We are now launching ZEBRA 2, which will provide £129 million to support the introduction of ZEBs in financial years 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. This will be a single-stage funding competition to award funding over both financial years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...ng-zebra-2

(08 Sep 2023, 7:24 pm)Michael wrote We are now launching ZEBRA 2, which will provide £129 million to support the introduction of ZEBs in financial years 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. This will be a single-stage funding competition to award funding over both financial years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...ng-zebra-2

Looks like both

Tees Valley Combined Authority and Transport for North East are going to apply for funding:

Those local authorities to have submitted an EoI to ZEBRA 2 are:

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Bournemouth, Christchuch and Poole Council
Brighton and Hove City Council
Buckinghamshire Council
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority*
Central Bedfordshire Council
Cheshire West and Chester Council
City of York Council*
Cornwall Council
Cumberland Council
Derby City Council
Derbyshire County Council
Devon County Council
Dorset Council
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
East Sussex County Council
Essex County Council
Gloucestershire County Council
Greater Manchester Combined Authority*
Hampshire County Council*
Hull City Council
Isle of Wight Council
Lancashire County Council
Leicester City Council*
Leicestershire County Council
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Norfolk County Council*
North Northamptonshire Council
North Somerset Council
North Yorkshire Council*
Nottingham City Council*
Nottinghamshire County Council
Plymouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council*
Reading Borough Council
Somerset Council
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority*
Southampton City Council
Southend-on-Sea City Council
Staffordshire County Council
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Suffolk County Council
Surrey County Council
Swindon Borough Council
Tees Valley Combined Authority
Telford and Wrekin Council
Torbay Council
Transport for North East
Warwickshire County Council
West Berkshire Council
West Midlands Combined Authority*
West Northamptonshire Council
West of England Mayoral Combined Authority
West Sussex County Council
West Yorkshire Combined Authority*
Westmorland and Furness Council
Wiltshire Council
Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council

[* Local authorities that received funding from ZEBRA 1; for Hampshire County Council, that was via a joint bid led by Portsmouth City Council.]

Hopefully TNE can give some and give Deptford something

(15 Nov 2023, 9:50 pm)Unber43 wrote Hopefully TNE can give some and give Deptford something

If TNE making a bid (and not individual authorities), can only suspect one thing that they were heavily involved with last year. Previous bid failed as GNE made it on their own with no joined thinking.

Looks like BM & NF will have the perfect catalyst to close another depot if TNE/Arriva Northumbria/GNE are  successful! One of the two operators who will already have some 'infrastructure' in place from the previous bid at one of their depots.

I'd be surprised if they get anything up here as they got some through the levelling up fund instead. Teesside will get it instead imo, they lost out last time and have never had anything and if it is something TNE, I wouldn't be surprised if it's in Newcastle with Stagecoach, the 39/40, 62/63 etc rather than GNE again.

(16 Nov 2023, 8:43 pm)Storx wrote I'd be surprised if they get anything up here as they got some through the levelling up fund instead. Teesside will get it instead imo, they lost out last time and have never had anything and if it is something TNE, I wouldn't be surprised if it's in Newcastle with Stagecoach, the 39/40, 62/63 etc rather than GNE again.

Have Stagecoach at Walkergate and Slatyford readily got infrastructure available though?

Arriva (Blyth) and GNE (Riverside) both will have the basic infrastructure (with further expansion) available. Clearly with joint thinking and not just a single operator approach, the 306/307/308/309 would be suitable candidates.

(16 Nov 2023, 10:00 pm)L469 YVK wrote Have Stagecoach at Walkergate and Slatyford readily got infrastructure available though?

Arriva (Blyth) and GNE (Riverside) both will have the basic infrastructure (with further expansion) available. Clearly with joint thinking and not just a single operator approach, the 306/307/308/309 would be suitable candidates.

Can't see why they couldn't do it especially Walkergate, there's tonnes of pace to set it up. Arguably their the routes that would best benefit from electric buses tbh.

If Tees Valley are successful this could be good for Hartlepool depot as you can just about fit some charging points near to where the bus wash is. Could be ideal to try on some 6/7 services if the right vehicle is available. Likewise Stockton depot could try them on the 52 58 61 services.
Arriva Stockton they could probably go well on the 15.

