Electric-powered buses could be rolled out on St Helens roads

Amid attempts to get people out of their cars and onto public transport to reduce congestion and carbon emissions, the Liverpool city region’s combined authority is expected to sign off on a application for £31m of Department for Transport funding (DfT) to put 58 fully-electric double decker buses on the road.

The bid will go before authority leaders when it meets at Mann Island, Liverpool this week.

Documents released ahead of the meeting revealed how a match fund of £20m would be put forward by the combined authority to support the application.

Almost £130m is made available from the DfT through the latest tranche of the 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. A decision on the bid is expected to be made by March 2024.

The roll out of new green, zero-emission buses would form a part of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s plans to revolutionise the city region’s bus network.

In October, the combined authority took a landmark decision to take back control of the region’s buses after nearly 40 years of deregulation. 

Franchising will give the region greater control over routes, fares and timetables and the power to ensure that any profit is reinvested back into the network to improve services for passengers.

In May, 20 new hydrogen buses entered Merseytravel’s fleet across the region on the busy 10A route that runs between St Helens and Liverpool city centre.

Hydrogen-powered buses have been used on the 10A route (Image: St Helens Star)

However, owing to supply issues with the gas, the fleet has been sent back to the garage for the time being.

Should the new bid for electric buses and purchase be successful, the dozens of new vehicles would be operated by Stagecoach.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Devolution has given our area the chance to build the 21st century London-style transport system that passengers deserve. From voting to take back control of our buses, investing in a brand new publicly owned hydrogen fleet, introducing £2 fares and bringing back the night bus, we’re transforming our network for the better.

“More people get the bus than any other form of public transport. Like with our new publicly owned trains, they deserve to travel on clean, modern and accessible vehicles.

"I’m investing to ensure that the Liverpool City Region has a bus fleet to be proud of – one that makes travelling better for passengers and for our planet too.”