Operator’s gas-powered bus fleets experience mixed fortunes

Stagecoach is to end its experimental biogas bus service in Lincoln, which started in 2011, citing the high cost of getting the buses to run properly. Meanwhile, its gas buses in Sunderland are reported to be preferred by passengers who were surveyed after 12 months of operation.

In Lincoln, dual-fuel conversions to 11 refurbished Optare Solo midibuses were funded by Lincolnshire County Council and the East Midlands Development Agency, and the cost savings generated by running the buses mostly on gas and not diesel were supposed to pay for the leasing costs of a permanent gas filling station.

But new buses had to be drafted in while expensive rectification work was carried out to tackle technical problems on the Solos, delaying investment in the new fuelling station and leaving Stagecoach to pay premium rental on a filling station based on a road tanker.

The buses are now reported to be running properly, but the project has run out of money, and its estimated that around £0.5 million would be required to build the permanent fuel station needed for it to be viable.

In Sunderland, Stagecoach uses factory-built Scania gas buses with ADL bodies running on CNG sourced from the mains. It purchases ‘green gas’ certificates from companies who supply bio-methane to the national grid, but this does not necessarily mean that the gas drawn by Stagecoach is actually bio-methane.  Ninety-two percent of passengers surveyed said they preferred the all-gas powered Scanias to conventional buses, citing reduced engine noise and a smoother ride as positives.