Exciting News From Rotheram

 But NOT RotherHam

The sight of one of Merseyside PTE's (Mayor boss Steve Rotheram's shiny ADL double decks at the Expo Bus shindig at Birmingham has excited the twittersphere. It is not clear why! Aberdeen has had hydrogen buses for many yonks, London ditto. But for whatever reason the first 20 that will soon appear between Liverpool and St Helens ...

... has generated oodles of adulation.

We need a quick reminder of the science. A "hydrogen" bus is actually an electric bus. The wheels are turned by electric motors just like any other electric vehicle. But it doesn't use batteries. Actually it does have batteries like any other vehicle but they do not drive the wheels.

It uses a "fuel cell" with hydrogen gas as its fuel. The fuel cell makes the electricity to drive the motors.

How?

You may remember doing an experiment at school using electrolysis to make Hydrogen and Oxygen out of water. fbb remembers watching teach try to do it and failing miserably as almost all science experiments did. The kiddies were then instructed to write it up as if it had worked!

You pass electricity between two metal rods in salty water (no need for sulphuric acid as shown above) and collect the gases in  couple of test tubes. One tube collects hydrogen, one oxygen,

Electricity + Water = Hydrogen and Oxygen

The "fuel cell" reverses the process. You take hydrogen from the tanks and oxygen from the air, mix them together in a clever bit of kit and they produce electricity and some water as a waste product.

Hydrogen and Oxygen = Water + Electricity

Needless to say the clever bit of kit is expensive and the buses cost about £600,000 each. OUCH!

We first met the Scouse ones back in August 2021.

Later we saw one trundling past Lime Street Station.

But, don't tell anyone, these were computer generated pictures. No real buses were injured in the photo session because they weren't there. Neither were the seats there.

But now the real thing has appeared at the NEC.

It has got comfy seats (Harrogate Buses have had them for years on the 36 to Leeds); it has wood-effect flooring ...... YAWN ...

... phone charge points ... YAWN ... and a window in the roof.

Transdev's "Sky" class beat them to it!

And the buses are painted yellow and grey.

Back in the mists of antiquity, fbb painted his buses yellow and grey ...

... and even further back, your elderly blogger, then aged 11, had his bedroom in the family's new house decked out in yellow (it was called "jonquil" then) and grey much to mum's and dad's horror as it would "look silly". And what was wrong with cream or magnolia?

Neither of fbb's design efforts came up to modern standards, no pictures exist of he former bedroom!

The Bearded Bus Beautifier from the Bush has certainly contributed to the distinctiveness of Merseyside's huge fleet of 20 buses. fbb suggests Ray's hands were tied because Mr Rotheram had already decided on yellow for his new PTE owned bus fleet before Ray had an opportunity to design much.

The interior detail, however, is (as one has to say today) cool. Ray himself enthuses about the "stairway to heaven" ...

... which looks pretty much like every other bus of its "marque", It is a set of steps up to the top deck.

It is good to see the Liver building on the staircase panel ...

... and fbb hopes there will be more landmarks on other vehicles. They've got a couple of cathedrals as starters!

But these buses are good looking and much more so than those run by the two main City operators.

As the Good Book doesn't quite say; it is a case of the bland ...

... leading the bland.

In tomorrow's blog, fbb may well take a look at the various route 10 services and, in so doing, muse of what difference 20 posh buses may make to the city's travelling experience.

They have certainly been well twittered.

And, as the risk of being accused of "banging on" fbb will, yet again, draw his readers to the lies on the posterior.

These beauties may contribute to a reduction of nasties in Liverpool, but they are most definitely NOT zero emission.

Currently a hydrogen bus creates more damaging stuff overall than a diesel bus and is appallingly fuel inefficient. It takes far more polluting energy to make the hydrogen, the bus, and the clever bit that does the stuff than almost any other passenger carrying vehicle.

Good for Liverpool: Bad for the Planet.

 Next Merseyside 10 blog : Wednesday 9th Nov