(04 Dec 2023, 2:44 am)col87 wrote If Tees Valley are successful this could be good for Hartlepool depot as you can just about fit some charging points near to where the bus wash is.  Could be ideal to try on some 6/7 services if the right vehicle is available.  Likewise Stockton depot could try them on the 52 58 61 services. 
Arriva Stockton they could probably go well on the 15.

6/7 aren't part of the plans. They were all listed awhile back which routes they've got interest in upgrading to zero emissions. Also unless something has changed, it won't be electric vehicles they'll be Hydrogen. They're still pushing it hard down there.

The 2 (Darlington), 7 (Darlington), X66/X67, 36, 8 (Middlesbrough), 9 (Middlesbrough), 17 (Middlesbrough), 12 (Middlesbrough), X3/X3A - Partially (Redcar), 63 (Redcar) 

Those were the routes on the ZEBRA map last time around and I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar this time, they're the core routes in the area and cover everywhere.

(04 Dec 2023, 8:18 am)Storx wrote 6/7 aren't part of the plans. They were all listed awhile back which routes they've got interest in upgrading to zero emissions. Also unless something has changed, it won't be electric vehicles they'll be Hydrogen. They're still pushing it hard down there.

The 2 (Darlington), 7 (Darlington), X66/X67, 36, 8 (Middlesbrough), 9 (Middlesbrough), 17 (Middlesbrough), 12 (Middlesbrough), X3/X3A - Partially (Redcar), 63 (Redcar) 

Those were the routes on the ZEBRA map last time around and I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar this time, they're the core routes in the area and cover everywhere.

Should have known as usual Hartlepool gets nothing out of this.

(04 Dec 2023, 4:03 pm)col87 wrote Should have known as usual Hartlepool gets nothing out of this.

Underpinning the whole thing is the business case from the operator, as they still need to find the equivalent diesel cost to replace the vehicles. Zebra only covers the gap between diesel and EV.

So, in exactly the same way any normal business case would progress, the services need to be profitable enough to justify the investment. I suspect Hartlepool is not that.

(05 Dec 2023, 7:50 am)RobinHood wrote Underpinning the whole thing is the business case from the operator, as they still need to find the equivalent diesel cost to replace the vehicles. Zebra only covers the gap between diesel and EV.

So, in exactly the same way any normal business case would progress, the services need to be profitable enough to justify the investment. I suspect Hartlepool is not that.

This is one question I would actually like to get an answer to with how packed the 1 6 and 7 can all get I find it unlikely that they are not making any profits off them considering in most cases they no isn’t any other services for parts of all 3 routes.   I don’t think can anyone can argue though that stagecoach have ran Hartlepool into the ground with the amount of services cut over the years and buses quite literally falling apart.

(08 Dec 2023, 8:29 pm)col87 wrote This is one question I would actually like to get an answer to with how packed the 1 6 and 7 can all get I find it unlikely that they are not making any profits off them considering in most cases they no isn’t any other services for parts of all 3 routes.   I don’t think can anyone can argue though that stagecoach have ran Hartlepool into the ground with the amount of services cut over the years and buses quite literally falling apart.

Yeah, I don't think it's the fact that Hartlepool isn't profitable is that they don't care enough about it not to just cascade old stuff there. Although with Stagecoach atm it seems like Newcastle is the only place that really gets invested in anymore.

Stagecoach just can't invest in Newcastle all the time there are stagecoach North East Fleet like Stockton and hartlepool and South shield? Need to invest and Sunderland too?

(09 Dec 2023, 5:03 pm)glen wrote Stagecoach just can't invest in Newcastle all the time there are stagecoach North East Fleet like Stockton and hartlepool and South shield? Need to invest and Sunderland too?

It wouldn't have been as bad if there wasn't a need to steal buses for Newcastle's CAZ, Shields would have had a pretty new fleet, ditto with Stockton. Sunderland is getting investment now with the electric Es, but that won't help too much if they're binning off all their gas buses. I'm sure the people at the Wheatsheaf will want new buses for these places, but it must be a pain trying to justify the investment to their masters in Perth.

I do genuinely wonder if the ZEBRA funding is actively hurting this, as they'll only open their wallets if they're matched or more by the Government.

