From
Lothian Buses press release
“New
environmentally-friendly engine technology is set to be introduced to the
Lothian Buses fleet in partnership with Volvo in 2017.
The
move would see the bus company provide the first fully commercial service with 25 new hybrid-electric vehicles, which are currently being
trialled in various European cities by the Swedish manufacturer.
It
is expected that the buses will reduce
carbon emissions by up to 75% and diesel
consumption by 40% compared with the current fleet.
The
announcement comes as Volvo begins a tour with a concept vehicle, which will
also be on public show at Lothian Buses’ Doors Open Day this weekend.
Bill
Devlin, Engineering Director said:
This
really is the next logical step in creating more environmentally-friendly
travel options for our passengers. We’re at an advanced stage in our
discussions with Volvo and are very excited about the prospect of bringing this
technology to Edinburgh’s roads.
As
one of the UK's leading bus operators, we are planning ahead to ensure we meet,
and exceed, emissions targets set by the Government. It's important to our customers and us, as a
company, that we are committed to reducing the impact of our services on the
city as much as possible.
Derek
McKay MP, Minister for Transport and the Islands said:
Lothian
Buses have shown consistent commitment to improving the environment performance
of their fleet in parallel with delivering real benefits for passengers and I’m
pleased that we have been able to support them along the way through our Scottish Green Bus Fund.
As
technologies in this area continue to develop, I’m delighted to have this
opportunity to see how innovative bus manufacturers and operators can work
together to deliver further step changes in terms of greener, high quality
public transport options.
It's interesting how
Lothian Buses are increasing their hybrid bus fleet with support from the
Scottish Green Bus Fund.
The problem is that
diesel-electric hybrid buses still emit diesel fumes, hence the reason zero
emission buses are very expensive.
Currently, Lothian
Buses have 85 hybrid buses operating on several routes throughout Edinburgh and
the Lothians. Their hybrid fleet consists of 15 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
double deck buses, 50 Volvo 7900H single deck buses and 20 Volvo B5LH double
deck buses.
Take the example of Go
Ahead London, their routes 507 & 521 (known as Red Arrow routes) contract
requires Single deck Electric buses. The cost for the electric buses is £19
million for 51 BYD e-Buses with the Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC body. I have
previously written an article on this which you can see here.
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Also,
with Lothian Buses their new double deck fleet has the ‘glazed staircase’
design which is based on the New Routemaster which is the Wrightbus Gemini 3
with a Volvo B5TL chassis. It shows that the so called ‘London Bus’ New
Routemaster design like the glazed staircase is used in Scotland.
Give
it 5 years and we will see how much the bus fleet and their designs change,
then we can compare it to the past.
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me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
Link
to Lothian Buses Environment page