Fifty zero-emission double-decker buses will be in operation in Plymouth and South-East Cornwall by December 2025, thanks to £31.87 million of joint investment by, Plymouth Citybus (part of the Go-Ahead Group), the Department for Transport (DfT), Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council.
Synopsis
The project will see new electric buses operating on the 21/A, 42 and 50/51 routes in Plymouth, with six buses serving Cornwall’s Rame Peninsula on route 70.
The investment marks a significant step towards cleaner, greener public transport and demonstrates the partners’ commitment to innovation and sustainability. It will also create additional capacity and improve the passenger experience.
Background
The vision of the Plymouth Enhanced Bus Partnership (the partnership between the Council and Plymouth’s bus operators), as set out in the 2024 Plymouth Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), is ‘to create a thriving bus network where everyone can be connected to important people and places, by services that are frequent, reliable, fast, affordable, safe and clean, which will also help Plymouth to achieve its net zero goals by 2030’.
The Partnership was therefore delighted when the DfT launched an opportunity in September 2023 to apply for Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA 2) funding because of the opportunity it presented to help support Plymouth’s net zero ambitions.
Through the Fund, the DfT would contribute up to 75 per cent of the cost difference between a zero-emission bus and an equivalent standard conventional diesel bus of the same total passenger capacity. The DfT would also contribute up to 75 per cent of the total capital expenditure for the purchase and installation of supporting infrastructure. Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) could also request grant funding to cover up to 50 per cent of contingency costs for vehicles and infrastructure.
Buses funded by the grant, in accordance with the National Bus Strategy, had to be more accessible and of higher quality than those they were to replace.
Funding would only be awarded to LTAs that had formed an enhanced partnership or had begun following the statutory process to decide whether to implement franchising. Plymouth formed an enhanced partnership in April 2023 and submitted a bid to the fund in December 2023, in partnership with Plymouth Citybus and Cornwall Council (EP formed in April 2022). This bid was successful.
Objectives
The objectives of the project are threefold:
- to start the decarbonisation of Plymouth’s bus fleet
- to improve air quality and
- to improve public transport in Plymouth and South-East Cornwall.
The Council’s mission, as set out in its 2023 Corporate Plan, is to make ‘Plymouth a fairer, greener city, where everyone does their bit’ and public transport plays a key role in achieving this ambition.
In Plymouth, 24.9 per cent of households are without a car or van, and 15 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women do not have a driving licence. The bus is therefore crucial to accessing school and work, healthcare and shops and friends and family, as well as enabling visitors to travel to, from and within Britain’s Ocean City.
Buses also have a key role to play in our response to the city’s climate emergency declaration and supporting Plymouth’s sustainable growth. This is why the vision of the 2024 Plymouth Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), is ‘to create a thriving bus network where everyone can be connected to important people and places, by services that are frequent, reliable, fast, affordable, safe and clean, which will also help Plymouth to achieve its net zero goals by 2030’.
Buses need to be both tools of inclusion and the transport of choice, and the Plymouth Enhanced Bus Partnership knows it needs to provide better bus services.
Investment in zero-emission buses helps to deliver this and supports the aspirations of both the Council’s Corporate Plan and Plymouth Plan.
The Plymouth Plan seeks to help deliver a transport system that enables and encourages sustainable and active travel choices, provides better access to jobs and services and supports a healthy environment.
Through the ZEBRA 2 programme, we are actively supporting the Plymouth Plan policy commitments to:
- HEA6(1): Use the planning process to address air quality, carbon emissions and noise pollution.
- HEA6(2): Design transport infrastructure projects to take full account of the needs of all users, the wider community and place shaping needs of the area, whilst also helping to minimise air quality, carbon emissions and noise pollution.
- HEA6(7): Invest in and promote the growth of an electric vehicle charging network and encourage electric vehicle take-up and use.
- HEA6(10): Work with regional partners, agencies and public transport operators to deliver an integrated transport system across all modes covering key locations within and adjoining the Plymouth travel-to-work area.
- GRO4 (1): Continue to support the High-Quality Public Transport Network and improve public and sustainable transport services through, where appropriate, subsidies and new infrastructure.
- GRO4 (15): Develop and deliver targeted infrastructure interventions, consistent with the long-term vision and objectives for transport set out in the Joint Local Plan.
The ZEBRA 2 project also supports the delivery of the commitments within the plan to help deliver targeted integrated transport measures that help support the sustainable growth of Plymouth, following the vision, objectives and policies of the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan (specifically SPT9 (6), which seeks to get the most out of our existing network and encourage behavioural change and SPT9(9), delivering transport projects that provide a safe and effective transport system).
The programme also supports the aspirations of the BSIP, underpinned by nine passenger priorities. More than 1,800 people, in response to our 2023 passenger priority survey, told us their priorities for bus services were, in order:
1. frequent
2. reliable and fast
3. affordable
4. direct and connected
5. accessible
6. safe
7. simple and understandable
8. modern and clean.
The Plymouth ZEBRA 2 project delivers against four of these nine priorities: frequent, accessible, simple and understandable and modern.
Securing funding from the DfT’s ZEBRA 2 Fund also supports the Plymouth Net Zero Action Plan (NZAP). According to the Plymouth Greenhouse Gas Report 2024, transport accounted for 34 per cent of Plymouth’s emissions in 2022. This proportion has increased (from 28 per cent in 2021) as other sectors are decarbonising faster.
