TRANSPORT leaders in Greater Manchester are celebrating yet more success in securing low-carbon buses for the region.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has been awarded just over £850,000 for three fully-electric buses – believed to be the first of their kind in Greater Manchester – and 10 diesel-hybrid single-decker buses.

The funding comes from another successful TfGM bid to the fourth round of the government’s Green Bus Fund for low carbon emission buses.

It means TfGM has now received just over £7 million of government money to part-fund 112 green buses, which are used on its contracted services, including the popular Metroshuttles and its dedicated Yellow School Bus routes.

Together with successful bids by operators – with Stagecoach Manchester securing 38 diesel-hybrid double-decker buses in the latest round of the fund – Greater Manchester will soon have more than 280 green buses on its roads.

That’s more than anywhere else in the country, outside London.

The buses are capable of achieving a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to a similar-sized standard diesel Euro 3 vehicle.

Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee, said: “This is fantastic news and yet another example of our determination to lower the impact that transport has on our environment.

“Yet again, Greater Manchester sits head and shoulders above its contemporaries, second only to the nation’s capital city when it comes to the number of green buses running on our roads.

“Around 80 per cent of all public transport journeys in Greater Manchester are made by bus – more than 200 million a year – and many of them are to essential things like work, healthcare and education.

“The challenge, therefore, is to ensure such journeys can continue to be made in a way that is better for the environment – and these vehicles will play a significant part in achieving precisely that.”