintaining, as far as possible, rural routes which the operator clearly felt a social and political obligation to continue running.

Despite the vast numbers of new drivers employed to deliver these new minibus services being largely ostracised by the existing ‘big bus’ drivers (the canteen even being split into ‘big bus’ and ‘minibus’ tables) the introduction of the modern fleet of Ford Transits, Freight Rover Sherpas and Mercedes-Benz 0608D vehicles were a marked improvement in passenger comfort over the Bristol VRs and Leyland Nationals that made up almost the entirety of the remainder of the fleet and it could be said were really the first step in developing and evolving into the core city network utilising frequent, simple routes along key corridors that is in place today and matches the almost entirely ‘hub and spoke’ layout of the city and its suburbs.

Deregulation

Having been sold to its management by the National Bus Company at deregulation, Eastern Counties Omnibus Company passed to GRT Holdings in 1993 and subsequently became part of First Group when the merger between GRT and Badgerline Holdings took place a couple of years later. As the well known, and frequently documented, fortunes of First Group rose and fell over the following years, so did those of the now First Eastern Counties Buses. Many of the long established, but not exactly thriving, rural and interurban services passed to a number of independent operators or disappeared entirely, whilst the bus fleet varied vastly in both quality and age profile between batches of modern low-floor single deckers and some fairly elderly cascades from elsewhere in the Group’s bus divisions.

However, despite this often difficult period, patronage on the urban network within Norwich grew consistently as the city experienced a prolonged period of growth in population, employment and educational facilities which is maintained to this day. Whilst also leading to increased competition on a number of corridors from two independent operators subsequently purchased by the Go-Ahead Group, this increased positivity towards the bus led to the city network being handed over to low floor double deck operation during the early years of the new millennium, with batches of fairly modern, fully refurbished Plaxton President buses on both Volvo and Dennis Trident chassis being cascaded from service in London.

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The first batch of these had to be fairly swiftly replaced en-masse by similar vehicles just a couple of years newer due to a Euro III low emissions zone being introduced on the city’s main bus thoroughfare. The subsequent restructuring of First’s bus division with a focus on small, local, knowledgeable teams was also a huge benefit to the Eastern Counties operation, where a highly skilled, well established and entirely locally based team was now empowered to actively engage with stakeholders at all levels in order to promote and develop bus within local communities.

Change

Probably the most outwardly visible sign of this change in Norwich was the introduction in 2012 of a coloured line network; something that had been tried previously under the auspices of First’s nationally implemented ‘Overground’ initiative. Unfortunately, the laudable aim of making often complex urban bus networks more easily understandable for the unfamiliar had been consistently undermined by poor vehicle allocation, variable service delivery and some fairly mediocre marketing. Whilst there remains considerable scepticism across the industry of the value of such network branding (usually on the basis of the operational complexity and discipline it requires), the newly refreshed ‘Network Norwich’ was delivered to a consistently high standard and was therefore quickly adopted by the local population who within a matter of months would often state the bus route they used by its line colour, rather than the route number.

Initially put in place using vinyls applied to the then standard First ‘Barbie’ livery, the network brand identity was felt sufficiently embedded to be refreshed in 2016; this time with buses painted with coloured fronts to match the line to which they were allocated, and utilising a new standard of route branding developed by the internal marketing team.

These improvements to the delivery of bus services and advances in stakeholder engagement by the county’s largest operator signalled the start of a long period of constructive and fruitful partnership between all bus operators and Norfolk County Council that continues to this day. In the current decade it has formed the foundation upon which successful awards of monies for developments in public transport have been received from central government under the auspices of Transforming Cities Fund (TCF), Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP) and, most significantly, Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) funding.

Whilst all three of these schemes have, or are in the process of, changing the face of public transport infrastructure and facilities across the city, the latter has most importantly led to Norwich now holding the accolade of being home to the first all-electric bus depot outside of London. This status is quite at odds with the history of transport in the city and illustrates beyond all reasonable doubt the value, and necessity, of positive partnership between operators and local authorities, of which that in Norwich, and across Norfolk, can only be described as exemplary.

Rural resurgence

As a result, there is no stated intention or desire to pursue any form of franchising in Norfolk at any level within the local authority where strategic and open co-operation has yielded consistently positive results over many years. In recent years this can be traced back to the rural bus grant days of the late 1990s where a number of previously lost rural bus services were re-started and pump-primed using public money, many of which are now operated on an entirely commercial basis today. Of services that are not commercially viable, Norfolk County Council has a long standing commitment to providing ongoing financial support through various mechanisms, and has used a September 2022 award of £49.6m under the DfT’s BSIP fund (the sixth highest award nationally) to fund a range of new and enhanced services across both rural and urban areas alongside a number of infrastructure projects and fares initiatives. Importantly, the funding of new and enhanced services is allocated in such a way that, when funding runs out, it is believed that the services on which it is used will be commercially viable, with a strict evaluation process, developed entirely in conjunction with operators, being used to judge all potential ideas.

