ZEBRA 2 funding attracts considerable interest

[TB123]

www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/24011641.morebus-dorset-council-apply-electric-bus-funding/

Dorset Council & Go South Coast bidding for 10 electric open-top deckers for Purbeck Breezer routes 40 & 50 including electrification of the Swanage depot

[TB123]

Dec 28, 2023 11:37:29 GMT TB123 said:

www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/24011641.morebus-dorset-council-apply-electric-bus-funding/

Dorset Council & Go South Coast bidding for 10 electric open-top deckers for Purbeck Breezer routes 40 & 50 including electrification of the Swanage depot

An interesting snippet behind this bid:

The bid is for 10 electric buses plus the charging infrastructure at Swanage and Bournemouth depots. There would be 3 closed tops, 3 half tops and four convertibles. The latter would be converted to convertibles in-house at Hants and Dorset Trim. 2 of the Evosetis will remain at Swanage. The 3 current half tops will head to Vectis and the current convertibles will transfer to Lymington for the the New Forest Tour. These are the same cascades that were originally planned for 2021 when the Swanage fleet would have been replaced, albeit with more (now discontinued) B5TL Evosetis back then.

[TB123]

Lancashire has teamed up with Rotala/Preston Bus and Stagecoach for a ZEBRA2 bid, reportedly for up to 70 vehicles.

www.lep.co.uk/news/transport/cleaner-and-quieter-bus-journeys-could-be-on-the-cards-for-preston-and-leyland-as-part-of-electric-vehicle-plan-4468601

Lancashire County Council has made a pitch for £15.7m of government cash on behalf of two operators – Preston Bus and Stagecoach – to help bring electric buses to at least half a dozen services.

If the money is sent Lancashire’s way, electric buses would begin to glide out of Preston Bus depots – primarily on the number 19 service from the city centre to the Royal Preston Hospital and the 35 between the bus station and Tanterton.

Elsewhere, the Stagecoach services 1, 3 and 111 – between Preston and Longridge, Penwortham and Leyland respectively – would also go electric. 

Meanwhile, electric vehicles would take to the nine-mile route between Lancaster University and Heysham, via Lancaster city centre and Morecambe.

[TB123]

www.suffolk.gov.uk/asset-library/suffolk-zebra-2-application-form-redacted.pdf

Suffolk has teamed up with First Eastern Counties & Go East Anglia/Chambers for a ZEBRA2 bid for 38 electric buses in Lowestoft & Sudbury respectively 

As part of transitioning the Suffolk bus fleet to zero emission we have identified a two-centre approach for where zero emission buses will provide links for rural communities on existing routes to access local services, education and employment opportunities.



Our approach is supported by the two main operators that have depots in these centres:

- Centre 1: Lowestoft (First Bus) based at Gas Works Road, Lowestoft, NR32 1UZ

- Centre 2: Sudbury (Go East Anglia) based at Meekings Road, Sudbury, CO10 2XE



As a two centre project the costs and details in Section 4.1 have been broken down by centre and are provided for completeness in Table 2.



Figure 1 and 2 in section 3 show the depot locations and routes operating from each depot. Charging infrastructure will be installed at each depot to provide overnight charging and if required allows for top up charging during the day. Table 3 summarises the routes.



The routes capture 13% of the local bus km operated per week across Suffolk. Both First and Go East Anglia plan to replace the older vehicles in the fleet with the new zero emission buses. This will take 12 Euro III and 26 Euro VI vehicles out of the entire Suffolk fleet, with the associated benefits on the emissions.



Selecting the two centres provides a geographical spread of the benefits of providing zero emission buses to a wider range of rural communities and actively supports cross border bus operations to serve locations in neighbouring Norfolk and Essex.


Centre 1, Lowestoft: is located in East Suffolk and the Lowestoft Community Partnership profile (2022) shows 40% of the population of Lowestoft being in the most deprived Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile and a further 23% in the second quintile.



The Lowestoft depot in Gas Works Road is within the designated PowerPark regeneration project, which already contains OrbisEnergy a landmark innovation and incubation centre for clean energy and plans are to build upon and develop the project. East Suffolk Council is looking to create a cluster of businesses utilising the potential of renewable energy.



