Nottingham City Transport has confirmed that Ruddington will be one of the first places to benefit from its brand new eco-friendly buses. Several will be introduced on our Green 10 route early next month.
They’re among 53 low emission, bio-gas powered, double deckers being added to the operator’s fleet following the award of a £4.4m grant from the Government’s OLEV Low Emission Bus Scheme last year – which was added to an investment of £12.4m from NCT itself.
“We’ve always taken our environmental impact responsibilities very seriously and have long had one of the youngest and cleanest bus fleets in the UK, but this investment in bio-gas bus technology marks a significant step change for Nottingham City Transport,” says NCT Engineering Director, Gary Mason. “We’ve spent an enormous amount of time and effort in researching alternative fuels and we’ve established that from the production of the gas itself, to when it’s powering the engines of the double deckers, bio-gas offers an outstanding long-term sustainable alternative to diesel. For OLEV to also recognise this also and award the funding is both rewarding for us as a company and exciting for the city as a whole.”
Moreover, they’re British built. The Scania chassis for each bus was assembled in Leyland in Lancashire, ahead of the bodying by Alexander Dennis in Scotland – and the Nottingham-based company Roadgas in Colwick has installed the fuelling facilities, which will also be able to be used by other businesses.
It’s claimed these bio-gas buses are the greenest double-deckers in the UK and will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 84%* compared with an equivalent brand new diesel double deck bus.
Bus passengers can get a sneak preview of five of these new additions – one from each route the first 30 buses will be operating on – when they’re parked at a special event launched by Nottingham’s Lord Mayor on Friday the 19th of May between 10am and 6pm in The Old Market Square. But Ruddington residents can also get to look around a new Green 10 being displayed on our Village Green during the afternoon of Saturday June 3rd as part of RuddFest 2017!
To whet your appetite here’s a video from Nottingham City Transport explaining why they believe that bio-gas is the future for their sustainable transport solutions.
* Based on Well-to-Wheel GHG saving compared to Euro V diesel equivalent, independently assessed and certified by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.
