Thanks to a range of new technologies, Britain’s buses are steadily swapping traditional fuel for greener alternatives. Over in Bristol, however, Wessex Water believes more can be done with the brown stuff. That’s why it’s today put the UK’s first bus powered entirely by human and food waste into service. The Bio-Bus, as it’s known, is a 40-seater shuttle capable of travelling up to 186 miles on a full tank of bio-methane gas, which is generated via a process called anaerobic digestion.
Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s uses the same technique to power one of its stores. Its branch in Cannock, West Midlands is exclusively powered by energy generated from bio-methane gas expelled by unusable food from its shelves. Bath Bus Company, the company operating the service, believes the “poo bus” will carry 10,000 passengers between Bristol Airport and Bath city centre each month. While it’s perfectly set up to run the Number 2 route, it’ll disappointingly run on the A4 service locally.