Lowestoft's route network will be enhanced by the addition of a third crossing of Lake Lothing. The new Gull Wing bridge is being delivered by Suffolk County Council and will improve connection between the north and south side of the town, benefiting the local economy and and trade in the town. Once the bridge is opened a review of bus routing through the area will be completed to determine further improvements to the quality of bus services in conjunction with the provision of zero emission buses.



Centre 2, Sudbury: is in Babergh, and Babergh District Council's State of the District report (2023) describes the area as falling "just within the least deprived third of local authority areas in England. Although it has no areas within the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England, several neighbourhoods are within the 40% most deprived nationally; these are predominantly located in and around Sudbury and Great Cornard."



It identifies that "Emissions from transport accounted for 39.9% of total greenhouse emissions (excluding net emissions from land use, land use change and forestry) in Babergh in 2021”, which is above the East of England (35.2%) and England (30.5%).



Public Health Suffolk's "Indices of Deprivation 2019" also highlights the local deprivation in and around the towns of Sudbury and Lowestoft, with each town containing the most deprived Lower Super Output Area for their districts (Shawlands and Horn Hill respectively).


Where the routes enter more built-up areas the zero emission buses will also help alleviate local air quality issues, particularly around schools at drop off and pick up times. An air quality management area is designated in Sudbury, other locations such as Lowestoft are being monitored but currently do not exceed the air quality objectives.


Table 3: Bus Routes proposed for Zero Emission Buses

Operator Service

Number

Route

First 99 Clipper Lowestoft to Southwold via Kessingland

First X2 / X21 / X22 Lowestoft to Norwich via Beccles

First 101 Lowestoft Gunton Estate to Town Centre

First 102 Lowestoft circular via Oulton village and Woods Meadow

First 105 Lowestoft circular via Oulton Rock Estate

First 106 Lowestoft circular via Oulton Broad and Burnt Hill

First 109 Lowestoft Hollow Grove to Town centre via Whitton Estate

Go East Anglia 373/374 Clare – Bury St Edmunds

Go East Anglia 750/751/753 Sudbury – Bury St Edmunds (including Bury St Edmunds

Schools)

Go East Anglia 716 Bildeston – Sudbury (Thomas Gainsborough school)

Go East Anglia 707 Acton – Sudbury (Ormiston school)

Go East Anglia 84/754/784 Sudbury – Colchester

Go East Anglia 757/758 Clare – Sudbury (Thomas Gainsborough school)

Outputs: Our ZEBRA 2 project will deliver the following:

1. The first ZEB fleets in the County –38 vehicles in total across two centres

2. 13% of the total weekly km across Suffolk transition to ZEB and the routes chosen support cross border working with destinations in Norfolk and Essex

3. Investment in 2 different manufacturers and 3 different vehicle types including long range single and high capacity double deckers

4. Enhancement in vehicle specifications ahead of the PSVAR regulation deadlines

5. Significant reductions in fleet age both at Lowestoft and Sudbury depots from just under 13 to just over 1.5 and just over 15 to just under 10 years respectively

6. Real world evidence for ZEB operation in rural locations that experience significant variation in climatic conditions.

7. Infrastructure to support two centres for EV charging, Lowestoft and Sudbury, expanding Suffolk's role as a hub for green industries and generating greater training and employment opportunities.



Outcomes: The headline outcomes for introducing ZEBs include:

1. Improves passenger experience helping to stabilise and grow the local bus network supporting the wider ambitions of the National Bus Strategy

2. Complements the measures and facilities identified in the Suffolk EP and BSIP

3. Strengthens partnership working between SCC and operators

4. Reduces operational risk of introducing ZEBs for local bus operators

5. Reduction in noise pollution, carbon emissions and improvements to localised air quality particularly around schools

6. Investments in green technology

7. Raised awareness of climate emergency and Suffolk's aspiration to create the Greenest County (https://www.greensuffolk.org/about/)

Impacts: The impacts of Suffolk ZEBRA 2 align with Suffolk's core priorities:

1. Decarbonisation of transport – Delivering ZEBs across Suffolk would generate a step change in the fleet age and type across the County. Bus operators in Suffolk have typically retained much older diesel vehicles in their fleets and Euro VI vehicles make up less than 1% of the whole local bus fleet. Suffolk ZEBRA 2 will see a total of 12 Euro III and 26 Euro IV vehicles replaced.

