‘Metro-like’ bendy buses could be heading for Walsall
Tram-style electric buses could soon be hitting the streets of Walsall, as the West Midlands Combined Authority looks set to give the go-ahead for more than £30m of funding for the project.
Subject to approval later this week, a total of 24 articulated vehicles will be purchased by the authority as part of a plan to create a fully-electric, priority bus link between the black country town and Birmingham city centre.
If the scheme gets the go-ahead, WMCA will also hire a specialist contractor to build charging depots and electrical infrastructure at its Walsall depot.
Transport for West Midlands says its “Sprint” project will be a flagship for its region-wide ambition to improve public transport services, which has seen over £150m spent already on improving infrastructure for buses, including a resurfacing and road widening programme along the planned route.
A franchise to operate the service would also be one of the first to be awarded by the authority under its new franchising arrangements, which brings bus routes in the region under local authority control from next year.
A report set to go before the WMCA board on Friday, if approved, would see the new buses go into operation on improved, priority routes from Walsall, heading cross-city through Birmingham and onto Solihull.
“Sprint will be an innovative mode of transport with journey times, comfort and accessibility levels akin to the Metro service but utilising the lower costs and greater flexibility of bus technology,” said the report.
“Whilst Sprint will require lower levels of investment than Metro, it is intended to be similarly transformational and still represents a higher level of investment than normal bus services.”
Purchase of the bendy-bus fleet will cost around £26m, with a further £5.5m for ticket machines and scanners also in the pipeline, subject to a separate purchasing exercise.
Funding for the scheme will come from the central government Zero Emission Bus (ZEBRA) grant, as well as the City Region Transport fund.
The WMCA board will vote on a recommendation to approve the purchase at its board meeting on Friday, 13 March.
