Bus Éireann is to reconfigure its depots at Athlone, Limerick, Cork and Galway to accommodate electric vehicles.
The move was announced on Friday when the State-owned transport company released its first “sustainability report” which showed company vehicles travelled 150,000 emission-free kilometres in 2021.
Bus Éireann currently has 61 hybrid and three hydrogen buses funded by the National Transport Authority .
The company said Galway last year became Ireland’s first city with an entirely hybrid bus service, funded by the NTA and operated by Bus Éireann. Diesel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 30 per cent as a result.
Bus Éireann also said it was training its craft workers towards the move to electric vehicles.
The company employs 2,700 people, across 17 locations and operates 1,100 vehicles. In 2019 facilitated 90 million passenger trips.
Bus Éireann CEO Stephen Kent said the management was “acutely aware of the urgency of climate action, and we are driving forward as quickly and as efficiently as possible, with the support of the National Transport Authority, CIÉ and the Department of Transport.’
The 61 hybrid and three hydrogen buses procured by the NTA delivered 150,000 emission-free kilometres of passenger journeys in Galway, Limerick and Dublin commuter routes, he said.
The annual sustainability report, published today, is the first to detail progress towards the goals set out in its Driving Change Sustainability Strategy, 2021-2030 published in May 2021.
