Queens Square Bus station, Liverpool. Picture Jason Roberts

More than £9m has been secured to help bring 58 fully-electric double-decker buses to the Liverpool City Region, further bolstering the existing zero-emission fleet.

The £9.4m has been awarded to the Combined Authority (CA) following a successful bid to the latest tranche of Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area fund (ZEBRA 2), which covers up to 75% of the cost difference between the zero emission vehicles and a standard diesel engine bus.

As approved when the bid was submitted in December 2023, the Combined Authority will also be contributing £22m in match-funding to the project, bringing the total amount of money committed to the project to more than £30m.

The new vehicles will join the city region’s current fleet which is already more than 70% zero or low emissions, including state-of-the-art hydrogen buses as well as buses powered by hybrid electric and biomethane gas.

It’s planned that the buses – which will be operated by Stagecoach – will run on the 17, 19, 14 and 20/21 bus routes between Kirkby, Tower Hill, Northwood and Liverpool city centre.

Richard McGuckin, Executive Director for Place at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said:

“We’re delighted to welcome the announcement of our successful bid to Department for Transport’s ZEBRA 2 fund. We know this was a highly competitive process so this award speaks to high quality of our submission and the hard work of colleagues.

“The money secured will, along with the match-funding already committed by the CA, help to bring dozens of new zero-emission buses to the city region enabling us push forward with our ambitions to decarbonise our transport network and improve air quality.”