A bridge too far? Bristol biogas bus route facing tests

The launch of biogas buses in Bristol, UK, is still facing potential obstacles, reports the Bristol Post.

According to the local news service, workers for MetroBus, Bristol’s rapid transit system, were photographed carrying out height tests on a recently renovated Ashton Avenue swing bridge in the city in the south-west of England.

Reopened in May 2017, the bridge is set to form part of the city’s new MetroBus M2 route, a route which is set to include the city’s biogas buses.

The Bristol Post reports that although standard buses operating on the route had already been tested, that was not the case for the biogas buses.

In particular, the height of the biogas buses was a concern – while standard MetroBuses are 4.2m tall, the biogas buses measure 4.3m.

A spokesman from MetroBus told the Bristol Post: “They are checking whether they can use the biogas bus in the future.

“The operators have a two-year grace period to bring in more environmentally-friendly buses, hybrid or similar.”

In August 2017, Bristol was awarded £4.79 million (€5.16 million) funding for a fleet of more than 100 biomethane buses. The investment is designed to help local bus operator First West of England unlock £28 million of investment into the biogas powered public transport. The funding award followed an earlier ‘pathfinding’ mission by First West to test the viability of a biomethane bus in the city.