Electric buses on their way to Calderdale if funding bid is approved

Leader of the Council, Coun Tim Swift (Lab, Town) reported to the full Calderdale Council that following submission of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA)’s Bus Service Improvement Plan to the Department for Transport last October, setting a target of achieving a zero-carbon bus fleet by 2036, WYCA has bid for the first tranche of these buses.

Calderdale is set to gain up to eight buses on services which are currently operating under contract in Calderdale and Kirklees, said Coun Swift.

Coun Steven Leigh (Con, Ryburn) wanted assurances the buses Calderdale received would be the latest buses, and that they would be eco-friendly, essential to help reach climate change goals.

“Are they going to be new buses, and whatever buses they are, are they going to be electric?

“Those buses should be electric and they should be new as well – I don’t think we should accepting continued hand-me-downs from somewhere else,” he said.

Coun Swift said the report specifically referred to zero emission buses – or electric buses – so these eight would be new, electric buses.

“There has been concern in the past where cities tend to get the new vehicles because they are concerned about emissions and we don’t want to see that leading to older and more polluting vehicles being pushed out towards Calderdale and the other districts,” he said.

Coun Sue Holdsworth (Lib Dem, Greetland and Stainland) said the problem with electric buses and hybrid buses was that they were very, very expensive and the way the bus industry worked in the UK was large authorities passed their buses down the line, so the vehicles in use in places like Calderdale and Kirklees got older and older.

She said the average lifespan of a bus was 17 years including an interior refurbishment and she felt the cost of supplying Calderdale with brand new buses was exorbitant and she struggled to see how it would work.

It was also difficult for UK companies to sell their buses to many others because they were right hand drive.

Cabinet member for Regeneration and Strategy, Coun Jane Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said in terms of provision of new buses it was her understanding that operators, as they replaced their fleet, will be bringing in a number of electric buses into the cities.

“Now clearly, that’s unfair on authorities like Kirklees and Calderdale where routes are not quite as lucrative as some of the city centre routes.

“Therefore, the Combined Authority have bid into Government fund to make sure that we don’t lose out, so that we actually get a reasonable share of electric buses,” she said.

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