Bus operator First West of England has started work on two multi-million pound projects to electrify its bus depots in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare.
Construction equipment has been delivered to the Weston-super-Mare site ahead of a £14.9million scheme, which will see the transformation of the two-football pitch sized site, just off the A370, and the arrival of 24 new electric buses there next year.
In addition, £44 million is being invested in electrifying the operator’s Hengrove depot in Bristol alongside launching 74 electric buses on the city’s network.
The Hengrove transformation is planned to get underway at the end of next month.
Work at both depots, which is being carried out by construction teams from engineering specialist NG Bailey for Hengrove, and Magnus Construction Group for Weston-super-Mare, is expected to be completed by March 2025, with the electric buses arriving soon after.
As well as supplying the sites with increased power, the projects will see about 400 tonnes of steel used across multiple gantries which will distribute power to charge the new buses.
These depots will also provide facilities for local companies to charge their electric vehicles.
The electrification programme has been made possible thanks to partnerships between First West of England and the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council, who together secured almost £9m of government funding through its Zero Emissions Bus Regional Areas 2 (ZEBRA2) project.
Doug Claringbold, First West of England’s Managing Director, said, “We’re proud as a company to be investing more than £50m into this project, which will be our biggest in this region for decades, and supports First Bus’ commitment to have a zero-emissions fleet by 2035.”
