Portsmouth prepare for the arrival of a fleet of electric buses.

Portsmouth Council invite local residents to a sneak preview of the city’s new zero emissions buses’ prior to of 62 them taking to key bus routes in April.

The project been funded via a collaboration between Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire County Council, and bus operator First Bus. The partnership was awarded £12.7M from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme and First Bus invested of £15.9m to create an electric bus depot at Hoeford.

To create this depot, First Bus purchased an old Daily Mail processing centre in Portsmouth which will become a purpose built all-electric site fit to host the new fleet with the capability to run a fully electrified bus fleet of up to 90 vehicles.

Last month, FirstGroup earned themselves a place in the 2024 Clean200 report of the world’s cleanest 200 companies, one of only eight UK companies to be included. They were the only passenger transport operator based in Europe to be named in this year’s rankings.

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Cabinet Member for Transport at Portsmouth City Council said: ‘I am delighted that electric buses will be landing in our city soon as part of our plans to transform bus travel. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to witness the future of sustainable transport firsthand in Portsmouth, there has never been a better time to try out the bus!’

Cllr Kimberley Barrett, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Greening the City said: ‘The arrival of zero-emission buses is a big step in cutting air pollution from transport as we work hard to address the climate crisis in Portsmouth.’

Simon Goff, Managing Director, First Bus South said: ‘We’re delighted to be working with Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire County Council, bringing electric buses to the streets of Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport. Come and see the bus, hop on board and experience the future of green travel.’