The Harrogate Bus Company has placed orders worth £21 million for 39 new buses supported by £7.8 million of funding from the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, following a successful bid by partner, North Yorkshire Council.
It includes 20 new Mercedes-Benz E-Citaro all-electric single deck buses, to be used on the operator’s busy urban route 1 between Harrogate and Knaresborough, route 7 linking Harrogate, Wetherby and Leeds, and rural route 24 between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge
There are also 19 new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400EV fully electric double deck buses, built in Britain, which will be used on the relaunched 36 service linking Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds.
The new vehicle orders follow successful trials of several types of all-electric buses on three varied routes in and around Harrogate, and on its high-frequency Shuttle route linking Bradford and Keighley.
During the trials, the bus operator invited its customers to rate key design features, with feedback incorporated into the specifications of the new buses.
Henri Rohard, Managing Director at Transdev, parent firm of The Harrogate Bus Company said: “In combination with our existing eight Harrogate Electrics-branded Volvo 7900E electric buses, the first of their kind in Britain, 47 fully-electric vehicles are now expected to be in service in Spring 2024.
“Higher power output delivered by today’s new generation batteries means each bus can go further between charge-ups – and to make sure we provide a reliable service, our buses will also have top-up charges at Harrogate Bus Station, as they will travel further in a day than the maximum range achievable by fully electric buses.”
