17 New EV double-decks for Cheltenham

[AdamH]

As previously mentioned, Stagecoach West are planning to upgrade a number of routes around Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury in late 2025 and early 2026 to full Electric operation. For this, 17 double-deck and 25 single-deck buses have been ordered with help from Gloucestershire County Council under the Zebra 2 scheme.

The first batch of 17 double-deck buses have now started to arrive, and these are Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV with H46/25F seating configuration. All will be based at Cheltenham depot for use primarily on Service 94/94X between Cheltenham and Gloucester. This route was one for the first to be converted to Gold standard back in 2009, and now runs 24-hours a day, with 8 departures per hour in each direction during the daytime.

Fleet numbers will be 80229-80245, and the first 4 examples arrived at Oxford depot on Wednesday, and another 2 at Bristol depot on Thursday. These will go into storage until work to install chargers at Cheltenham depot is finished. The 25 single-deck buses are expected later in the year and will be used on routes in Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

I was at a meeting in Didcot on Thursday, so I called by Oxford depot on my way home to get some photos. The bus shown is 80233...

[MattW]

Not a bad looking vehicle - the step between the top of the windscreen and the upper deck puts me in mind of the special Nottingham City Transport bodies on Leyland Atlanteans back in the day.