A new permanent biomethane station for the city’s metrobus fleet has been opened by West of England Mayor Tim Bowles and Cllr Kye Dudd, Bristol City Council Cabinet member for Energy and Transport. The facility, located at Bristol Community Transport (BCT) depot in Bedminster, will be used to fuel buses on the m1 metrobus route, which is operated by BCT under contract to First West of England. It represents a £960,000 investment by First West of England, which has been supported by the Low Emission Bus Fund, from the Government’s Office of Low Emission Vehicles.
Dai Powell, Chief Executive of HCT Group, the parent organization of BCT, said: “We believe in the power of public transport to make a difference, getting people out of their cars, reducing congestion and fossil fuel use. This impact will always be limited if the buses themselves are still contributing to the problem. The launch of this biogas filling station shows that it is practical and economical to make a low-carbon choice, reducing emissions and doing our part in the climate emergency.”
Mayor Bowles also commented: “It’s great to see this new natural gas bus filling station open, as part of our aim to help reduce congestion, improve air quality and keep people moving. It supports my ambition to improve public transport in the region, giving people more sustainable ways to travel.”
The opening of the new station marks the end of a temporary filling station which had been installed at the Bedminster depot and had been fueling the fleet since it came in to service in January 2019.
James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England added: “We’re taking meaningful steps to clean up the city’s air. That’s why we’re making significant investments to bring a fleet of biomethane buses into Bristol. The metrobus m1 route is paving the way and this new filling station means that biomethane buses will now be a permanent feature in the city. With 77 more biomethane buses and another even bigger filling station coming to Bristol soon, Bristol could soon be the country’s biomethane bus capital!”
The biogas that fuels the buses is provided by the Gas Bus Alliance (GBA), comes from waste food and is supplied from anaerobic digesters across the UK. These new buses build on the legacy of the Bristol Poo bus, which was run on the Number 2 route around Bristol while the city held the European Green Capital title in 2015.
The Parson Street Station comprises two gas compressors and storage and has been specifically designed by the GBA to accommodate the requirements of operating Bristol’s metrobus fleet from Parson Street. This is the sixth station built by the GBA and took nine months to complete. Plans for another bio-methane filling station at First West of England’s depot in Lawrence Hill, Bristol are currently at the planning stage.
Source: Bristol Community Transport
