Leicester’s first zero-emission electric buses are on the way to the UK to help improve air quality in and around the city
Leicester City Council’s order for 15 Yutong E12 electric buses is currently being shipped from the Yutong factory for delivery to UK dealer Pelican Engineering in the coming weeks. The vehicles will be fully commissioned and completed at Castleford before delivery to Leicester City Council.
11 of the new buses will be operated by Robert’s Coaches and used to convert the city’s three Park & Ride services at Birstall, Meynell’s Gorse and Enderby from Euro VI diesel to zero-emission electric buses. The Park & Ride services are a joint City Council/County Council contract with the buses owned by the City Council.
A further four buses will be operated by Centrebus and are to go on the Hospital Hopper route contracted by the University Hospitals Leicester. Development of two new Park & Ride sites along the route are also planned.
In both cases, the electric buses and rest of the infrastructure are being funded by the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) and Leicester City Council capital funds. Both schemes will include digital ticketing, real-time stop information, red routes, and significant bus priority measures.
In addition, further electric buses are planned for 2022, for use on a new free city centre connection service – again funded by TCF and the Council, which is in the process of seeking funds to convert and develop the Circleline ring road service operated by Centrebus to electric over the next two years.
These will all form part of the Greenlines Electric Network focussed on providing zero-emission connections across the conurbation.
