There will be 120 all-electric double-decker buses operating on Irish roads over the next few years, under a new deal between the National Transport Authority (NTA) and a Ballymena-based bus manufacturer.
NTA chief executive Anne Graham said on Monday that 100 of the buses would operate in Dublin city with the remaining 20 in Limerick.
It is part of a five-year plan that will see 800 all-electric buses being introduced to the fleet, at a cost of €80 million per annum. Ms Graham said the Irish public transport fleet has a target of achieving zero emissions by 2032.
“The transition to a zero-emission bus fleet is a central component of our BusConnects project, and the procurement of these battery-electric buses represents a key milestone in that process.
“There is no doubt that people are looking to us to provide better, more sustainable transport alternatives in all areas, and it is incumbent on us as an Authority to respond to that demand in a positive way,” she said.
One of the electric buses was demonstrated to the media at Merrion Square in Dublin. The bus is manufactured by Wrightbus, which has a factory in Galgorm, on the outskirts of Ballymena in Northern Ireland. Wrightbus chief executive Neil Collins said their buses were the most efficient on the market.
“We’ve built the bus from the ground up, and it is designed to be purely zero emissions,” he said. “We’re also very proud to say that this bus has been measured as the world’s most efficient electric double-decker bus.”
Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan said these buses represented the future of public transport in Ireland.
“We are electrifying everything in transport and cutting out the carbon,” he said. “We expect to see electric buses become the norm in every city.”
Mr Ryan said the speed of the move away from fossil fuels was demonstrated by Wrightbus moving within a year from 70 per cent of the buses it manufactured being diesel to 70 per cent being electric.
The Government has already committed not to buy diesel buses for the future. The electric buses will be introduced in other cities including Cork, Galway and Waterford over the next five years, it was confirmed.