2. A strong, sustainable and fair economy – Delivering ZEBs to Suffolk will provide that real world evidence operators need to make future business decisions and will act as a catalyst for more operators to actively consider transitioning fleets. Alongside the development of Suffolk's ZEBRA 2 application, discussions with Sizewell C's delivery team were held. Sizewell C is trialling hydrogen buses for workforce movements, utilising locally produced hydrogen. The potential of this trial to provide an additional low carbon opportunity, especially for the longer rural routes is acknowledge, but the project is not suitably advanced for the ZEBRA 2 timeframe. However, by combining ZEBRA 2 outcomes with such complementary schemes will generate much greater benefits across Suffolk and discussions will continue.

3. Health, Wellbeing and Social inclusion – Lowestoft's coastal community contains some of the most deprived areas in Suffolk. Lowestoft is also a well-established holiday destination bringing in many additional visitors. Several neighbourhoods in and around Sudbury are also within the 40% most deprived nationally. Educational attainment in Suffolk and pay also lag behind the national average. Introducing ZEBs will provide efficient and low carbon access to essential services and the employment and educational opportunities for these local centres and the rural communities along the routes.

4. Creating better places –promoting bus services to reduce the decline in usage, delivering sustainable travel choices contributing in turn to greater investment. Prioritising interventions that connect rural communities to four of our strategic towns/ areas in line with our emerging Local Transport Plan.

[TB123]

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority are teaming up with Stagecoach for 33 new electric buses for Peterborough in their ZEBRA2 bid. Presumably this links in with plans for a new garage in Peterborough suitable for EVs 

The @cpca has confirmed that its bid with @stagecoach_East for ZEBRA2 electric bus funding for Peterborough was submitted on 15/12/2023. The bid is for 33 vehicles (15 single deck and 18 double deck) which would be used on Peterborough Citi routes 1, 2, 3, 4.

[TB123]

City of York Council has teamed up with Transdev to bid for 24 new-generation Enviro100/200/400 electric buses including for the CitySightseeing services

www.itravelyork.info/downloads/file/95/zero-emission-bus-regional-areas-2-application-form

City of York Council (CYC) is partnering with Transdev to electrify their commercial City Sightseeing tour buses and all their urban tendered services. The project area is the city of York bounded by the outer ring road (A64/A1237) plus the villages of Haxby and Wigginton immediately to the north.

Bus Routes
City Sightseeing operate a commercial hop on/hop off circular route around the city centre - see Annex 1. Five or six vehicles operate the route depending on the time of year.

The current Transdev “York & Country” tendered services are:

- 14 Foxwood - City - Haxby
- 19 Skelton - Burton Stone Lane - City (Saturday)
- 20 Rawcliffe - Clifton Moor - Monks Cross - Heworth/Osbaldwick
- 24 Acomb - City
- 25 Fulford - City - Foss Islands - Derwenthorpe
- 26 Fulford - City - South Bank

Transdev’s preferred ZEBs from Alexander Dennis (ADL) are built locally in Yorkshire and provide the most suitable solution for our routes. Both the Enviro100 and Enviro200 ZEBs are brand new to the market with Transdev aiming to be the first customer for the Enviro200 in 2025. The buses feature a high specification including wireless charging, reading lights, recycling bins and the latest audio visual systems.

For the Citysightseeing operation Transdev intend to be the first customer of the Enviro400 Open top from ADL. These vehicles will be specified to sightseeing specification with a multilingual system and meet the enhanced accessibility standard with 2 wheelchair spaces.