Whilst in a county as rural as Norfolk, it would be very simple to merely allocate money to restoring or establishing rural connections (something that is frequently, and understandably, advocated by local elected politicians), BSIP funding has been split between a number of worthy rural projects, focussed on providing frequent links between communities and either their local large town or into Norwich, with significant funds having been used to support urban services as well, usually providing enhanced frequencies, later evening buses, or greater coverage to new and developing suburban areas with the aim that bus will be the long-standing mode of choice for commuters, students and leisure travellers, counteracting recent increases in, and even reducing, congestion.

Bus priority measures including bus lanes, traffic light priority and changes in road infrastructure and layout have all been funded by both monies received under BSIP and the previous £38.1m TCF award dating from May 2020. Equally a programme of bus stop improvements has been implemented, most notably with a brand new road and bus stop layout in Norwich’s St Stephens Street hub, but also with focus on revised boarding and alighting facilities across many of Norfolk’s market towns.

Bucking the trend

All of these developments have meant that across the county, Norfolk now has more bus services than it did 12 months ago, and passenger journeys now exceed pre-pandemic levels; both of which are in stark contrast to the national trend and, as Councillor Barry Stone noted at the recent launch event for the new electric bus fleet are a “demonstration of what can be achieved for the people of Norfolk when we [Norfolk County Council and operators] work together.”

Figures recently released have shown that bus usage in the county increased by 16% when comparing April to December 2023 with the same period the previous year with local initiatives naturally aided by the Government’s ongoing £2 single fare cap, of which volume growth within Norwich is responsible for the lion’s share.

Whilst many of these developments in public transport have taken many years to deliver, the transformation from a vastly mixed age diesel fleet (some members of which were still of the ex-London Euro III batch withdrawn only matter of weeks ago) to operating 70 all-electric buses on the city’s busiest and most frequent services will have been achieved in little more than eight months. At the time of writing, all 59 Wrightbus Electroliner double-deckers have been delivered and have entered service, and the remaining 11 GB Kite Electroliner single-decks are due to be delivered and in operation by the end of the month.

This will mean that, by the deadline date of end of March 2024, around 60% of all scheduled Network Norwich services will be operated by zero-emission electric vehicles. Concurrently this will mean that around 50% of all buses through the city’s public transport hub on Castle Meadow, in the shadow of the city’s famous Norman Castle, and the location of the original Euro III low emission zone (since designated an Air Quality Management Area) will be zero-emission at the tailpipe.

It also represents a significant step towards the aims established under the local Enhanced Partnership to reduce car use where there is a viable public transport alternative, and increase the proportion of registered local bus services in Norfolk that are Euro VI or zero-emission to 50% by 2027.

Rapid and interesting

The road to this position has been as interesting as it has been rapid. As recently as 2020, and in recognition of the high level of bus infrastructure projects included in the package submitted as part of the successful TCF bid, First Bus had publicly committed to investing in a fleet of brand new Euro VI buses upon completion of the majority of the most significant schemes. There was also the option expressed at the time to switch some of the investment to zero-emission vehicles, should this be made possible by sufficient advances in technology or further funding becoming available.

With the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in somewhat of a reset for the bus industry, there was an understandable delay in delivering some of the schemes approved under TCF, whilst in the meantime ZEBRA (and BSIP) funding became available. Buoyed by their previous success, Norfolk County Council was quick to express its desire to submit what would be successful applications for both, with the award from the former to be spent on 15 electric single-deck vehicles being granted in March 2022.

After the initial ZEBRA awards, the DfT made local authorities and operators aware that there was further funding available for changes to be made to the original bids, which could include both additional buses and charging infrastructure. This led to an increased bid that allowed the entire quantity of vehicles that the earlier TCF commitment for 55 diesel buses mandated to be converted to an order for electric double-deck buses, and also made the conversion of Roundtree Way depot to fully electric operation achievable.

Increased funding

The success of this further submission led to an increase in funding from the DfT of £8.6m and a further £16.4m from First, giving a total investment of £14.7m of ZEBRA funding and a capital investment by First of £23m. Thus in July 2023, work began to fully electrify Roundtree Way depot to house the 70 new vehicles, now split over 59 double-deck and 11 single-deck in order to meet the full peak vehicle requirement of five of the city’s nine long-established colour-coded lines for electric operation; the majority of the Green Line services requiring single-deck buses due to low bridges on the two extremities of the corridor.

Throughout the conversion work, which has resulted in the installation of 30 tonnes of steel in the lines of overhead gantries and no less than 8.5km of cabling, the depot has been in full use as both an engineering and operating centre 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the only real change in day to day operation being the removal of staff car parking on the site for which a small, suitable patch of land was leased just over a mile away and a shuttle minibus for staff operated.

