New £30 Million Fund for Green Buses (England)
The Department of Transport has announced that it will shortly launch a new £30 million fund to encourage the purchase of low carbon buses. The fund is part of the Department for Transport’s wider strategy to encourage a radical shift to low carbon transport and improve air quality in our cities. Bus operators and councils will be able to bid for the money which they can then use towards the additional upfront cost of buying low carbon buses.
Over the next two years the Department for Transport expect this fund to support the purchase of several hundred low carbon buses and, just as importantly, help to stimulate the development of a new green technology industry and help to safeguard up to 900 jobs in bus manufacturing.
Bus operators and local authorities will be able to bid for funding toward the additional cost of buying a LCEB. The Department will assess the bids against published criteria and will award grant to the winners. This grant will help to meet the upfront cost of the vehicles. The criteria will be published shortly. The fund is also available for very low and zero emission vehicles, such as electric vehicles, and the Department would be interested in receiving bids which covered the demonstrations of such buses in regular use for services. The fund is not intended to pay the full cost of a low carbon bus. The maximum funding per bus will be the difference between the cost of the low carbon bus and the cost of its standard diesel equivalent. The Department will talk to key stakeholders before publishing the details of the competition.
