£20 million invested into UK biogas bus fleet

UK-based Nottingham City Transport (NCT) announced a plan to more than double the size of its fleet of 53 biogas double deck buses this year, with an additional 67 buses in the works.

The total investment made by NCT into its fleet will total £20 million (€22.86 million).

In April, the first of the 67 buses will enter service, with the expectation that all 120 biogas buses will be operational by November 2019.

“With 53 biogas double deck buses already successfully operating in Nottingham and making a significant impact on reducing emissions in the city,” said Gary Mason, NCT engineering director.

“This fleet of 120 biogas double decks, coupled with the retrofitting of exhaust treatment systems to our diesel buses, demonstrates NCTs support for cleaning up Nottingham’s air, contributing to Nottingham City Council’s overall clean air strategy.”

NCT has also been successful in obtaining a further £1.12 million (€1.28 million) investment from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), which will be used to expand NCT’s biomethane refuelling station at its main depot.

“This government is doing more than ever before to reduce emissions across all modes of transport and I’m delighted to see the bus industry putting itself at the forefront of this,” said Nusrat Ghani, minister of buses.

With 120 buses, over half of the NCT fleet will be fuelled by biogas by the end of the year.