Ipswich Buses is taking delivery of a £1m-plus fleet of green double-decker buses to improve both its services and the general environment of the town.

Ipswich Star: Borough leader David Ellesmere and Ipswich Buses chairman Chris Mole stand behind company marketing manager Danielle Devenish on one of the new double decker buses. Picture: JADE GIDDENS, IBCBorough leader David Ellesmere and Ipswich Buses chairman Chris Mole stand behind company marketing manager Danielle Devenish on one of the new double decker buses. Picture: JADE GIDDENS, IBC (Image: Archant)

It is getting 14 buses with green diesel engines that should dramatically cut the amount of pollution they pour into the town’s air.

The first are due to enter service this week and all should be operation within the next few weeks.

The buses are not new – they have working in north west London for the last six years – but they are more much more modern than the vehicles they will be replacing.

They release only 40% of the nitrogen oxide of the vehicles they replace and a seventh of the particulate matter. They are the main pollutants from diesel engines.

Ipswich Buses is owned by the borough council – and the buses were bought with a £1.1m loan from the authority.

Council leader David Ellesmere said: “We made the loan, at commercial rates, because it is important that Ipswich Buses has a modern fleet that is good for passengers and the town. This makes very good commercial sense.”

Ipswich Buses chairman Chris Mole said the new vehicles would be much better all around: “They are replacing older buses that are more polluting and which require an increasing amount of maintenance.

“The loan we have to pay back will be more than covered by the reduction in the maintenance costs so this makes sense all around.”

The six-year-old buses will replace 15-year-old vehicles that will be returned to their manufacturers Scania in a part-exchange deal.

Half the company’s 28-strong fleet will be replaced by the new vehicles which will travel on routes to Whitton and Castle Hill, the hospital circuit, and to east Ipswich.

Ipswich Buses has 83 vehicles which each cover between 40,000-50,000 miles a year. The double decker buses and the older single deckers operate between 7am and 7pm six days a week. The newer single deckers also operate in the evenings and on Sundays.

The first two buses are now ready to enter service and the remaining vehicles are at various stages of being prepared for use in the town and are expected to be operating by Christmas.