First Bus and Portsmouth City Council officially unveiled their new electric bus fleet to the public on 11 March ahead of a service launch in April.
The 62 new Wrightbus vehicles have been funded via a collaboration between Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire County Council, and First, with £12.7m from the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme and £15.9m from First to create an electric bus depot at Hoeford.
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Portsmouth’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “I am delighted that electric buses will be landing in our city soon as part of our plans to transform bus travel. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to witness the future of sustainable transport first hand in Portsmouth, there has never been a better time to try out the bus.”
Managing Director of First Bus South Simon Goff added: “We’re delighted to be working with Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire County Council, bringing electric buses to the streets of Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport. Come and see the bus, hop on board and experience the future of green travel.”
Unlike recent deliveries to First’s subsidiaries in Leeds, Norwich and York, where the relatively recently-introduced local identities have again been replaced by a standardised purple and grey colour scheme, the new buses for Portsmouth retain the blue colours which First has adopted in the city, which CBW understands was at the request of the city council to retain the strong local brand.
