Bramley depot: 22 new electric buses added to Leeds fleet as part of £11.2m investment

First Bus and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) have completed a further £11.2m investment in the operator’s Bramley depot which makes half the fleet zero emission.

The last of an additional 22 double-decker electric buses (EV) have now entered service, increasing the total at the depot to 79. This further investment builds on a transformation of the depot with power charging infrastructure and EVs unveiled earlier this year.

WYCA with support from First Bus successfully secured £3.4m in a ‘variation request’ from the Department for Transport (DfT) Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) fund to expand the depot electrification combined with £7.8m from First Bus, announced in May 2024.

Coun Peter Carlill said: “We have come a long way in the past couple of years on this, and I’m thrilled that West Yorkshire can now boast dozens of electric buses being run from this depot.

“We look forward to continuing to work with operators to bring in electric buses serving the whole of West Yorkshire.

“This reflects our plans to create a better-connected and greener West Yorkshire, and these changes will help boost air quality, improve public transport and help us tackle the climate emergency.”

This latest investment brings the total ZEBRA funding and First Bus investment at Bramley to more than £40m and has created the largest fleet of zero emission buses in West Yorkshire.

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The fleet of 79 electric buses are manufactured by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland with features including audio visual next stop technology and USB charging points.

Each bus saves around 75 tonnes of CO2e a year, making a total reduction of almost 6,000 tonnes of carbon annually.

The announcement came as councillors for the Armley Ward, Lou Cunningham and Andy Parnham visited the depot to see the final EVs entering service.