Walsall now has the only hydrogen buses outside London
Hydrogen-powered buses are carrying passengers on the streets of the Walsall for the first time.
The 51 route, between Walsall and Birmingham, is the only service outside London to have the zero-emission double decker buses.
The 20 state-of-the-art vehicles were purchased by Birmingham City Council to help its quest to be zero carbon city.
The council's cabinet member for transport Councillor Waseem Zaffar said: "Birmingham City Council’s zero-emission green-hydrogen bus fleet provides an innovative solution for cities that want to decarbonise public transport.
"They should immediately improve air quality and help us work towards Birmingham’s target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030."
He added: "Birmingham residents may feel assured that their city is playing a leading role in actioning policies and informing debate about zero-emission public transport at local and national level.”
The buses are part of the council’s Clean Air Hydrogen Bus Pilot, which is taking a leading role in the zero-emissions logistics market.
The luxury buses are made by Wrightbus, Northern Ireland, and only produce pure water vapour from their tailpipes with no exhaust or fumes.
The buses will save 631kg of poisonous NOx emissions per year and prevent 1,560 tonnes of carbon from going out into the atmosphere.
Hydrogen buses can run for 300km on a single tank and can be fully refuelled within 10 minutes.
Drivers have been specially trained as hydrogen buses behave differently to combustion engine-driven buses.
Managing director of National Express West Midlands, David Bradford, said: "The West Midlands already has the cheapest bus fares in England - just £4 via contactless for a daysaver; and now we are running the very greenest buses, emitting just water droplets from the exhaust pipe.
"It’s a great deal for our customers - just by getting the bus, they’re saving money and saving the planet.
"These state-of-the-art buses are a sign of our commitment to sustainability. National Express bought our last diesel bus in 2019, and our goal is that the whole fleet will be zero-emission by 2030.
“So we're working with Transport for West Midlands to get hundreds more electric and hydrogen buses on routes across Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country."
