In a bid to continue to improve the air quality for people in Sheffield and improve public transport, the City Council is proposing setting up a fund, worth more than £11million, to help bus operators move to electric buses, after it received approval from the new government.
Since the launch of the Clean Air Zone in February 2023, the amount of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in the atmosphere has reduced by an average of 16 per cent within the zone, meanwhile an average drop of 21% was observed across the wider Sheffield Clean Air Plan area, this shows the Clean Air Zone is having the desired effect on vehicle upgrades across the city, not just in the city centre. There was also a 27% reduction of NO2 levels within the area of the Arundel Gate Bus Gate.
In a bid to reduce the amount of NO2 in the city’s air even further, Sheffield City Council is proposing a Local Zero Emission Bus (ZEB) Grant programme with the aim of delivering at least 30 electric buses, taking some of the highest polluting vehicles off Sheffield’s streets.
As part of the plans to improve air quality, £11.3million is being made available to scheduled bus operators to deliver zero-emission buses on key routes in Sheffield as quickly as possible. The introduction of the new electric buses will also improve the journey experience for passengers with the vehicles being cleaner, greener, quieter, of higher specification and more reliable.
Under the previous Government, a national programme of retrofitting buses was launched in 2015 , however it became clear the scheme was delivering lower than expected emission reductions, something Sheffield City Council had consistently warned about. Government funding for retrofits projects was paused in April 2023 while further research was carried out.
The introduction of more electric buses will be a major milestone as we continue to clean up the air we breathe and improve the passenger experience. After the previous Government’s bus retrofit scheme failed, we refused to give up on improving the bus fleet and requesting support from government to back our efforts. I’m pleased that the new government have listened and given us the flexibility needed to launch this new grant scheme, helping us to electrify Sheffield’s buses.
We have seen some fantastic improvements in air quality levels in Sheffield, with all but five locations now under the annual average legal limit. Using this money to introduce Zero Emission Buses will mean that figure has the potential to reduce even further. However, we have ambitions to convert all of Sheffield bus fleet to electric, but this isn’t possible without significant Government financial help, and we are working with Ministers and South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard to try and secure such funding.
Cllr Ben Miskell, chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee at Sheffield City Council
Investment in buses used on routes that service locations in Sheffield and Rotherham that are in exceedance of the legal limit will be prioritised and criteria will be developed that look to maximise the use of the funding currently available in order to rollout as many Zero Emission Buses as possible.