Arriva invests £40m to upgrade national fleet

Arriva UK Bus has announced an investment programme worth in excess of £40million to facilitate a major upgrade of its core fleet during 2014.

Supporting the business’ on-going commitment to cut emissions and reduce its environmental impact through its eco-driving programme, Arriva has partnered with two of the UK’s leading bus manufacturers to implement the strategic introduction of more than 200 new carbon efficient vehicles throughout the next 12 months.

Arriva has placed orders with leading vehicle manufacturers, Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) and Wrightbus, for a bolstered fleet of single deck, double deck and midi vehicles, with the aim of further enhancing its already exemplary green credentials.

Mark Yexley, Operations and Commercial Director for Arriva UK Bus said: “This announcement takes our investment in fleet renewal in the UK to more than £430 million since 2008. This investment in cleaner, greener vehicles allows us to deliver even more environmentally friendly journeys to communities across England and Wales.

“The introduction of these new buses more than doubles the number of new low-carbon vehicles distributed throughout our UK regional businesses since the start of 2013 and clearly highlights our commitment to tackling the environmental challenges we face as a transport provider in the 21st century.”

The Wrightbus Micro Hybrid StreetLite vehicles, which account for 97 of the 231 new vehicles, are independently proven best-in-class for fuel efficiency, offering an approximate 10 per cent improvement on a typical city bus drive cycle. The vehicles also have Low Carbon Emission Bus Certification meaning they are eligible for an additional fuel support of 6p per km.

The ADL Enviro400 double deck and Enviro200 midi buses, which will account for over 60% of the new investment are Britain’s two best-selling buses and have already performed well where previously introduced by Arriva, thanks to their excellent low-weight, robust designs and powerful, economic six-cylinder Cummins EEV engines which deliver reliable low carbon emissions.

These attributes will be supplemented further in the Enviro200 vehicles, thanks to the introduction of a revolutionary new automated manual transmission (AMT) which reduces fuel consumption and emissions by around 13%, ensuring a performance on par with hybrids. The system also has Low Carbon Emission Bus Certification.

Colin Robertson, Chief Executive of ADL, commented: “Arriva has again demonstrated its commitment to next-generation, greener and cleaner buses and we are delighted to be supporting them with our market-leading midi bus and double deck products. Winning the lion’s share of these new orders represents a further endorsement of our pace-setting, low emission vehicles.

“In addition, multi-million investment of this nature provides a huge boost to the UK bus manufacturing sector in general, supporting production programmes and jobs across the country, as well as in our extensive supplier network.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Mark Nodder, Group Managing Director at Wrightbus, who added: “Once again we are delighted to be favoured with this important order from Arriva, a leading European transport operator with whom we have a long-standing and fruitful partnership. Arriva's endorsement of the many Wrightbus vehicles operating in its fleet, together with a positive evaluation of our new pace-setting StreetLite Micro Hybrid bus, has culminated in this substantial new business which will benefit our Ballymena workforce as well as our network of suppliers.”

To meet customer demand, all of the new vehicles will be fitted with free WiFi as standard, as well as the installation of CCTV monitoring for added security throughout. 104 of the new vehicles will form part of Arriva’s premium ‘Sapphire’ fleet, which currently offers a luxury transport solution on a select number of routes across the UK.

The following vehicle numbers will be introduced across Arriva’s UK operations during the next 12 months:

• 94 ADL Enviro400 double deckers
• 40 ADL Enviro200 midi buses
• 70 StreetLite Micro Hybrid single deckers
• 27 StreetLite Micro Hybrid midi buses
• 5 Optare Versas for the Yorkshire Tiger service

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For more information please call Eve Parkin on 0121 265 7070 or email eve@htpr.com.