The Government has announced that Devon County Council will receive £5,300,000 and Torbay Council will receive £7,100,000 from the second round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) funding competition. This will fund 41 buses in the Devon local authority area and 49 buses in Torbay.
£142.8 million is being awarded to 25 local transport authorities to support the delivery of 955 zero emission buses. This will expand on the first round, which provided funding to 16 local transport authorities to deliver 1,300 zero emission buses, over 1,000 of which have been ordered so far.
Local authorities will work in partnership with bus operators to take the first steps towards decarbonising buses, improving transport for local communities and supporting our climate change obligations. This round of funding is designed to support local transport authorities without extensive experience of introducing zero emission buses and to support the introduction of these buses for use on rural routes. Each zero-emission bus, on average, saves around 23kg of NOx and 46 tonnes of CO2 per year, relative to a diesel equivalent. The new state-of-the-art buses will also improve the passenger experience, providing users with considerably quieter, smoother and more comfortable journeys.