Park and Ride passengers to get cleaner, greener, journeys thanks to successful Combined Authority bid

Eight new diesel hybrid-electric double-deck buses are being purchased to serve Leeds� Park & Ride sites thanks to a successful West Yorkshire Combined Authority bid to the Department for Transport (DfT).

The Combined Authority will receive a grant of �234,000 from the Low Emission Bus Scheme, which First Leeds will use to upgrade their purchase of eight buses to low emission vehicles. More expensive than conventional diesel buses but providing significant carbon emission savings, the new vehicles will be used exclusively on the city�s highly popular Elland Road Park and Ride site and the new Leeds Temple Green Park and Ride, due to open in spring 2017. �

Cllr Keith Wakefield, West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee Chair, said: "I�m delighted that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been successful in yet another bid that will help the ongoing reduction of our region�s carbon emissions.�

�Recognising the important role transport can play in improving people's health, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has already fitted its entire fleet of 165 yellow school buses with clean bus technology and later this year our fleet of 33 Access Buses will also go green.

�We are also working with partners to develop a Low Emission Strategy to benefit people in those West Yorkshire areas experiencing poor air quality, which is in line with the target of developing Clean Energy and Environmental Resilience in our Strategic Economic Plan for the City Region.

�This successful bid will build upon this work and deliver, cleaner, greener transport for all our Park and Ride passengers who are already helping Leeds� environment and economy by leaving their cars at Elland Road Park and Ride and travelling by bus into Leeds City Centre.�

Find out more about Elland Road Park and Ride services (opens in new window).

Expansion

Due to its popularity, the Park and Ride at Elland Road Park is being expanded to provide 375 extra parking spaces. When it opens in the autumn, the expansion will include a new, heated waiting facility with toilets and baby changing facilities, ticket machines and real-time information on bus services to and from the city centre. The new, fully-lit parking area will have CCTV coverage and will include more spaces for electrical vehicle charging.

Work underway on Elland Road Park & Ride expansion

West Yorkshire Combined Authority is using a range of transport measures to combat poor air quality as well as support local economic growth and job creation. Clean bus technology, cycling and walking schemes, ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) and 20mph zones are among the initiatives being employed. And a West Yorkshire Low Emission Strategy is being developed to deliver health benefits.

Other measures to reduce the impact of transport on air quality have included the 'greening' of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority's entire My Bus fleet. All 165 of the yellow school buses have been fitted with clean bus technology creating the largest, greenest fleet of school buses in the UK after a successful, �1m bid for Department for Transport (DfT) Clean Bus Technology funding.

AccessBuses to go green thanks to successful West Yorkshire Combined Authority bid

West Yorkshire�s yellow buses are now cleaner and greener

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