Construction equipment has begun arriving at the Weston-super-Mare depot ahead of a £14.9m scheme, which will see the transformation of the two-football pitch sized site, just off the A370, and the arrival of 24 new electric buses on the Weston network next year.
In addition, £44m is being invested in electrifying the operator’s Hengrove depot in Bristol alongside launching 74 electric buses on the city’s network. The Hengrove transformation is planned to get underway shortly.
Work at both depots, which is being carried out by construction teams from engineering specialist NG Bailey for Hengrove and Magnus Construction Group for Weston-super-Mare, is expected to be completed by March 2025, with the electric buses arriving soon after.
As well as supplying the sites with increased power, the projects will see almost 400 tonnes of steel used across multiple gantries which will distribute power to charge the new buses.
Electrifying the depots will also provide facilities for local companies to charge their electric vehicles, and bring green employment and training opportunities, including upskilling the existing engineering team, and providing apprenticeship opportunities for local people.
The electrification programme has been made possible thanks to partnerships between First West of England and the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council, who together secured a total of almost £9 million of government funding through its Zero Emissions Bus Regional Areas 2 (ZEBRA2) project.
