13 more cleaner, greener buses en route

Thirteen new electric buses will be out and about on Surrey’s roads this spring.

The new, fully accessible, electric vehicles offer a smooth, quiet ride and include free Wi-Fi, charging points, two wheelchair and pushchair bays, improved lighting and on-board information screens.

The thirteen new buses are undergoing their final stages of construction and will begin operating on the following routes next month:

• 436 Woking, Sheerwater, West Byfleet, Byfleet, Brooklands, Weybridge Station, and Weybridge Town Centre (four buses)
• 461 Chertsey, St. Peters Hospital, Ottershaw, Addlestone, Weybridge, Walton, West Molesey, Hampton Court and Kingston (nine buses)

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Growth at Surrey County Council said, “I’m delighted that Surrey residents will benefit from these thirteen new electric buses as we continue to invest in expanding our fleet of cleaner, greener vehicles.

Introducing these buses is expected to deliver an estimated carbon saving of c13,000 tonnes over their lifetime. By the autumn, 50 electric buses will be operating across the county.

We’ve also invested £6.3m in more ultra-low and zero emission community transport minibuses, £9m in bus priority measures to ensure Surrey buses turn up on time, and £1.4m in improving information for passengers at bus stops.

Our Surrey LINK card gives young people half-price bus travel and we’re continuing to expand our on-demand Surrey Connect bus services to more areas of the county, giving more options to travel by bus for all residents right across Surrey.”

Richard Telling, Managing Director of Falcon Coaches, said, “Falcon are extremely proud to have been working with the team at Surrey County Council on our joint Zebra bid which will see these thirteen brand new zero emission buses enter service during April on two of our services.

The state of the art buses feature our bespoke luxury interior which includes comfy half leather seats, full climate control, at seat USB charging points, a luxury two tone wood effect floor, and two wheel chair / buggy bays to allow extra space and make travel for our less mobile passengers even easier.”

The buses have been jointly funded by Surrey Council, Falcon Coaches and a Zebra 2 grant from the Department for Transport.