Tackling city transport emissions requires a shift in the uptake of active travel and public transport, and to that effect, the Council has made a triple commitment to:
- Provide a local policy framework that facilitates the decarbonisation of the transport system (NZAP T4).
- Provide public infrastructure needed to meet the city's low-carbon transport needs. (NZAP T5).
- Co-produce decarbonisation plans and initiatives with partners from across the transport system. (NZAP T6).
The approach to reaching net zero in Plymouth by 2030, outlined on our Climate Connections website, encourages policy makers and service providers to work in partnership to make all the elements of the city’s transport system interact well together, including park and ride, public transport, walking and cycling options and parking policies, with public transport – particularly buses – being recognised as playing a key role in the net zero transition.
Securing funding to decarbonise around half of the Citybus fleet based in Plymouth, benefitting both routes in Plymouth and our wider travel to work area, will make a significant contribution to reducing transport emissions and support both the Council’s and partners’ efforts towards tackling climate change. The Plymouth ZEBRA 2 project, therefore, satisfies all three commitments set out in the NZAP.
The importance of the Zero Emission Buses Regional Area project in delivering our NZAP ambitions is why Plymouth City Council’s match funding contribution is being funded by the Plymouth Community Infrastructure Levy, reflecting the role the project has in delivering infrastructure that mitigates both cumulative and direct impacts of development.
Finally, the project supports the Council’s air quality objectives, both directly, through the operation of zero-emission vehicles and indirectly through encouraging modal shift away from the private car, due to the introduction of modern, higher quality vehicles on local bus routes.
The Plymouth and South East Cornwall ZEBRA 2 project will therefore not only support our work on climate change but also improve air quality, in turn delivering public health benefits.
Cornwall Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan and Local Transport Plan are also aligned with Plymouth’s low carbon transport goals.
Method
The Plymouth ZEBRA 2 Project is a collaboration between Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council and Plymouth Citybus (part of the Go-Ahead Group).
All operators in the Plymouth Enhanced Bus Partnership were notified of the Council’s intention to submit a bid to the ZEBRA 2 Fund and allowed to partner with the Council.
Only Plymouth Citybus chose to participate, but all the Enhanced Partnership Board members provided letters of support to accompany the submission, and the project is discussed at board meetings to allow lessons learnt to be shared across the partnership.
Cornwall Council were keen to partner the Plymouth bid because several routes that operate into South-East Cornwall start and end in Plymouth, with the buses on these routes garaged at the Milehouse bus depot.
Due to the costs involved in electrifying the vehicles and providing the necessary charging infrastructure, it was uneconomical just to electrify the buses operating from Plymouth into Cornwall. However, it did make sense to include them as part of a bigger package (the urban Plymouth ZEBRA 2 project) and their inclusion was felt to strengthen the Plymouth submission by adding an element of rurality to the proposals.
What has been the impact of the programme?
The ZEBRA2 project provides a transformational opportunity to modernise Plymouth’s bus fleet, significantly advance the Council’s commitment to decarbonise transport and boost bus passenger numbers.
The project is still in delivery; the first of the zero-emission buses will enter service this summer, with all 50 vehicles in operation by the end of the year. It’s therefore too early to assess the impact of the programme. However, the anticipated impacts are:
- A reduction in carbon emissions (the forecast reduction in carbon emissions, compared with diesel equivalents, is 9,914 tonnes over the lifetime of the buses).
- Air quality benefits (estimates show that the buses will reduce NOx (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) emissions by 28 tonnes and PM (particulate matter) 2.5 emissions by a tonne over their lifetime.
- An improved passenger experience (the buses are more accessible than the diesel buses they are replacing, with a second flexible space that can be used for a second wheelchair user or at least two unfolded pushchairs or prams in addition to the mandatory wheelchair space.
They also have audio-visual route/next stop/bus stopping information, wider environmental gains – as part of the ZEBRA project, Wrightbus (the bus manufacturer) has committed that for every vehicle manufactured, 10 trees will be planted in the communities where the buses are deployed.
In addition, the buses will not only enhance the routes on which they will operate but also allow the cascade of existing Euro six diesel buses displaced from the electrified routes onto other services in Plymouth and South-East Cornwall, thereby modernising the entire Plymouth Citybus fleet operating in the Plymouth travel-to-work area.
We look forward to reporting back on the impact of the programme in the future.
Learning and recommendations for other councils
Due to the nature of the fund, the bid had to be led by a local transport authority, so Plymouth City Council is the accountable body for the grant, but the project is being delivered by Plymouth Citybus.
The Council is providing a subsidy to the commercial transport operator, and it is a Subsidy of Particular Interest because it exceeds £10 million. It was therefore subject to a mandatory referral to the Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) of the Competition and Markets Authority.
The SAU were extremely helpful throughout the process. However, this was the first such referral made by the Council, and the complex process was new to all those involved. Our advice to other councils that may need to make a mandatory referral is to allow plenty of time and familiarise themselves with the requirements ahead of progressing any funding applications from the outset.
Relevant links
Contact details
Megan Robins
Public Transport Officer
Plymouth City Council
[email protected]
Rosie Starr
Sustainable Transport Manager
Plymouth City Council
[email protected]