[TB123]

documents.hants.gov.uk/transport-fundingbids/ZEBRA2-ApplicationForm.pdf

Hampshire County Council has teamed up with Stagecoach to bid for 68 new electric buses for Basingstoke and Portsmouth - 57 single decks and 11 double decks - the vehicle options reading through the (redacted) lines appear to be integral ADL Enviros and Volvo BZLs based on the mentioned specifications

4.2 In no more than 750 words applicants should provide information on the

project area. 
The project area covered by this ZEBRA bid is two distinct Stagecoach local bus

operating areas. The first location is the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire area

near to the Solent. This covers 3 high frequency interurban bus corridors radiating

out from the city of Portsmouth to connect it with the towns of Havant, Waterlooville,

Emsworth and Chichester and the Hoverbus service providing multi-modal

connections between Portsmouth city centre and Southsea hovercraft terminal. The

second operating area is the town of Basingstoke in the north of Hampshire. The 10

bus routes in these two operating areas that would see ZEB deployment are

summarised in the sections below

Portsmouth and South East Hampshire and Chichester operating area

The Portsmouth and South East Hampshire area has a population of nearly 500,000.

The island and peninsula geography of the area focusses traffic onto a very limited

number of radial routes. The city of Portsmouth is the most densely populated part of

the South East outside of London. Currently 41,500 people a day commute into the

city from the wider area, using the limited number of radial routes. Within the

Portsmouth, since 2009, the number of bus passenger journeys has been relatively

unchanged, varying between 10 million and 11.6 million bus passenger journeys per

year. Portsmouth residents make 42 bus passenger journeys per head of population.

Portsmouth city centre has an Air Quality Management area.

The 4 bus routes where the 42 ZEBs will operate in Portsmouth and SE

Hampshire/ W Sussex

• 23 - Leigh Park – Southsea (22 single deckers)

• 39 - Wecock Farm – Havant (8 single deckers)

• 700 - Chichester – Portsmouth (11 double deckers)

• Hoverbus - City centre - Southsea Hoverport (1 single decker)

The local Stagecoach bus fleet is based at a light industrial estate on Walton Road,

Farlington, close to the A2030 Eastern Road, just north of the A27 Havant Bypass.

The 42 ZEBs for these services will be based at the existing depot site. The depot is

fully owned by Stagecoach and the power supply will come from a nearby substation.

Stagecoach’s Portsmouth (Farlington) depot is located at Walton Road, Farlington,

Portsmouth PO6 1TU, and will be the location of where infrastructure will be

deployed for charging the vehicles.


Basingstoke operating area

Basingstoke is a large town in North Hampshire with a population of 113,190 that has

seen very rapid expansion and growth in recent decades, with further growth

planned. Being a ‘new town’ its’ growth has been planned based around high

capacity road systems and extensive parking provision, both within the town centre

and in business parks and industrial areas. Whilst this has helped to support

economic growth in Basingstoke and enabled the town to avoid the severity of many

traffic problems experienced by neighbouring towns it has also encouraged car use

over other forms of travel as car access is both relatively cheap and convenient. In

2011, 67% of residents use a car for journeys to work (70-75% in outer urban areas)

and 5% of residents used the bus for journeys to work. New developments over

recent years have been built on the edge of the town and as a result are more

challenging to serve by bus. People living in these areas are more likely to continue

to rely on car use unless there is significant investment in alternative sustainable

transport modes. The majority of local bus services in Basingstoke and the

surrounding areas are operated by Stagecoach.

The 6 Bus routes where the 26 ZEBs will operate services within Basingstoke

• 1 - Town Centre - Brighton Hill (4 single deckers)
• 2 - Basingstoke – Baughurst/Tadley (8 single deckers)

• 3 - Town Centre - South Ham (2 single deckers)

• 5 - Town Centre - West Popley (2 single deckers)

• 6 - Winklebury - East Popley (6 single deckers)

• 8 – Town Centre – Hatch Warren & Beggarwood (4 single deckers)

The Stagecoach bus depot for Basingstoke is located in Rankine Road in a light

industrial estate to the north-east of the town centre. The depot is fully owned by

Stagecoach and the power supply will come from a nearby substation.

Stagecoach’s depot in Basingstoke is located at Rankine Rd, Basingstoke RG24 8PR,

and this is where the location of where infrastructure will be deployed for charging

the vehicles.

