A follow-up and conclusive report on the attitude towards hydrogen fuel cell buses in the CUTE project—From passengers in Stockholm to bus operators in Europe

This paper concerns the attitude towards the fuel cell bus and the hydrogen technology used in the CUTE project, represented by two passenger surveys performed in Stockholm, a survey performed among drivers in four cities and final statements as well as recommendations for future projects by project partners.Main results are:
• The passengers’ willingness to pay for having more fuel cell buses in public transport was still low after one year of operation.
• Concern about safety is not an issue among passengers or drivers.
• The acceleration was rated as inferior to that of regular buses by 50% of the drivers; this differs from earlier findings in Stockholm.
• The operators were pleased with the reliability of the buses and the trust in the new technology grew stronger during the project period. Main problems were lack of spare parts and insufficient information sharing due to confidentiality.