FirstGroup to invest £77.7m in new buses; hails low emission engines
Shares in transport operator FirstGroup rose on Friday after the company said that it is spending £77.7m on 385 new vehicles.
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“First Bus’ order underlines its commitment to provide high quality bus services for its customers and stakeholder partners and reflects increasing passenger and revenue growth across its operations,” said FirstGroup. “It brings the company’s investment to nearly £385m over five years, enabling the replacement of some 2,200 vehicles, around a third of its fleet.”
Of the vehicle order, 355 will be low-emission buses fitted with Euro 6 engines, making it the biggest investment (£73m) in Euro 6 buses in the UK to date. With the majority of its businesses across the UK set to benefit from the introduction of Euro 6 buses, there will be a positive impact on air quality in town and city centres, FirstGroup said.
Some 99% of the 385 vehicles in the First Bus order are Department for Transport ‘low carbon certified’, making them among the most fuel efficient buses on the market. Adding these to the 273 low carbon certified Wrightbus StreetLites purchased in 2014, First Bus will shortly be saving an estimated 9,500 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The company said that the order represents a big boost to British manufacturing, supporting hundreds of UK jobs. Ballymena based Wrightbus will manufacture 248 vehicles, while Falkirk’s ADL has secured an order for 117 vehicles, and Volvo has won a contract to build 20 double decker chassis in Sweden, with the bodies manufactured by Wrightbus.