Rationale for chosen procurement approach:

There will be three separate tender projects for the depot to meet the ZEBRA

requirements. These are:

1. Procurement of 68 New Battery Electric Buses (which will be 11 double deck

and 57 single deck buses);

2. Procurement of Electrical Charging Equipment – 34 DC smart chargers (120-

150kw) to better enable fast electric charge;

3. Procurement of power supplies and associated civils works – through codevelopment with DNO provider (SSE) to minimise DNO risk.

[TB123]

www.transportnortheast.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/zebra2-application-form-TNE-Public-Redacted-WEB.pdf
Transport for North East has teamed up with Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach to bid for 43 electric buses

14 double deck EVs for Arriva Durham routes 48, 64 and X46 based at Belmont depot
7 double deck and 4 single deck EVs for Go North East Gateshead routes 58 and X66 based at Riverside depot
18 single deck EVs for Stagecoach Newcastle 30/31/36 based at Slatyford depot

[mark]

Jan 17, 2024 11:58:08 GMT TB123 said:

documents.hants.gov.uk/transport-fundingbids/ZEBRA2-ApplicationForm.pdf

Hampshire County Council has teamed up with Stagecoach to bid for 68 new electric buses for Basingstoke and Portsmouth - 57 single decks and 11 double decks - the vehicle options reading through the (redacted) lines appear to be integral ADL Enviros and Volvo BZLs based on the mentioned specifications

I know it may seem to be buttock clenching pedantry on my part but Basingstoke is not a new town (and HCC should know this!).   It was a London overspill town.

[TB123]

Jan 17, 2024 15:10:24 GMT mark said:

Jan 17, 2024 11:58:08 GMT TB123 said:

documents.hants.gov.uk/transport-fundingbids/ZEBRA2-ApplicationForm.pdf

Hampshire County Council has teamed up with Stagecoach to bid for 68 new electric buses for Basingstoke and Portsmouth - 57 single decks and 11 double decks - the vehicle options reading through the (redacted) lines appear to be integral ADL Enviros and Volvo BZLs based on the mentioned specifications

I know it may seem to be buttock clenching pedantry on my part but Basingstoke is not a new town (and HCC should know this!).   It was a London overspill town.

Yes, quite! Though to the untrained eye new towns and hugely expanded London overspill towns are somewhat similar with their big roads and high concentration of office stock as well as town centre shops built around cars.

It's interesting that the 1945-1980s trend of London population falling whilst commuter towns like Basingstoke boom has very much come back in fashion in the last couple of years.

Anyhow, back to ZEBRA....i'm doing my best to find more bid submissions but some are authorities are more 'secretive' than others! Call me cynical but I suspect this Hampshire bid has a fair chance of success as it encompasses 2 Tory seats predicted to go Labour at the next election....

[mark]

Jan 17, 2024 15:10:24 GMT mark said:

Jan 17, 2024 11:58:08 GMT TB123 said:

documents.hants.gov.uk/transport-fundingbids/ZEBRA2-ApplicationForm.pdf

Hampshire County Council has teamed up with Stagecoach to bid for 68 new electric buses for Basingstoke and Portsmouth - 57 single decks and 11 double decks - the vehicle options reading through the (redacted) lines appear to be integral ADL Enviros and Volvo BZLs based on the mentioned specifications

I know it may seem to be buttock clenching pedantry on my part but Basingstoke is not a new town (and HCC should know this!).   It was a London overspill town.

Somewhat less flippantly, there are a couple of interesting snippets…



Firstly, of Go South Coast’s Southampton base (the ex SCT/First garage in Portswood it says: “Go South Coast operate an extensive bus network branded as Bluestar, covering the Southampton travel to work area, from a large purpose-built bus depot in Southampton which lacks the spare grid capacity needed to accommodate charging of battery electric buses. This operator was therefore not included in the HCC bid”.



Its comment on the viability of hydrogen is also worthy (not least as it reflects own view!). “Data suggests hydrogen vehicles are currently well in excess of becoming cost neutral, with TCO modelling indicating a 32% premium over conventional diesel. Coupled with the current lack of hydrogen fuel production in the UK, this makes the technology impossible to justify as it does not currently stack up – it requires three times the level of electricity to produce the equivalent kwh for EV. Hydrogen fuel cost has also risen 800% in last 12 months (spot price from £6pkg to £51pkg). On this basis, Stagecoach is committing to battery electric for future new vehicle investment within the UK”.



