A permanent fuel station has opened in Bristol for the city’s metrobus fleet which runs on gas produced by food waste.
The new £960,000 station at the Bristol Community Transport (BCT) depot in Bedminster will be used to fuel 22 biomethane gas-powered buses on the m1 metrobus route.
The biogas that fuels the buses is provided by the Gas Bus Alliance (GBA) and is produced by breaking down organic materials such as food waste and sewage.
The new fleet of bio-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.
And another 77 new biomethane buses are soon to be introduced onto the city’s streets.
The new vehicles, which will be spread out on routes across Bristol, will significantly reduce the amount of pollution produced by those routes, First Bus has said.
And there are also plans for another biomethane filling station at the bus depot in Lawrence Hill.
James Freeman, managing director of First West of England said: “The metrobus m1 route is paving the way and this new filling station means that bio-methane gas buses will now be a permanent feature in the city.
“With 77 more bio-methane gas buses and another even bigger filling station coming to Bristol soon, Bristol could soon be the country’s bio-methane gas bus capital.”
Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for transport, Kye Dudd, added: “As a city we are moving quickly to improve air quality and we will do this in the shortest possible time. Working in partnership with First West of England and Bristol Community Transport on projects like this leads the way in reducing vehicle pollution on our roads.”
And West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said the opening of the new filling station was part of the West of England ombined Authority's aim to "help reduce congestion, improve air quality and keep people moving".
