Yorkshire cycling website
Harrogate electric bus
The future starts now! The Harrogate Bus Company is poised to introduce a fleet of fully electric buses on three of its major routes.
The Bus Company, owned by Transdev Blazefield, was successful in a bid for £2.25 million from the government's Low Emission Bus scheme when local MP Andrew Jones was a minister at the Department for Transport. The Bus Company added £1.7 million of its own money to the project.
Some of the money has been invested in eight fully electric Volvo 7900E buses. They will run on routes 2A & B (Bilton), 3 (Jennyfield), and 6 (Pannal Ash and Beckwith Knowle Business Park). Passengers will have air conditioning, free WiFi, USB power at every seat, and wireless charging pads for the latest phones.
Harrogate Electrics graphic, © Transdev
The buses use 'opportunity charging'. That means that there are special overhead masts at three of the departure stands at Harrogate bus station. The masts connect to buses via pantographs - current collectors on the roofs of the buses. A 7-minute charge provides sufficient power for 35 miles - more than enough for the Bilton, Jennyfield, and Pannal Ash routes.
The buses will also receive an overnight charge at the bus station every two days, to maintain peak performance.
Use of the opportunity charging masts is not restricted to the Harrogate Bus Company - other bus companies operating from Harrogate bus station can use them too, if they invest in electric buses.
According to an SMMT article, these electric Volvo buses have been running on Line 55 in Gothenburg since 2015, so the technology is well tried and tested.
One of the new 7900Es was on display on Oxford Street, Harrogate, on Saturday 18th August 2018. Harrogate Bus Company staff said that the buses are ready to go, and will be put into service as soon as Northern Powergrid connects up the charging masts at the bus station - probably in 2-3 weeks' time.
10th July 2018
Parker's Piece, Cambridge
In a report for the National Infrastructure Commission, former London cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan says that the answer to congestion problems in prosperous and expanding cities Oxford and Cambridge is 'staring them in the face'.
Read about Gilligan on Oxford and Cambridge.
13th August 2018
The DfT has announced that it is 'looking at' changes to the Highway Code on overtaking cyclists, and it has asked a working group to develop national guidance on cycle infrastructure.
Read about DfT passing distance & infrastructure guidance.
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