Recommendation 13

HM Government Accepted in Part

The Government partially accepts this recommendation. Buses have a crucial role to play in transport achieving net zero and driving the green transformation. As such, the Department consulted on setting an end date for the sale of new non-zero emission buses in spring 2022, inviting views on a date range of 2025– 32. We will shortly make an announcement on the end of sales date, and publish the consultation response. In addition we will set out in due course the UK’s roadmap to achieving an entirely ZEB fleet. This will include a date as to when we expect the UK to achieve an all zero-emission bus fleet. In this Parliament we have so far awarded over £330m of dedicated funding for ZEBs in England of the total allocated through the Spending Review 2021. Areas that have received Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) funding, include some predominantly rural areas, such as North Yorkshire which received £7.8m. As well as supporting new zero emission buses, ZEBRA funding enables bus depots to be upgraded with infrastructure to accommodate new electric or hydrogen vehicles. The development of energy storage and smart charging technologies can also mitigate the need for expensive grid connections, both in rural and urban areas. The ZEBRA scheme encouraged bidders to consider these innovative energy solutions, ensuring that areas with poor connectivity are still able to benefit without the need for prohibitively expensive grid reinforcement. The UK is subject to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which opens up procurement markets among its parties. As such, UK businesses can bid for certain procurement opportunities in the other parties’ territories and vice versa. UK-based manufacturers and other businesses have benefited from funding schemes including the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA), the All- Electric Bus Town or City scheme and the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement scheme. Wrightbus and Alexander Dennis Ltd have, so far, received orders for nearly 500 ZEBs and 350 ZEBs respectively from these UK Government funding schemes. We have already seen rapid growth in the proportion of new buses that are zero- emission, as a result of government investment through schemes such as ZEBRA. We have also seen significant growth in our domestic manufacturing industry. This momentum is now being built upon outside of direct grant funding schemes: National Express has recently ordered 300 ZEBs from Alexander Dennis. Setting an end of sales date for non-zero-emission buses will provide further impetus for development of the UK’s zero emission vehicle supply chain and our automotive industry, so we can lead the transition to zero emission vehicles and seize new opportunities for growth and innovation. We intend to announce this date shortly—to give the bus sector the certainty they need to plan for a zero-emission future. In tandem with this, the NBS also encouraged LTAs to consider Demand Responsive Transport, which may produce lower emissions overall than regular fixed route services, as they only run where and when there is demand. However, due to the distances involved, this can still involve substantial mileage without passengers. Through the £20 million Rural Mobility Fund pilot, 15 local authorities are trialling demand responsive bus services in rural and suburban areas. Some of these pilots are running electric vehicles, including two running entirely electric. As Community Transport predominantly operates in rural areas, and given its not-for- profit nature, it can be more challenging to obtain new vehicles. As the market for zero emission vehicles continues to develop, we expect prices to come down, as has been seen in the car and van market. In the coming months the Government will publish its Future of Transport Rural Strategy. This strategy will—like the Urban Strategy, published in 2019—provide strategic principles to ensure non-urban areas benefit from changing technologies and services in mobility. The Rural Strategy is aimed at local authorities and operators and will include practical case studies on how to introduce new services in an inclusive way. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan was clear that removing tailpipe emissions, where possible, is fundamental to decarbonising transport, given their significant contribution to the UK’s total domestic greenhouse gas emissions. The Government is, therefore, committed to achieving an all zero-emission bus fleet. We believe that, at the present time, any Government investment in, or further consideration of, synthetic fuels for buses would not be consistent with our aim of all buses being zero emission at the tailpipe. However, we are monitoring the situation closely as technology advances and will explore any future innovation with an open mind.