EIR/202500463503 · FOI/EIR · not held
Funding of hydrogen buses and bus fares in Aberdeen: EIR release
Information requested
You asked for information relating to the funding of hydrogen buses in Aberdeen and asked a number of questions about bus fares. I will answer your request in two parts: firstly your request for information about hydrogen buses; and then your questions about bus fares.
Hydrogen buses
You asked about the amount of public funds spent on the purchase of hydrogen buses for Aberdeen as well as funds for the construction and operation of hydrogen refuelling stations related to this project. You asked if the buses are still in operation, as well as details of the contracts, terms and conditions with First Bus
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public nterest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
The Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project is led by Aberdeen City Council. It was launched in 2013 and became operational in 2015. The project initially consisted of ten hydrogen buses leased from Van Hool (a Belgian manufacturer) and the Kittybrewster hydrogen refuelling station. Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise provided £3.3 million in funding at the initial stage of the project. Other funding partners included Aberdeen City Council, SSE, BOC, Stagecoach and First Bus. The project was also supported by European funding.
In 2019, Aberdeen City Council ordered fifteen hydrogen buses from Wrightbus to replace the buses returned to Van Hool after the lease expired, and to extend the fleet size. Scottish Government provided £3 million in match funding for the purchase of the buses. Additional funding was provided by Aberdeen City Council (£2.5 million) and a European Commission programme to advance the commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cell buses, termed the Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles across Europe (JIVE) (€2 million).
These hydrogen buses came into operation in January 2021. The buses are leased from Aberdeen City Council to First Bus who operate them. In addition, Scottish Government also provided £217,000 to upgrade the Kittybrewster hydrogen refuelling station to accommodate double decker buses. The upgrade was completed in 2019.
In 2020, Scottish Government provided £4.5 million to Aberdeen City Council via the Energy Transition Fund to purchase an additional ten hydrogen buses. The new buses came into operation in April 2022.
The Scottish Government provided £7.3m to the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub project via the Energy Transition Fund over financial years 2022/23 to 2024/25. This supported all aspects of the hub which is not limited to hydrogen buses but includes the construction and operation of the hydrogen refuelling stations for a variety of uses.
Information not held
The Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested, including details about the operation of the buses, the financial contributions from other organisations and the contractual relationship with First Bus including monitoring of their use of project funds. This is because the projects to introduce hydrogen fuel cell buses to Aberdeen were led and managed by Aberdeen City Council. Full details about the projects' finances and contractual relationship with First Bus and other partners are not held by the Scottish Government but may be available from Aberdeen City Council.
Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the details of the hydrogen bus projects in Aberdeen, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
I note that your request for information was also addressed to Aberdeen City Council, who may be able to provide this additional information that you are looking for. Please let me know should you need help finding an appropriate contact.
Bus fares
Regarding bus fares, it may be helpful to explain that bus fares are a matter for individual operators who use their own commercial judgement as to the fare structure applied, taking into account the level of patronage, in order to provide a viable service. The Scottish Government provides annual grants to the bus industry, whose aim is to keep fares at affordable levels and enable bus operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable.
We want more people to travel by public transport for work, study and leisure. In the coming year, we will seek to keep fare increases as low as we can, maintain existing services and invest in infrastructure and fleets. In 2025-26, we are increasing funding for bus services and concessionary travel from £430 million in 2024/25 to almost £465 million. This will support current bus services so that operators can continue providing access to affordable transport, and continue to enable over 2 million children, young people, disabled and older people in Scotland to benefit from free bus travel, making over 3 million journeys every week.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public nterest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.
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