You don’t have to be in Brighton for very long before you spot The Big Lemon, the bright yellow bus that runs on zero-emissions. A few weeks ago, The Big Lemon set out at trying to raise funds to continue running the electric bus and looked to Brighton residents for help. Of course, Brighton isn’t short of community spirit and The Big Lemon have already met their fundraising target…and then some. Looking to raise £100,000 they overshot their target by £60,000 and putting them on course to buy two buses. This means that by the end of the year, we could be seeing two big lemons running around Brighton and Hove, all using zero-emissions.
Tom Druitt, managing director of The Big Lemon CIC told The Argus: “We are all humbled by the level of support we have received form the public. Last year was our best year yet and this year is already shaping up to be even better. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us with our fundraising efforts. The thought of running two electric buses in the city is very exciting indeed. We call on members of the public who might be interested to get in touch and help us improve air quality in Brighton and Hove.”
The money has been raised by selling two-year bonds of £100 each to members of the local community at an interest rate of 6% per year. According to Mr Druitt, the buses have saved 900 tonnes of CO2 emissions since 2007 as the buses run on cooking oil, instead of fuel. Ryan Wrotny, a Big Lemon bus river said “I’m really looking forward to driving electric buses on our routes in Brighton and Hove. It’ll be an exciting development for us and help us offer a better service to our passengers. I’ve been with the company nearly eight years and seen a lot of developments but this is the best one yet.” Brighton and Hove’s environmental health manager Annie Sparks said “we’ve been working closely with bus operators in the city to encourage them to invest in cleaner technology and they have responded positively, which is helping to improve air quality as well as attracting external funding.”
Holly Martin
feature image from here