£20m investment in new buses for West Midlands

A total of £20 million will be spent on more than 100 new buses in the West Midlands this year, transport bosses revealed today.

National Express West Midlands plans to boost its fleet of around 1,600 buses by another 100 single-decker buses and 30 smaller buses.

It follows an extra 120 buses rolling onto the region's roads last year following a £22m investment by the firm.

The figure included 18 hybrid buses as the company aimed to drive down costs on its rising fuel bills.

Hybrid buses are powered by a mix of an ordinary diesel engine and an electric motor.

Managing director Peter Coates said: "We hope to put more buses on this year.

"There would be a mixture in the type of vehicles and we would be buying more single-decker buses. We want another 100 of them and 30 midibuses which are the smaller ones.

"We invested £22m last year and had 120 new vehicles. There were the 18 hybrid vehicles in Birmingham, 52 single-decker buses and 50 double-decker buses.

"Rising fuel costs have been a big challenge for us. The hybrid vehicles do a lot to improve fuel efficiency and we are hoping to get more of them."

In a bid to combat the costs of soaring fuel bills, staff are also being trained in ways to boost fuel-efficient driving.

The company has 10 depots in the West Midlands and around 500 bus routes covering Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley, Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull.

It was responsible for 300 million passenger journeys last year and is expected to boast a turnover of around £250m for 2011 - with exact results to be announced next month. Last week a shake-up of bus services was announced across central and south Staffordshire.

Improvements including new and revised routes in the Cannock, Rugeley, Stafford, Walsall and Wolverhampton areas came into operation at the weekend after a review by Arriva Midlands.