The Fuel Cell Bus Club comprised the participants of three demonstration projects (CUTE, ECTOS and STEP) for fuel cell buses in nine European cities and two other worldwide cities between 2001 and 2007. The Fuel Cell Bus Club became a forum to share experiences and information between cities and researchers. Other cities such as Beijing also tested buses from the consortium behind the project. All three projects used Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses, with hydrogen fuel cells from Ballard Power Systems. When completed in 2007, all three projects were deemed a success by researchers. However, the buses were criticised by some operators for their high cost of operation compared to diesel buses, with Madrid reporting that they were around ten times as costly to fuel. Others noted the high purchase price of hydrogen buses, and the need to build dedicated hydrogen filling stations. Projects CUTE From 2001, the European Union supported research project Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) began running hydrogen fuel cell powered buses in nine European cities - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Porto, Stockholm, and Stuttgart. The project was supported by a consortium of transportation operators, hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell developers, universities and city authorities. At the end of the project in 2006, researchers deemed the project a success. A subsequent project (HYFLEET-CUTE) ran from 2006 until 2009, using the existing hydrogen fuel cell buses as well as new buses. ECTOS ECTOS stands for Ecological City Transport System. Icelandic New Energy was responsible for this project, the aim of which was to demonstrate "state-of-the-art" hydrogen technology by running part of the public transport system with fuel cell buses in the city Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. Hydrogen was produced from domestic geothermal and hydro-powered energy sources by electrolysis. The project ran from 2001-2005. STEP STEP stands for Sustainable Transport Energy for Perth. This initiative of the Government of Western Australia's Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI), was the responsibility of the public transport organisation Transperth, though it was run by contracted operator Path Transit. They were operated in the city Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The three hydrogen fuel cell buses were called "EcoBuses". The STEP project ran from 2001-2005, with the first buses in service in September 2004. The buses were withdrawn from service in 2007, with one bus subsequently preserved (albeit without the hydrogen fuel cells). The Perth trial received A$2.5 million funding