First Bus, a division of the Aberdeen-based First Group transport company, has signed a £70 million contract with Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL) of Falkirk and Wrightbus of Ballymena in Northern Ireland for a fleet of ‘state of the art’ buses to be used in Sheffield, Doncaster, Bristol and Cornwall.
ADL, which counts Stagecoach co-founders Brian Souter and Ann Gloag plus Edinburgh-based merchant banker Sir Angus Grossart among its shareholders, will build 204 of the buses, while WrightBus will build 91. The buses will be fitted with free Wi-Fi and USB charging points. Meanwhile, First Group has also awarded ADL a contract to manufacture the bodies for 10 coaches (the chassis are being built by Volvo in Sweden).
Colin Robertson, chief executive of ADL, said: “Establishing ourselves as the principal bus supplier is a great accolade, and a tribute to our product quality and reliability. This order will play a significant part in underpinning jobs at our manufacturing facilities in central Scotland, Yorkshire and Surrey, where we employ 2,000 team members.” He said that the building of the 204 bus bodies will be “fairly evenly split” between Falkirk and Scarborough, with the company’s Guildford plant working on chassis manufacture.
Wrightbus, which employs around 1,900 people in Ballymena, will now have 3,500 vehicles run by First Group across Britain. Sales managing director Ian Downie said: “We are delighted to have received this significant order from one of our longest-standing customers.” The companies have been doing business for more than 25 years.
First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley (pictured) said: “We are proud to continue supporting British bus manufacturers. They continue to lead the world in quality, innovation, fuel efficiency and value for money. I’m pleased that we’ve again invested heavily in our fleet. We are determined to make the bus a more compelling proposition, attract more customers and grow our business.”