The milestones being met for a decarbonised transport infrastructure

CARDIFF CAPITAL REGION

Inform

Rob O'Dwyer

Head of Infrastructure for CCR

With a ULEV transport strategy that includes the revolutionary MetroPlus network, a pioneering LEV Taxi plan and an ambitious £4.8m ULEV programme for 2021/22, Cardiff Capital Region’s journey towards a decarbonised transport infrastructure is well under way.

The planned electric vehicle infrastructure for use by public vehicles, taxis and buses will integrate transport hubs across the region - and Rob O’Dwyer, Head of Infrastructure for CCR, has been at the heart of this multidisciplinary activity.

In a highly-encouraging update, Rob reveals the landmark progress being made in moving from deeply detailed planning stages to the physical rollout of projects that will transform transport across the region…

“September saw the CCR Cabinet and Regional Transport Authority endorse the latest developments in rolling out a unified ULEV strategy across southeast Wales - including our provision for the new ultra low emission vehicle infrastructure, with 34 50kw dual chargers at 31 sites for taxi use due to be completed by the end of this year” explains Rob. “In fact, some of these have already been commissioned and are usable right now - so people can expect to see ‘the future’ appearing all around them in the next few months."

“People will begin to see ‘the future’ appearing all around them in the next few months"

“The ‘Try Before You Buy Scheme’ for our Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) Taxis will soon be launched, encouraging taxi drivers to transition to 100% electric, wheel-chair accessible vehicles. We have 44 Nissan Dynamo vehicles available to be utilised for a three year trial, that will be operated by an independent management company.

We’re also seeing real progress being made on our public charging infrastructure, with a contract currently being awarded to deliver c.640 7kW and 22kW chargers at 159 sites for the public to use. We’ve also set up an All Wales procurement framework for other public sectors to utilise to enable them to provide electric charging infrastructure quickly.

In terms of our proposed bus charging infrastructure, we have already prepared the new award winning Merthyr Bus Station by installing the cabling and associated electric meters, along with enhancing the sub-station for the charging units to be provided in the future, and have identified a further fifteen sites across the region with a bid already submitted to the Welsh Government to enable delivery in the future - and we’re currently investigating the feasibility of aligning a school transport fleet and the public bus network, as well as conducting some public fleet challenges to get a deeper understanding of the opportunities for Council owned fleets.

“Furthermore, we’re also assessing the viability of CCR purchasing an electric car fleet that can then be made available to the public through car clubs, managed by an independent management company, making it more economical for the public to transition to using electric cars, reducing the need for families to own second cars, and offering the option to use public transport for part of the journey and an electric vehicle for the rest. Our vision for a decarbonised integrated transport network is becoming a reality - and we’re transitioning as quickly as we can in our race for net zero.”