- FirstGroup order includes the most eco-friendly buses yet
- Manufacturing contract for Falkirk-based ADL
- State of the art vehicles to hit the streets this summer
A total of 113 new vehicles are to be rolled out across Scotland after bus operator First Group confirmed it is investing £21M in its fleet north of the border this year.
The new vehicles, which feature a mixture of double deckers, single deckers, and midis will all come fitted with leather seats, CCTV and Wi-Fi providing customers with free internet access during their journey. In addition to the dedicated space for wheelchair users, First will also provide extra space for pushchairs.
The investment in new vehicles will help support hundreds of Scottish jobs, with the majority to be manufactured by Falkirk-based firm ADL. Others will come from Ballymena-based Wrightbus.
They are all Department for Transport ‘low carbon certified’, making them amongst the most fuel efficient buses on the market.
First also revealed that all new vehicles for Scotland will be fitted with Euro 6 engines, a strong commitment to improving air quality across the region. Test results show that running eight Euro 6 buses produces the same amount of certain exhaust emissions, including nitrogen Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Particulate Matter (PM), as running one bus with a Euro 5 engine*. The new vehicles will have a positive impact on air quality in town and city centres.
The new buses will be split between First’s three local bus operations as follows;
- First Glasgow 75
- First Scotland East 31
- First Aberdeen 7
First said the new vehicles will enter service from this summer with details of which routes they’ll operate will be announced at a later date.
Regional Managing Director of First in Scotland, Dave Alexander, said: “Our strong level of investment in over 100 new vehicles for Scotland is great news for our customers and underlines our continuing determination to provide ever better bus services in our area and encourage more people to travel by bus. These new vehicles will be among the best and most eco-friendly in the country.
“Passengers can enjoy pleasant, more comfortable journeys and keep connected on the move with our free Wi-Fi, while we support the efforts of our local authority partners to improve air quality for all.”
Colin Robertson, Chief Executive of Alexander Dennis Limited, said: “We are delighted to have won this very significant order and to be continuing our long-established and thriving relationship with FirstGroup. This latest order is a huge endorsement of our new-generation, market-leading midi and double deck buses and a further demonstration of FirstGroup’s commitment to the green technologies of tomorrow. In addition, it should not be forgotten that orders like this support 2,000 ADL jobs in the UK and thousands more in our extensive supplier network.”
The investment in Scotland forms part of an overall order by FirstGroup’s UK bus division of 385 new vehicles worth £77.7m for delivery in the current financial year. First’s order reflects its commitment to customers and stakeholder partners across the UK and brings the company’s investment in more than 2,220 new buses to nearly £385m over five years.
The 2015/16 investment will bring First’s fleet of low carbon certified vehicles to more than 750, thought to be the largest in the UK.
The order is a big boost to British manufacturing supporting hundreds of UK jobs.
*Tests by First’s manufacturing partners Wrightbus compared emissions from buses with a Euro 6 engine against buses with a Euro 5 engine. The results showed:
- a 99% reduction in Carbon Monoxide emissions
- an 87% reduction in Oxides of Nitrogen emissions
- an 87% reduction in Particulate Matter emissions.