Local authorities and bus operators across the country have been awarded £30m to buy new low-carbon buses, enabling them to save up to 10,000t of carbon dioxide.
The winners of the Green Bus Fund will now be able to purchase 349 vehicles,which will operate in most of England’s main cities and some rural areas by March 2012. Industry estimates are that up to 1,000 jobs will be safeguarded as a result of this investment.Announcing the winning bids for the fund, transport minister Sadiq Khan said: ‘Both the environment and British industry is receiving a major boost from this £30m fund. It gives the initial support needed to stop the rise in bus CO2 emissions we've seen over the last ten years.
"It will also give UK bus manufacturers the certainty they desperately need to allow them to keep their skilled labour force and continue to lead the way in green innovation.’
The fund will enable bus operators and councils in every region across England to fund the up-front cost of buying low carbon buses.
The greatest share of the funding (£5.4m) will go to Manchester and Stockport, which will benefit from 68 new low carbon buses. The rest of the Greater Manchester region and London will both gain 46 new buses, and other recipients of the funding include Oxford, Bristol and Bath, Leeds, Birmingham, Reading, Taunton, Coventry and Warwickshire, and Liverpool.
