A Colwick firm are to fuel a new fleet of ‘poo buses’ which are set to hit the streets of Nottingham from next year.
Roadgas, who are based on Colwick Industrial Estate, will be installing the state-of-the-art fuelling facilities at Nottingham City Transport’s Parliament Street garage so they can power the 53 new bio-gas fuelled double decker buses which will arrive early next year.
The vehicles have become popularly known as “poo buses” due to running on biomethane gas generated from sewage and food waste.
NCT has been awarded a £4.4m grant to help pay for the new vehicles from the Government’s OLEV Low Emission Bus Scheme. This will be added to an investment of £12.4m from NCT.
This money will then be invested in the UK for the assembly of these unique vehicles, and in creating a gas bus infrastructure by installing gas fuelling facilities at NCT’s Parliament Street Garage.
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This first influx of 53 bio-gas buses, also known as ‘poo buses’, will be in operation by this time next year, enabling NCT to have one of the most environmentally-friendly bus fleets in the country – thereby helping the Council achieve its ‘UK’s greenest city for public transport’ aim.
NCT Engineering Director, Gary Mason said: “We’ve always taken our environmental impact responsibilities very seriously and have long had one of the youngest and cleanest bus fleets in the UK, but this investment in bio-gas bus technology marks a significant step change for Nottingham City Transport
“We’ve spent an enormous amount of time and effort in researching alternative fuels and we’ve established that from the production of the gas itself, to when it’s powering the engines of the double deckers, bio-gas offers an outstanding long-term sustainable alternative to diesel.
For OLEV to also recognise this also and award the funding is both rewarding for us as a company and exciting for the city as a whole.”
Councillor Nick McDonald, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Jobs, Growth and Transport said: “The City Council are very proud to be working alongside Nottingham City Transport to help make Nottingham the UK’s greenest city for public transport.
“This OLEV grant vindicates our combined ambition to deliver greener and cleaner transport and complements our other bids to deliver electric vehicle charging infrastructure and electric taxis, which will improve Nottingham’s air quality, reduce carbon emissions and make the city environment more attractive for residents, businesses and visitors.
“This project sees Nottingham leading the way and we’re confident other cities will soon follow our example.”
