A brand-new fleet of fully-electric buses will be coming to Milton Keynes following a successful £32m bid via the UK Department for Transport’s (DfT) Zero Emission Bus Regional Access (ZEBRA) scheme.
During this week’s Budget, it was confirmed that a £16m bid by Milton Keynes Council in partnership with Arriva will lead to nearly 60 new e-buses and an upgraded overnight charging depot facility, with some of the new vehicles arriving in 2022.
Furthermore, another £16m will be available through a special finance arrangement offered to the council.
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Cllr Pete Marland, leader of Milton Keynes Council, said: “We’re happy with this announcement, which is a very important step in achieving our climate targets.
“We’ve shown that Milton Keynes is fully invested in becoming even cleaner and greener, and that we have the partnerships in place to move quickly to a zero-carbon future with electric buses.”
Earlier this year, the DfT announced its ZEBRA scheme and invited local authorities to submit their localised electric bus proposals for a share of £120m government investment. The scheme is backed by private investment as well as government grant funding.s
