National Express West Midlands and Centro recently unveiled their new state of the art hybrid buses at Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens.

Managing director of National Express UK Bus, Peter Coates (right) with two of the new National Express West Midlands electric hybrid buses with Cllr Angus Adams and MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, Gisela Stuart. Credit: Professional Images

The new greener vehicles will be on the 22 between Birmingham and Kitwell and 23 between Birmingham and Woodgate early in the new year.  The services run on a joint 8 minute frequency during 7am-6.30pm and a 15 minute frequency the rest of the day.  The services will lessen the carbon footprint of the thousands of commuters they carry to and from work every single day.

The event was addressed by Peter Coates Managing Director of National Express UK Bus Division, Gisela Stuart MP for Birmingham Edgbaston and Councillor Angus Adams Chairman of Centro.

The 18 new state of the art buses have a distinctive livery illustrating the pride National Express West Midlands and Centro take in protecting the local environment.  Photo attached.

The new hybrid buses are a £5.2million investment into the future of low carbon and sustainable transport in the West Midlands, by National Express West Midlands, Centro and Department for Transport Green Bus Fund.

National Express West Midlands hybrids will save an estimated 378 tonnes of carbon every year compared to regular buses, reducing C02 emissions of a regular bus by 30%.

The new vehicles are not only more environmentally friendly they also have state of the art improvements to customer care and experience such as audio visual passenger stop announcements, anytime vehicle location equipment to give passengers real time information on their buses location and are Smartcard ready.

The government recently announced a further £20million pounds of Green Bus Fund which National Express West Midlands are keen to take part in and bring more hybrids to the regions streets.

Peter Coates, Managing Director National Express West Midlands said: “Our new hybrids are really distinctive and a big investment into the future of transport in the region.  They look great from the outside and have the latest on board advancements in customer experience including audio visual technology to alert those with hearing and sight problems when their stop is approaching.”

Gisela Stuart, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston said: “These vehicles are a massive investment by National Express West Midlands and Centro into the future shape of Birmingham’s bus network.  The new buses that my constituents will catch and that will drive down our streets will be cleaner, greener and quieter than ever before.”

“It is investment such as this that Birmingham must fight to get in the future.  The Government has announced another £20m round of funding to help deliver more hybrids to Britain’s streets. I will support National Express West Midlands and Centro to help get more funding for Birmingham’s buses over the coming years.”

Cllr Angus Adams, Chairman of Centro, said: “This is a significant milestone in bus travel in the West Midlands and something to which we were happy to contribute.

“Not only will they encourage new bus technology and stimulate the market for low carbon vehicles but they will demonstrate to people that electric hybrid vehicles of this size are viable and further proof that public transport is a serious and ready alternative to the car.”