Southern Vectis has been successful in its bid for funding to acquire 22 electric buses, which will operate on Routes 1, 5 and 9 from 2026. The Government will hand over millions to the Island bus firm and the Isle of Wight Council for the purchase of the single and double decker buses, and the development of the infrastructure to charge them. The funding awarded, which comes from the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area scheme, will be added to funding already ring-fenced resulting in a total investment on the Island of £12.7million. The brand new, zero-emission buses – the first for the Island – are due to arrive on the Isle of Wight in February 2026 to operate between Newport, East Cowes, Cowes and Ryde. They will boast tap on, tap off technology for contactless payments, USB charging points for all seats, and next stop audio and visual announcements. They will also have a fully accessible wheelchair ramp, audio loops, dementia-friendly internal colour schemes and CCTV for added security. Before the buses can start trundling along the Island’s roads, significant upgrades need to be made to the electrical supply leading to the bus operator’s Nelson Road depot in Newport. Planning for this will now begin to ensure that everything is up and running in time for the buses’ arrival in less than 2 years. Andrew Wickham, Managing Director of Southern Vectis, says:
“This is very exciting news, and it will put the Isle of Wight right at the forefront of sustainable transport. “Our Newport depot will be upgraded with charging infrastructure, and we will be working on the design of this over the coming months. All of this will have a significant impact in the Isle of Wight’s overall carbon emissions. It will also improve air quality here. “The success of this bid is testament to the excellent working relationship we enjoy with Isle of Wight Council – and it gives us a wonderful opportunity to make the island’s transport the envy of other areas of the United Kingdom and, indeed, the World. “All of this also ties in perfectly with our parent company the Go-Ahead Group’s Climate Change Strategy – which has an overarching target to become a net zero carbon business by 2045.”
Stewart Chandler, the Isle of Wight Council’s transport strategy manager, adds:
“I am delighted that electric buses will be landing on our Island soon. The arrival of zero-emission buses is a big step in cutting air pollution from transport as we work hard to address the climate crisis. ”The support that Southern Vectis has shown for this project demonstrates the excellent working relationship we have with the bus operator and how working together can help achieve the very best for the Island.”
Bob Seely MP said:
“Great news that we’ve got the green light to help introduce electric buses on some of the Island’s main bus routes. “I wrote to Transport Minister Guy Opperman in December and met with him since to support the bid from the IW Council – my thanks to the officers who worked on the bid. “The Isle of Wight is an excellent place to develop electric bus networks in the UK. The Conservative Government agrees. We have been made a special case. “Our bus routes are well-used and, thanks to the excellent £2 fare cap, we are seeing thousands more people getting on our buses every month. “Electric buses and the £2 max bus fare. Great for bus travel. Better for the environment. “The new zero-emission buses will account for up to 50 per cent of the Southern Vectis fleet. Well done Southern Vectis’ Richard Tyldsley and his team.”
and CCTV for added security.
should read – CCTV added to spy on the passengers, so that the state can watch what citizens are up to at any given time.
Absolutely, now people are waking up.
People won’t wake up until it’s too late.
Once the Gigabit is fully rolled out and CCTV is installed islandwide
and 20mph ZONES etc etc
People will finally start to realise that the Plandemic was orchestrated
from the start to bring in the New World Order
What the hell are you talking about???? Go take your anti-mental pills and go back to the corner you crawled out of, paranoid or what.
Google London Electric bus fires.
There are so many clueless idiots on the Isle of Wight,
sadly you are one of them.
Travel at your peril
That can only be good for 98% population ,the 2% of low life criminals can move to Rawanda – it’s a safe country.
Rishi Sunak tuning in to watch Doreen on the number 3
Go walk then.
Isn’t it a shame that CCTV is a necessary evil now because people can no longer be trusted to simply sit on a seat for 20 minutes?
You should have to give phone id to get on the bus. If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Lol….and they complained about CCTV…
CCTV has already been on Southern Vectis buses for several years
And now you can’t get a bus pass without id
Wow, they’ve won 12.7 million pounds but fail to mention it’s 12.7 million pounds of your money taken out of your taxes to fund more net zero lunacy – oh and it will be additional money the government borrows on your behalf (because they don’t actually have it going spare despite the highest tax rates in 70 years robbing you dry already), so you’ll also be paying interest on this borrowed money too before you even set foot on one of their highly polluting to make lithium packed temples to progressive ideology (oh and don’t ask them how often the batteries will need replacing and how they dispose of the old ones, or how quickly they degrade and what happens to the range in cold and wet weather)
Someone swallowed the Daily Mail.
Oh THAT’S what’s caused the lack of breath in that very long sentence.
Public money, private profit. This this what the Conservatives wanted.
In that case Labour must want it even more because they plan on doing exactly the same only much faster and on a much bigger scale !
All that money but still can’t run a bus through Havenstreet
No point, no sod used to get on in Havenstreet when there was a bus service. I used to drive the 29 through there and the 33 before that. It wasn’t even sustainable when it was a community bus driven by unpaid volunteers.
