Onboard Plymouth's Brand-New Electric Buses [🎄2025 Christmas Special, 1 of 2]

Plymouth Citybus' New Wright StreetDeck Electroliner

Plymouth is in the progress of electrifying its buses with the complete rollout of its 50 brand-new, zero-emission battery electric buses. These second-generation Wright StreetDeck Electroliners have been rolling out across various routes in and out of the city since May 2025. These buses feature a facelifted front design (which personally, I'm not a big fan of...) and the latest battery technology which extends its range up to around 275 miles (compared to around 150–200 miles of the first-generation StreetDeck BEV).

These buses have been running on Plymouth’s streets for roughly six months now, marking the retirement of the older diesel-powered Enviro 400 models (They'll likely be cascaded to serve Cornwall or someplace else). The entire project, which cost around £32 million, was made possible through a funding partnership. between the DfT's Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 2 scheme, financial support from the local councils (Plymouth and Cornwall), and the majority investment from the operator, the Go-Ahead Group. 

(Source: https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/)

These buses, despite having very positive reviews from local bus users and being a significant step towards the city’s environmental goals, are a long way from being perfect, given that the high cost of these vehicles compared to their diesel predecessors. The Managing Director of Plymouth Citybus, Richard Stevens, has even spoken regarding this project during a council meeting, stating that: "The buses are twice the cost of diesel buses and do not have twice the advantages in that they are not half the price for customers and not twice as frequent." Well, tonight, I'm going to get on one of these bad boys and find out if they're worth the price. 

Plymouth Walkabout bus stop (westbound)

You’re joining me now at Plymouth City Centre, specifically at the Walkabout bus stop on Union Street. Like most other major bus stops in the city centre, this stop is equipped with an information screen that displays when the next bus is due, always a welcoming sight for passengers (Unless if you're visually impaired, of course).

Plymouth Citybus Route 34 Map

We’ll be hopping on Route 34 this evening, traveling from the city centre to Derriford Hospital. I’ve whipped up a clear, easy-to-read diagram on its route above that you can have a look. I'll talk more about the route as we go. Our bus is the 16:01 departure to Derriford Hospital, expecting a travel time of around 50 minutes.

Bus arriving at Walkabout bus stop

Adult Single Ticket

Our chariot for the evening arrived about a minute late: a brand-new, second-generation Wright StreetDeck Electroliner, with fleet number 7023. I hailed it down, got a ticket (capped at 3 pounds, with no thanks to the labour government. It used to be 2 pounds when the Tories are in charge.) I was the only passenger to board, and the bus set off swiftly thereafter. 

Upper Deck

Legroom (Last Row)

With the lower deck fairly full, I headed upstairs to the back of the bus, where it was quieter. The ride proved comfortable, with smooth acceleration and none of the usual diesel engine noise, just like what you'd expect on an electric bus. The legroom is great (for me, though I'm just 5 foot 5, not what you'd consider to be tall) and the back of the seat is equipped with USB type A ports (one per seat) and a stop bell (one per two seats). 

ISRI Civic V3 Seats

The seats themselves are ISRI's Civic V3 seats, commonly found on most Go-Ahead group's Wrightbus produced buses. I personally quite like these seats as they're quite well padded compared to seats like the Lazzerini Pratico, something you'd find on Enviro buses. (Probably not compared to the newer ADL smartseats which got extra THICK padding, found on the new Brighton & Hove Coaster E400MMCs.) But nonetheless, these seats are fairly decent for urban bus routes. 

Royal William Yard (Source: historicengland.org.uk)

So, first impressions are very positive. The locals were spot on about that, these really are excellent buses to ride. The seats are comfortable, the ride feels steady, and the quietness compared to older diesel models makes the ride more pleasant (Unfortunately, at some point some bloke boarded the bus and sat in front of me, blasting a video on his phone about house renovations (???). The peace and quiet was temporarily disrupted until Stoke Village, where he finally got off). With that, we made our way out of the city centre and headed toward Stonehouse, continuing along the route until we reached Royal William Yard, where a brief one‑minute stop was scheduled. Once a victualling yard (i.e. a supply station, where they resupply the ships with food, drinks and etc. for their voyage) for the royal navy, it's now a popular tourist attraction with fancy restaurants, shops, and a cinema. 

Torpoint Ferry (Credit: Tamar Crossings)

The route then continues to Torpoint Ferry, where a number of passengers got on and off at this stop. Torpoint ferry is a key crossing point between Plymouth and Cornwall, carrying both vehicles and foot passengers across the Tamar. It's worth noting that Bus 70 from Plymouth to the Rame Peninsula actually crosses the Tamar into Torpoint using the Torpoint Ferry. Quite interesting to have a bus riding on a ferry, right?

