Local authorities will be able to bid to for money to help fund fleets of electric buses. A winning town will receive £50m and will be used as a model by government as it aims to ensure all buses are fully electric by 2025.

The announcement comes as part of a wider package of measures for buses: 

• £70m  towards high-frequency "Superbus" networks.
• £20m towards trials of on-demand buses, which can be ordered through an app
• £30m of funding will go to English local authorities outside of London in 2020, to help them improve or restore bus services that have been cut.

Over the last decade, council funding for buses in England has fallen by more than 40%. That figure excludes the capital, which has bucked the trend.

The transport secretary said: 

"This £170m package will help us to create communities which are cleaner, easier to get around and more environmentally friendly, speeding up journeys and making them more reliable." 

Source: BBC News