WATCH: Transport Minister says Inverness will 'lead the way' at Stagecoach electric fleet launch
INVERNESS will lead the way for other cities in Scotland, said the Minister for Transport, as a new fully-electric bus fleet was launched this morning.
Stagecoach officially presented the fully-electric buses at an event at Drumossie hotel today, with Highland councillors and Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth, in attendance.
The new fleet will be made of 25 buses, making Inverness the first city in the UK with a fully electric fleet serving the city network.
The fleet comes as part of a £10.8m investment in public transport in Inverness, with the Scottish Government investing over £5m to enable Stagecoach to purchase of the new fleet and infrastructure.
Ms Gilruth said: "Inverness is leading the way and I would like to see other cities in Scotland take Inverness as lead and take up the challenge set by Stagecoach and invest in the same way on their fleet and make sure that the ext generation of buses in Scotland are decarbonised and clean to support the wider work around decarbonisation of transport.
"We know we have a real challenge in relation to transport car use and I recognise that in more rural parts of Scotland like Inverness and the surrounding area there will be a higher car dependency. This is exactly why Scottish Government has provided this additional funding, to help encourage people out of their cars, onto public transport, and in this instance onto new, clean electric buses, which is hugely important in terms of our decarbonisation work for public transport."
"This is a fantastic achievement for Stagecoach but also for the people of Inverness.
Councillor Trish Robertson welcomed the new fleet and praised the additional space for wheelchairs and accessibility of the buses.
An event to present the new buses to the public will take place in Falcon Square on Saturday, February 4.
