A total of 45 new vehicles are being rolled out across Leeds & Bradford after local bus operator First Bus confirmed it is investing over £10M in the West Yorkshire fleet this year.
The order by First West Yorkshire, which feature new WrightBus StreetDeck & Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double deck vehicles, underlines its commitment to deliver high quality services for its customers and partners.
All the new buses are fitted with CCTV and feature luxury e-leather seating with complementary on board Wi-Fi providing free internet access for passengers. This investment compliments the initiatives already introduced for First Bus customers including smart ticketing options and Real Time Information, while all customers can use their mobile phones as bus tickets through the company’s m-Ticket option.
The new buses, which are manufactured by WrightBus in Northern Ireland and Alexander Dennis in Scotland are all Department for Transport ‘low carbon certified’. All the 45 new buses are fitted with the latest Euro VI engines, which produce 95% less oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions compared to buses with Euro V engines and as a result will help improve air quality across the region and help meet the shared vision of our local authority partners in cutting carbon emissions and air pollution.
The first twelve new buses are now being introduced on the Old Farnley - Leeds - Fearnville 42 service with twenty-five new buses being introduced on the Leeds - Bradford corridor by the end of the this month. The remaining new buses will be introduced on the Leeds - Otley corridor later this year.
Paul Matthews, managing director of First West Yorkshire said the order will help encourage more customers across the region to use the bus, “This is great news for our customers with an investment of over £10m in state-of-the-art bus services. Ensuring that our customers travel in modern, comfortable, low emission vehicles which provide added value such as free Wi-Fi is pivotal to encouraging more people out of their cars.”
He added, “Our new buses are amongst the most eco-friendly on the market and reflect our commitment to working with our partners to reduce emissions and improve air quality for the wider environment.”
The investment in West Yorkshire forms part of an overall order by FirstGroup’s UK bus division of 305 new vehicles worth £70m for delivery in the current financial year. The order is a big boost to British manufacturing supporting hundreds of UK jobs. The First Bus order reflects its commitment to customers and stakeholder partners across the UK and brings the company’s investment in more than 2,500 new buses to £455m over six years.