Thanks for info mate

(09 Dec 2023, 6:03 pm)deanmachine wrote It wouldn't have been as bad if there wasn't a need to steal buses for Newcastle's CAZ, Shields would have had a pretty new fleet, ditto with Stockton. Sunderland is getting investment now with the electric Es, but that won't help too much if they're binning off all their gas buses. I'm sure the people at the Wheatsheaf will want new buses for these places, but it must be a pain trying to justify the investment to their masters in Perth.

I do genuinely wonder if the ZEBRA funding is actively hurting this, as they'll only open their wallets if they're matched or more by the Government.

To be fair, I'd just imagine there'd be none at all. I believe the government only fund the difference anyway. It probably doesn't help that certain councils up here shout every other week they're taking buses back into public hands either mind.

It probably doesn't help that both Arriva and GNE made a massive investment around 2009 so technically very few buses are actually life expired and don't really need replacing and the COVID PVR reductions helped removed the worst offenders with no investment at all. GNE and Arriva both massively benefitted from that getting arid of their Mercs / Omnicities / Versa's and Solos between them with very little investment.

A TNE file has been posted on the Busesnortheast FB page indicating the following as a Zebra2 bid:

14x DD for Arriva Durham for services 48/64/X46.

7x SD and 4x DD for GNE Riverside for services 58 and X66.

18x SD for Stagecoach Slatyford for services 30/31/36.

Good to see Gosforth is getting more electric buses because they haven't got any yet...

Bonkers that the West Road / Byker hasn't got electric buses and still not a bid for them either. Be ideal for something like the 38/39/40/62/63.

(17 Jan 2024, 1:54 pm)mb134 wrote A TNE file has been posted on the Busesnortheast FB page indicating the following as a Zebra2 bid:

14x DD for Arriva Durham for services 48/64/X46.

7x SD and 4x DD for GNE Riverside for services  58 and X66.

18x SD for Stagecoach Slatyford for services 30/31/36.

You have the GNE bid the wrong way round - it’s 7x DD and 4x SD.

Any for the Coast Road services?

(17 Jan 2024, 2:33 pm)L469 YVK wrote Any for the Coast Road services?

No stop it with the coast road mentions. Please I beg you

It would be good to see arriva being able to displace some of the detritus they have here.

(17 Jan 2024, 5:17 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It would be good to see arriva being able to displace some of the detritus they have here.

Not sure any of the stuff on the X46/64 will be getting displaced, it'll be a one way trip to the local scrap yard. Mind surprised they've gone for Deckers on the 64, must be doing well post Covid as it never used to be a Decker route (aware of frequency reductions).

(17 Jan 2024, 5:17 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It would be good to see arriva being able to displace some of the detritus they have here.

Arriva won't be applying for anything while the sale process is ongoing. Hopefully the new owners should be aware of the required investment if the sale goes through and will make the moves needed to upgrade the ageing fleets.

(17 Jan 2024, 5:27 pm)Shrek wrote Arriva won't be applying for anything while the sale process is ongoing. Hopefully the new owners should be aware of the required investment if the sale goes through and will make the moves needed to upgrade the ageing fleets.

They literally have applied for this though?

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(17 Jan 2024, 5:17 pm)BusLoverMum wrote It would be good to see arriva being able to displace some of the detritus they have here.

The bid states it will be to replace the B7TLs and E200s currently in use on the routes.

(17 Jan 2024, 3:13 pm)Aaron21 wrote No stop it with the coast road mentions. Please I beg you

Well I only asked! Bit different this time around if they had've done as they're in partnership now.

Not forgetting Blyth & Riverside would have at least have the basic infrastructure in place.

(17 Jan 2024, 5:38 pm)mb134 wrote They literally have applied for this though?

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The bid states it will be to replace the B7TLs and E200s currently in use on the routes.

Even better. I'd be glad to see the back of those E200s in particular. They're so cramped and I don't even have long legs.

(17 Jan 2024, 5:38 pm)mb134 wrote They literally have applied for this though?

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The bid states it will be to replace the B7TLs and E200s currently in use on the routes.

That is a very good point, I hadn't read the previous post properly. 

I assume they will have agreement with the buying company for investment like this.

Again with just being around Newcastle