THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT Authority has announced the arrival of the first ten of 100 double-deck electric hybrid buses.

The new buses, which are destined for use in Dublin by Dublin Bus and in Galway by Bus Éireann, will enter service early in the New Year.

When on the road, Dublin Bus will use their initial allocation of buses on routes 4, 122, 123 and 140, while Bus Éireann will use theirs to commence the conversion of Galway city routes to hybrid bus operation. 

The ten buses arriving today are part of the NTA’s initial order of 100 74 ADL Enviro 400 Extended Range (ER) hybrid buses – meeting the requirements of the EU’s Clean Vehicles Directive - from Scottish manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited. 

According to the manufacturer, Enviro400ER double-decker buses are capable of running in zero tailpipe emission mode for a distance of at least two and a half kilometres, given it utilises a 32kWh next-generation lithium-ion battery energy storage system that can be charged externally via a plug-in connection.

At today’s launch, the NTA said the purchase and introduction of these buses represent a significant step forward in the transition to a low and zero-emission urban public bus fleet, as outlined in the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 and Climate Action Plan.

“The NTA is committed to the transition to zero and low emission public transport vehicles, and with these new ADL buses, we are taking a significant step towards a more sustainable bus fleet,” Anne Graham, NTA Chief Executive Officer said. 

“These vehicles will also add some badly-needed extra capacity to our city fleets in Dublin and Galway. While public transport passenger numbers have fallen as a result of Covid 19 restrictions this year, we believe that they will return to something approaching pre-pandemic within the next 18 to 24 months.”

She added that further investments will be made in capacity as passenger numbers pick up across its services.

Minister of State at the Department of Climate Action and Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, said: “We have committed to no longer buying diesel-only urban buses for our public transport services as part of our efforts to decarbonise the transport sector.

“These will be the most fuel-efficient buses in the national fleet, but as well as that, they are capable of zero-emissions running for sections of their journeys, which when utilised will be a great improvement for our urban air quality.

The transport sector in Ireland is one of the largest contributors to climate-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2019 just over 20% of Ireland’s GHG emissions came from the transport sector, making it the second-largest contributor behind agriculture (35.3%).

The biggest emitter in terms of transport is the private car, with over half of all our emissions coming from cars.