Blackpool’s bus fleet is set to switch to electric vehicles after Blackpool Council agreed to lend £8m to Blackpool Transport, which it owns, from its business loans fund.
The money will be used to help fit the infrastructure required for charging 115 electric buses which will replace the existing fleet over the next three to five years. Blackpool Transport received the bulk of the funding for the new buses last March when it won £20m towards the cost of the project in March this year after a successful bid to the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) fund.
With the council’s shareholder committee having now approved the £8m loan towards the scheme it is proposed to introduce 105 new vehicles and charging points over two initial procurement tranches, and to decide the fate of the remaining 10 vehicles once the scheme is underway.
Blackpool Transport managing director Jane Cole said “The approval of the loan is an integral step in our endeavours to become the most sustainable, reliable and environmentally friendly mode of travel across the Fylde Coast.
