TfGM has been heavily involved in DfTs Green Bus Fund, having submitted successful bids in all three rounds of the competition. This has resulted in the purchase of 88 new diesel-electric hybrid vehicles by TfGM for use on various services across the Greater Manchester area, including city-centre shuttles, general network services and Yellow School Bus services; all of which are now in service, and this is contributing significantly to delivering against Greater Manchesters low carbon economy commitments.
We work closely with the operators of these services, who run the vehicles under lease arrangements to TfGM, and the manufacturer, Optare, who also provides an on-going repair and maintenance service, to ensure vehicle performance is optimised. TfGMs bid to the 2012 round of the competition secured funding for further vehicles, to be purchased directly by operators themselves, for operation on subsidised local services with the funding passed on with the award of the contract to ensure the vehicles remain in operation in the Greater Manchester area.
Membership of Zemo Partnership will enable to TfGM to discuss best practices with other bodies to help delivered continuous improvement in this area.