The £64m investment comes on top of 150 electric buses already in operation along the company’s routes.
Built by Co Antrim manufacturer Wrightbus and funded by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), the buses are equipped with enhanced accessibility standards and come with WiFi, USB charging sockets and digital audio-visual next stop announcements.
60 of them will go to the Belfast Metro fleet, meaning half of those buses will now be made up of zero-emission, with the other half low-emission buses.
The remaining 40 are to operate in Derry, Limavady, Strabane, Coleraine and Portadown in an effort to de-carbonise local bus fleets.
Mr O’Dowd said the investment was a sign of the Department’s progress towards green energy targets.
“This £64m investment is a huge step forward; it is delivering 100 zero-emission buses to routes across the North and helps us de-carbonise our fleet, he said.
“It is a continuing programme; this investment is taking place over 2024-25, 2025-26 and I hope to be in a position at a later stage in this mandate to make announcements on further investments in zero-emission vehicles for our transport fleet.”
Translink Chief Executive Chris Conway said the announcement represented a real opportunity to push forward with de-carbonisation.
“This is a further 100 zero-emission buses on top of the 150 we already have in service. That in total represents about 20% of our fleet,” he said.
“It means that about 50% of our fleet in Belfast metro will be zero-emission and also, this will be our first zero-emission buses going into Ulsterbus for towns and cities across NI.
“That’s a real great opportunity to start deploying zero-emission buses right across our fleet and an opportunity as well in terms of not just the climate benefit, but the economic benefit.
“We are purchasing these vehicles off Wrightbus, where we are today, and that creates jobs in the local economy and export opportunities for Wrightbus.”
Chief Executive of Wrightbus, Jean-Marc Gales, said using zero and low-emission buses was the simplest way of de-carbonising the planet.
“We are honoured today to have Translink and Minister O’Dowd delivering 100 buses. You don’t do that every day, so we are very honoured and it is a fantastic day for all of us,” he said.
“This is massively important for jobs. A year ago we had 900 people and now we have around 1,800 highly-skilled green jobs that contribute to the local economy.
“It’s not only the 1,800 jobs we have in Ballymena working for Wrightbus, it’s also that every single job in Wrightbus creates another three jobs in the supply chain within local communities.
“We have 20% decarbonisation of the bus fleet for Translink and we are hoping to go up to 100% with them by 2040.
“There are many more steps to follow there. We believe that buses are the most straightforward way of decarbonising the environment.
“One electric bus eliminates 40,000 litres of diesel per year that a diesel bus emits. It’s the fastest way to de-carbonise.”
Delivery of the new fleet will begin next month, with the last vehicle arriving in the first quarter of 2025, and is part of Translink’s wider plans to be operating a zero-emissions fleet by 2040.
£64 million investment for 100 zero emission electric buses across Northern Ireland “huge step forward” says Infrastructure Minister.