As Norwich is served by two depots, the conversion has also required a reallocation of some services and vehicles to the second site at Vulcan Road which is situated around 10 minutes’ drive away, and the capacity of which has recently been expanded by the acquisition and development onto an additional piece of land directly adjacent, and now connected, to the substantial premises. This facility will now house the remaining retained diesel fleet that are required to operate the longer corridors across the city network, two of which are over 25 miles one way with their resultant daily mileage currently making them unsuitable for battery-electric operation.

Smart charging

The installation of 32 dual-headed rapid 150kW chargers and four triple-headed 180kW dynamic chargers supplied by Heliox has resulted in the need for an increase in power supplied to the depot site from the local grid, and has been future-proofed in case of the need for a further increase in the charging requirement. This supply has been upgraded to 4,000kW which is the equivalent of around 200 homes or an entire small village. In addition, options are being explored for business-to-business charging to take place during the day when the buses are in service, to further support the decarbonisation of the wider community. In addition to being capable of charging a bus in just 2.5 hours, a valuable feature of the infrastructure is that during the winter months the vehicles are pre-heated before entering service each morning, thus dramatically reducing battery consumption used for heating during the day, and ensuring that passengers are consistently greeted by a warm bus on a cold morning; something all too often not achieved with even the most modern diesel bus.

However, as with all developments deployed, the proof of the pudding is always in the eating, and it is without doubt that the buses have been unanimously welcomed with open arms by passengers; something that is not always easy to achieve in a traditionally conservative and often ‘tough to impress’ community such as those in a city voted among the UK’s top five most desirable places to live. Whilst the obvious reduction in noise levels around the main city centre bus corridor is clearly noticeable, what is immediately apparent on riding, quite apart from the zero engine noise, is the almost total lack of rattles from the body, even when traversing various speed tables and traffic calming measures.

It is the lack of this particular noise that has most frequently been noted by passengers, alongside the vehicle’s clear ability to accelerate away from bus stops and traffic lights entirely smoothly and at a markedly greater pace than their diesel predecessors. This in itself has led to improved punctuality on a number of corridors on which the buses run, not least the Pink Line which provides a direct service to the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital through some of the most congested and challenging roads in the city in the process. In addition, the introduction of electric buses onto all three services that either call or terminate here has resulted in a noticeable drop in noise levels at the hospital itself, noted by the head of its transport unit at the recent electric bus launch.

Driver pride

Drivers too are noticeably enjoying the new modern fleet, with morale, recruitment and retention apparently benefiting in equal measure in the weeks since the buses entered service. As well as the improvements in driver comfort, vehicle performance and passenger satisfaction, mechanical reliability has also improved. The influx of 70 new buses has naturally facilitated a strategic review of the diesel buses that will be retained. Ultimately this will result in standardisation on Wrightbus products in the form of eight to nine year old Streetdeck and Streetlite vehicles alongside the rugged stalwart Gemini 2-boded Volvo B9TLs that have formed the backbone of the fleet with both significant cascades and new purchases since 2011, and a number of 2012 Volvo B7RLE single-decks, meaning that drivers are able to drive a modern, comfortable vehicle whatever work they are allocated.

No branding

In order to be able to be allocated across all of the electric corridors to ensure equal levels of battery degradation and life span, all of the new vehicles wear the same livery, with the resultant loss of route branding that has served the city network extremely well for over a decade, contributing to a consistent increase in patronage in the pre-Covid era of industry-wide decline.

However, realising its well established value and the way it continues to be used locally by passengers as a means of identifying key bus corridors, the coloured line network has been retained for publicity and marketing purposes, and is represented on the electric buses by the use of a coloured background to the route number on front, side and rear destination screens, and on the next-stop audio visual displays inside, all of which have been supplied by Hanover. Text to voice software has been used for audio announcements, although one would not know on hearing them, such have the recent advances in this form of AI led to provision of a completely natural, entirely realistic, female vocal tone. This in itself is a significant development for public transport in the area, with next-stop announcements only in use otherwise on the Konectbus-operated Norwich park & ride, and First Eastern Counties’ excel service between Norwich and Peterborough, which itself gained a fleet of high specification, Scania Alexander Dennis double-deck buses as recently as February 2020.

Summarising what is probably the most significant development in the hitherto largely unexciting almost century and a quarter of public transport evolution in East Anglia’s largest city, Managing Director of First East of England Piers Marlow said at the recent press launch: “We are incredibly proud of the work that’s been done at Roundtree Way depot. The vehicles are absolutely fantastic – not only from a sustainability and air quality perspective, but they’re great for our customers, our drivers and our engineers and we’re already receiving lots of positive feedback.”

Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport at Norfolk County Council hailed the arrival of the fleet of electric buses as, “…an extraordinary boost to our ambitions to run a net-zero transport system in Norfolk.”

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