The cost benefit analysis suggests battery replacement at year 10.

[mark]

Jan 17, 2024 15:17:43 GMT TB123 said:

Jan 17, 2024 15:10:24 GMT mark said:

Anyhow, back to ZEBRA....i'm doing my best to find more bid submissions but some are authorities are more 'secretive' than others! Call me cynical but I suspect this Hampshire bid has a fair chance of success as it encompasses 2 Tory seats predicted to go Labour at the next election....

...although looking at the rantings in the comments pages of the Daily Heil following last week's Electroliner fire in Wimbledon I'm not sure that the average Tory voter cares that much about battery-electric buses.  Separately, HCC is saying that it'll withdraw all funding for local bus services from April 2025 - see www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-67313030

[TB123]

Jan 17, 2024 15:26:28 GMT mark said:

Jan 17, 2024 15:10:24 GMT mark said:

Somewhat less flippantly, there are a couple of interesting snippets…



Firstly, of Go South Coast’s Southampton base (the ex SCT/First garage in Portswood it says: “Go South Coast operate an extensive bus network branded as Bluestar, covering the Southampton travel to work area, from a large purpose-built bus depot in Southampton which lacks the spare grid capacity needed to accommodate charging of battery electric buses. This operator was therefore not included in the HCC bid”.



Its comment on the viability of hydrogen is also worthy (not least as it reflects own view!). “Data suggests hydrogen vehicles are currently well in excess of becoming cost neutral, with TCO modelling indicating a 32% premium over conventional diesel. Coupled with the current lack of hydrogen fuel production in the UK, this makes the technology impossible to justify as it does not currently stack up – it requires three times the level of electricity to produce the equivalent kwh for EV. Hydrogen fuel cost has also risen 800% in last 12 months (spot price from £6pkg to £51pkg). On this basis, Stagecoach is committing to battery electric for future new vehicle investment within the UK”.



The cost benefit analysis suggests battery replacement at year 10.

I know Go South Coast/Southampton were considering a ZEBRA2 bid for Unilink but judging by an article about GSC regarding this it doesn't appear to be happening, somewhat disappointing for such a large city. 

[edvid]

It would be interesting to know the combined value of the submitted bids. Even accounting for some Expressions of Interest not becoming formal bids, I think we will count the 50+ bus bids that win a share of the £129 million pot on one hand.

Jan 17, 2024 15:34:37 GMT mark said:

Jan 17, 2024 15:17:43 GMT TB123 said:

Anyhow, back to ZEBRA....i'm doing my best to find more bid submissions but some are authorities are more 'secretive' than others! Call me cynical but I suspect this Hampshire bid has a fair chance of success as it encompasses 2 Tory seats predicted to go Labour at the next election....

...although looking at the rantings in the comments pages of the Daily Heil following last week's Electroliner fire in Wimbledon I'm not sure that the average Tory voter cares that much about battery-electric buses.  Separately, HCC is saying that it'll withdraw all funding for local bus services from April 2025 - see www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-67313030

It was one of the (infamous?) Metrodeckers, not Electroliners, that caught fire in Wimbledon.

[TB123]

Jan 17, 2024 16:01:24 GMT edvid said:

It would be interesting to know the combined value of the submitted bids. Even accounting for some Expressions of Interest not becoming formal bids, I think we will count the 50+ bus bids that win a share of the £129 million pot on one hand.

Jan 17, 2024 15:34:37 GMT mark said:

...although looking at the rantings in the comments pages of the Daily Heil following last week's Electroliner fire in Wimbledon I'm not sure that the average Tory voter cares that much about battery-electric buses.  Separately, HCC is saying that it'll withdraw all funding for local bus services from April 2025 - see www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-67313030

It was one of the (infamous?) Metrodeckers, not Electroliners, that caught fire in Wimbledon.

A lot of the bids are quite small. I could see quite a few bids being funded from it, just smaller ones. 

This postcode lottery is somewhat silly. If you ask me, anywhere with a good business case should have it's bid funded....