From Lothian Buses
At an investment of over £2.7million, the new Wrightbus Street Air single deck buses will operate on our Service 1 route from Monday 2 October which carrries around 1.8 million customers each year.
The service runs through Edinburgh’s central air quality management area, and this investment cements our commitment to reduce emissions and improve air quality in the area.
The Electric Buses:
· Built in the UK, the WrightBus StreetAir single deck buses can carry up to 70 passengers.
· They are fitted with Wi-Fi, high back seats, USB charging points and LED spotlights.
· They operate on a pure electric powertrain, including an all-electric heating and cooling system, with 300 kWh of total battery energy which allows the buses to run with zero tailpipe emissions.
· The buses will charge overnight at new charging stations installed within our Annandale Street garage. Once plugged in, the vehicles take 3-4 hours to receive a full 75 kW charge and can operate for up to 130 miles on electric power.
· They are designed with regenerative braking, allowing the energy created when the vehicle is braking to be recovered back to the batteries and stored to power the vehicle exending the range of the bus.
We will be adding a further five electric vehicles to the service next year, making it the capital city’s first fully electric route.
Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport said:
I am delighted to be able to join Lothian in the launch of their new electric buses. It is fantastic to see operators, like Lothian, investing in their fleet in a way that supports both their passengers and the environment through new low carbon and electric vehicles.
Lothian have benefited through the Scottish Green Bus Fund and I would encourage all operators to continue to consider the various grants that the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland can provide.
Richard Hall, Managing Director of Lothian, added:
We fully support the Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council’s strategies to improve local air quality. The introduction of full electric buses to this route, combined with our on-going fleet replacement strategy ‘BUS2020’, ensures that we as a business are doing our part to improve air quality across the city.
These buses are not only fitted with zero emission technology, they are also quieter and smoother, offering a better customer experience for the thousands of customers who travel with us every day.
Electric Bus technology is here and we need to embrace it and ensure that it is part of our future fleet and business planning strategies; it absolutely has a place alongside traditional diesel and hybrid technologies
The delivery of these cleaner and greener buses to our fleet is central to Lothian’s ‘Bus 2020’ Environmental Strategy, which includes ongoing investments in low and zero emission buses. We aim to reduce our emissions footprint by a further 42% by 2020.
So far in 2017, Lothian has invested in:
· 15 Wrightbus Volvo B8RLE Euro 6 for East Coast Buses
· 6 Wrightbus zero emission full electric buses
· 30 Wrightbus Volvo B5TL Euro 6 for route 26
· 15 Wrightbus Volvo B5TL Euro 6 buses for Airlink
· 20 Wrightbus Volvo B5LH Hybrid Euro 6 buses for Skylink 300
Also, Lothian Buses has invested to have 20 hybrid buses for their Skylink 300 service.
From Lothian Buses
From 1 October 2017, we will be introducing double deck vehicles to our Skylink 200 service due to increasing customer demand.
The service, which launched in April, now carries over 10,000 customers per week.
The higher-capacity buses for this route will meet the Euro6 environmental standard and have the distinctive Skylink livery.
We will also be rebranding our Service 35 to become Skylink 300. Our investment of £6m, including a £1.5m contribution from the Scottish Green Bus Fund, will see 20 new hybrid buses introduced to the route. This fleet of new buses will have USB charging points, free WiFi, flight departure information and dedicated luggage areas.
Fares to Edinburgh Airport on Skylink 300 will be brought into line with those on our other airport services from this date. Timetable and fares for other parts of the route will remain the same. Single tickets will still be available for journeys between the Airport/Airport Hotel and Maybury - £2.50 adult, £1.50 child.
Richard Hall, Managing Director, said:
We’re delighted with how popular our Edinburgh Airport services are with customers. The introduction of these new and upgraded vehicles across both routes is the right time to simplify the range of options that we offer. Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s busiest airport and one of the fastest growing airports in the UK, especially for international flights, and we’ll keep working with its management to provide great connections for everyone who uses it.
In the last ten years Edinburgh Airport has invested £219m in new facilities, including £25m on the landside terminal extension and security hall. Lothian aims to provide flyers from the city with convenient and cost-effective options of travel to and from the airport, reducing the pressure from increased traffic on surrounding roads.
Richard Townsend, Edinburgh Airport's Director of Retail and Property, said:
Making sure people can arrive at the airport and get into our stunning capital as quickly and smoothly as possible is key to a positive experience, and Lothian’s continued support in playing its part in that excellent local transport network is very much welcomed.
Their investment means they can now offer a fleet with the latest technology, including live departure information in a first for any airport service so customers can relax and enjoy the sights as they head back to Scotland’s busiest airport.
The new hybrids also feature a glazed staircase design which is based on the Wrightbus New Routemaster and the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City buses.
According to the recent London Bus fleet audit, there are 978 New Routemasters, 71 electric buses, 8 fuel cell buses and 2,729 hybrid buses (including new Routemasters) operating on London’s roads.
Here’s the London Bus news update from LOTS:
30th September marked the change of operator on route 131 after several decades from London United to London General using a mix of WVL/ WVN/ WHV buses from Merton Garage. The 155 moved from Merton to Stockwell, taking its WHVs with it. As the first of Garston’s TfL routes to be lost, route 258 passed from Arriva to London Sovereign using ADE=class Enviro400s formerly at Hounslow. Another eight night routes in London had frequency cuts as a result of the ‘Night Tube’, and many more are in the pipeline for later this year.
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