“I am delighted that electric buses will be landing on our Island soon. The arrival of zero-emission buses is a big step in cutting air pollution from transport as we work hard to address the climate crisis.’ this council has lost their minds..even foolish Rishi knows its a scam but the IW council is bang on target for net zero..seemingly the only group in the world to be able to do it…Bunch of hysterical goons…
The biggest con going netzero is costing us all billions for years to come..See how long these bits of crap last..
Brilliant, I will have the sausages ready for when they go up in flames like they have been all around the world. Three of them totally burned out in London already because the fire brigade won’t touch them as they know they can’t put out a lithium fire. When are people going to wake up and realise that electric vehicles are a total waste of time. In ten years you will all be driving hydrogen powered vehicles, electric ones will be obsolete.
Because petrol/diesel vehicles have never been know to catch fire? Certainly never a London bus.
Difference is they can easily be put out. Read comments properly first before replying absolute dribble.
It was 3 in one month plus of course they use diesel generators to power the chargers because the grid can’t cope
Because hydrogen hasn’t got the widest explosive/ignition mix range with air of all gases. (Note: yes I am being sarcastic for the hard of thinking.)
I wouldn’t know Malcolm. What I do know is that Ford in America and the Japanese and Chinese vehicle manufacturers have already decided to stop making electric vehicles in favour of producing hydrogen ones instead. Kawasaki are bringing out a hydrogen powered sports bike next year and the Japanese cars will be in production within two years. Electric vehicles are already obsolete.
How safe are electric busses?
And a study from RWTH Aachen University in Germany found the failure rate of electric vehicles to be around 0.9 to 1.2 per 10,000 vehicles, compared to 7.3 per 10,000 fire accidents with fossil fuel-burning passenger vehicles in the U.S.
Lithium fires can be put out with LithEx extinguishers which I believe are coming in at speed to all fire brigades.
Stewart Chandler, the Isle of Wight Council’s transport strategy manager?. What’s he for? as The Council no longer provides any transport – all private like Southern Vectis. Another unneeded tax payer funded job. Can find £12 million for a bus but can’t repair or look after roads they will need to travel on . Like me buying £70,000 Tesla but not having driving licence!.
Best get the chargers in place quick then while there’s still enough leccy to go round…
I’m surprised that Seeley hasn’t popped up claiming responsibility for this latest net zero scam award.
I hope the Fire Service are ready for these buses
So many Electric Buses in London have been going up in flames
recently (they are a Safety Hazard)
I would not risk travelling on one F.O.C
Don’t say you have not been told
How safe are electric busses?
And a study from RWTH Aachen University in Germany found the failure rate of electric vehicles to be around 0.9 to 1.2 per 10,000 vehicles, compared to 7.3 per 10,000 fire accidents with fossil fuel-burning passenger vehicles in the U.S.
Paul, when a petrol/diesel vehicle catches fire, the fire can be extinguished. When a lithium battery goes up all you can do is let it burn itself out, vehicle and all. Firefighters are no longer trying to put out electric vehicle fires because the explosion risk is too high and it is pointless. They now just let the vehicles burn. In China alone last year there were over 64,000 electric vehicle fires. That was on the national news yesterday. These fires cause massive damage to the roads as well. Have you noticed how much motor insurance has gone up recently?
Typical islanders never happy about anything. If you’re that miserable then do the rest of us a favour and bloody move
Grow up Brian. We should be able to advocate for things in our own home towns, if you don’t like the majority of people that live here then why don’t you move. So childish and pathetic. What annoys me more is half of you government loving virtue signalling lefty idiots wouldn’t say a single word to the people if you had to debate them face to face.
You don’t even know me, how can you make those assumptions?
If we’re making assumptions I bet you’re one of those that wants to “free Palestine” and “just stop oil”
Hippy liberal pansies are everything wrong with this country. So fragile and sensitive. Internet warriors.
Grow up.
I would move off but I can’t afford the ferry fare!
Oh dear here we go mor netzero climate crap..what how unreliable they are and how long they servive in srevice..
I think it’s great going Green.All for it !! But,I Do hope that the Isle of Wight council and the government keep fares at £2 a journey and don’t try and pass that cost on to us. People will just avoid taking the bus and it’ll be another colossal money loss,like boaty Mc Boat face.
I wonder if they will be paying the bus drivers
Danger money to drive these buses
They are ticking time bombs
They can put live journey data on the bus displays but can’t provide it at bus stops. Whereas every other bus company in the country can.
How long before they start to explode?
Electric Vehicles, EV’s are a Risky Business!! 🙁
Funding !! What the hell they need funding for !! Just upped their prices and claimed 5m from the government.
About time they made electric tanks so we can have quieter wars and massacres of civilians as the leaders get more and more insane
What is the range of an electric bus which frequently stops and starts. Surely they will need extra buses on each route because of the down time while one or two of the buses are recharging?