First Bus transforms Norwich depot into UK’s largest electric fleet outside London

Credit: First Bus

First Bus has announced that it has started transforming its Norwich Roundtree Way depot into a fully electric fleet, making it one of the first outside of London. The company plans to receive 70 new electric buses between Autumn 2023 and March 2024.

Norfolk County Council collaborated with First Bus and secured £14.7 million in funding from the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) programme. In addition, First Bus invested around £22.5 million to support the electrification of bus services at the Norwich depot.

The introduction of the new bus fleet, manufactured by Wrightbus in the UK, will result in over half of First Bus’s Norwich network operating with electric buses, representing more than 60% of all bus journeys through Castle Meadow in the city centre. Each electric bus is estimated to save up to 60 tonnes of tailpipe emissions annually, contributing to a cleaner and greener environment for the local community.

York’s First Bus depot to become fully electric

Piers Marlow, Managing Director at First Bus Eastern Counties, said: ”This is an exciting project that will make a significant improvement to the journey experience for our customers and to the local environment with the arrival of 11 single deck and 59 double deck EV buses. A major transformation of our depot has started, and we are working closely with the site construction team to minimise any disruption to our day-to-day requirements to operate bus services efficiently.”

Graham Plant, Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport at Norfolk County Council, said: “This work is an extraordinary boost to our ambitions to run a net zero transport system in Norfolk and with the start of this work, we’re proud to be able to say that Norwich will soon have one of the biggest full electric bus depots in England (outside London).”

Faizan Ahmad, Decarbonisation Delivery Director at First Bus UK, said: “The beginning of the work to electrify our Roundtree Way depot in readiness for the arrival of the new electric fleet later this year is a major milestone on the journey to bringing zero emissions vehicles to the Norwich network.”