View of Devonport Harbour

Upper Deck Front Row Seats

Front curved side window equipped on this fleet of StreetDecks

The bus set off after a 4-minute scheduled stop at the ferry and continued northeast, passing through Stoke and eventually reaching Milehouse. By then, the upper deck was empty past Stoke, giving me the chance to move to a front‑row seat. The front row still offers USB type A charging ports (but one per two seats, and for my particular bus, the one on the right-hand side doesn't seem to be working) and, of course, a much better view, thanks to the curved side windows, which is something rarely found on double‑decker buses. Not every StreetDeck is configured with these curved windows at the front (Not even the ones running on my favorite route: the Brighton & Hove Coaster routes, although they're replaced with newer Enviro400MMCs and cascaded to other routes). Even though they aren’t particularly large, I believe they still make the bus feel airier and more spacious by letting in extra natural light from the front, almost like the effect of glass staircases (not equipped on this particular fleet of StreetDecks though).

Onboard PIS Displays

Staircase equipped with extra lighting and a CCTV display

The bus is also equipped with audio and visual passenger information system displays. However, at the time of my journey, there were no next‑stop announcements or visual information showing on the screens. Just safety information and Christmas Events from the council. The staircase, meanwhile, is fitted with extra lighting, with LEDs built into the walls at each step to make it easier and safer to climb. There’s also a CCTV display showing a live feed of the upper deck so you can check if the upper deck is full without having to climb up the stairs. (If you zoom in on the CCTV display in the image above, you’ll spot me leaning across the back of the seats to get a picture of the staircase. Please don’t try to recreate this as it’s unsafe. I only did it while the bus was stationary, and ensuring no one else was affected by my actions. Always sit down properly when you’re on the upper deck.)

Rear shot at Derriford Hospital

Front shot at Derriford Hospital

We then continued on past Milehouse, Crownhill, and finally arrived at Derriford Hospital at 16:50, 48 minutes since I boarded from the City Centre. As the bus is scheduled to head back in just 5 minutes, I rushed to get myself a sandwich at the M&S Foodhall just next to the bus station and hopped straight back onboard for the 16:55 departure back into the city centre.

Upper Deck

Lower Deck

As the bus was fairly quiet after leaving Derriford Hospital, I managed to get a shot of the lower deck. The bus is equipped with two wheelchair spaces and four priority seats, marked by orange headrests. Just like on the upper deck, the middle seat in the last row has been replaced with a grab pole. Therefore, the seat count is 24 seats on the lower deck, and 40 on the upper deck, providing a total of 64 seats, which is less than some of the diesel Enviro 400s that they replaced (e.g. The Enviro400 City buses for route 21 have 74 seats). 

Notte Street

As we headed back into the city, we were delayed at Milehouse Park and Ride by around 8 minutes, as a football match had just finished at Home Park (Plymouth Argyle FC’s stadium), and fans were making their way home. Traffic at this point worsens, with northbound traffic largely at a standstill and a match shuttle to Tavistock barely squeezing past the end of a T-junction (A northbound 34 bus is stuck in that traffic as well). Luckily for us, southbound traffic is fairly smooth, and we set off again and glided our way south. As the bus is completely packed at that point, I can't really take anymore pictures and stuff as I don't want to shove a camera around into people's faces just so I can write a blog post. But luckily, most passengers got off at Torpoint Ferry and I'm able to get some more shots in. But of course, as it was already completely dark, there weren’t many meaningful shots to capture out the window. So, I simply enjoyed the rest of the ride into the city centre.

Arrived at Royal Parade

And finally, we arrived at Royal Parade at 17:51, around one minute late and 56 minutes after our departure from Derriford Hospital. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have spent around 2 hours onboard one of Plymouth's brand-new electric buses. But the question, of whether they are worth the price, still remains. From my perspective as a passenger, the ride was quiet, smooth, and undeniably more pleasant than its diesel predecessors, but whether those improvements alone justify the significantly higher cost remains debatable. People are still stuck in traffic regardless, and it's not like it's any cheaper to ride the bus. (Especially not after the labour government pushed the cap to 3 pounds instead of 2.) 

StreetDeck on Cornwall routes with red lighting

So, for now, it is hard to see the benefits beyond passenger comfort and environmental friendliness. These new buses do not magically fix traffic conditions, and there is still a long way to go in encouraging locals to choose buses over cars. Of course, every city is different; you cannot simply copy and paste Brighton & Hove’s more successful model to Plymouth and expect it to work perfectly. Instead, meaningful changes will require a close partnership between the operator and the local council, combining investment in modern vehicles with improvements to bus priority measures within the city. Until those wider issues are addressed, the benefits of these new buses will remain limited to what passengers' experience once they are already on board. For now, they represent a step in the right direction rather than a complete solution. There's still a long way to go for Plymouth's buses. 

What are your thoughts on Plymouth's new electric StreetDecks? let me know in the comments below! As always, thanks for joining me on this trip, and I'll see you in the next post. 

🎄Merry Christmas! 

This post is part of 2025's Christmas Specials.