01 Jun 2005
New order gives the original tour the first new open top buses in London
London's premier open top bus sightseeing company The OriginalTour, part of Arriva plc, is about to take delivery of the first ina series of ten new Tourist Buses from Ayats.
The buses have Bravo 1 City coachwork based on a Volvo B7L 1482chassis and are 10.8m long and 2.5m wide.
The move gives The Original Tour the first all-new open topsightseeing buses in London and the only buses with wheelchairaccess.
The launch of the ten new £160,000 specially designed opentop tour buses follows a record year for The Original Tour in 2004,which saw a 9 per cent growth in passenger numbers. Figures for2005 are already exceeding overall industry predictions from UKInbound with web bookings up by over 30% in the first quarter of2005.
Sales have been boosted by the increasing number of agencies andLondon tour operators adding a link from their own web sites to TheOriginal Tour's newly re-designed bookable site. The investment innew buses follows major capital expenditure earlier in the year bythe company, part of Arriva plc, in preparation for these newvehicles including updating its head office, garages and centralLondon base and the outright purchase of their 45 bus freehold sitein Rainham.
It also means that The Original Tour, which is also the Londonoperator of the City-Sightseeing brand, is leading the way in thedrive to upgrade the capital's overall tourism offering for thefuture. It brings London up to the standard of many other Europeancapitals, which boast new sightseeing bus fleets, and backs TourismMinister Richard Caborn's calls for UK tourism businesses to becomparable with international competitors.
Key interior features of the new fleet include a manual disableaccess ramp and guides for disabled wheel chairs, plus airconditioning and heating for the driver, a courier seat, lower deckextraction fans, a blind at the top of the stairs the can be closedin case of rain, and a 'Hanover' destination display, complyingwith UK DDA regulations. With 51 seats upstairs and 24 seats on thelower deck the new buses will mean that London's 'The OriginalTour' will have a sightseeing fleet as good as any in theworld.
Commercial director for The Original Tour, Colin Atkins,said:
This is a major investment for us, and for tourism inLondon. The new fleet makes us the only open top bus tour in thecapital to grow our fleet using brand new purpose built vehicles.We intend to order even more new buses in the nearfuture.
The move was welcomed by Stephen Dowd, chief executive ofUKinbound, the organisation representing the UK travel industry. Hesaid:
UKinbound members are committed to delivering qualityservices and products for all our visitors and we are delightedthat The Original Tour, one of our key Senior Partners, is soclearly demonstrating this
Added Colin Atkins:
Our capital city is looking better than ever and we arededicated to ensuring that London has the best possible sightseeingservice
The introduction of the new fleet was also praised by DavidHornby, commercial director of Visit London who said:
This is fantastic news for visitors to London, andhelps to provide the capital with even more top classfacilities.
Notes to Editors
Founded in 1951 at the time of The Festival of Britain TheOriginal Tour is now the largest single sightseeing operator in theworld. The hop-on hop-off service allows customers to board any ofits tour routes at over 90 different stops. Services operate dailywith a 'live' commentary in English or a wide choice of languages.A free river cruise is included with every ticket and the Kids'Club provides an educational but fun alternative for 5-12 yearolds.
Other technical specifications include:
STRUCTURE
- The entire structure is treated on the profile interior withprojected polyurethane/dinitrol, providing sound proofing andeliminating outbreaks of rust.
EXTERIOR CLADDING
- Front and rear are 3mm polyester sheet reinforced with metalarmature.
INTERIOR CLADDING
- Thermal and sound installation on ceiling and sides.
- Granite silver/grey non-slip flooring
- Two interior storage units, one for guide.
- Lower deck extraction fans.
DOORS
- Double front door with pneumatic action, opening inwards.
- Emergency manual rear door.
DRIVING SEAT
- Driver's seat ISRI 6500/517
- Protective screen behind driver.
LIGHTING
- Diffuse interior lighting using 640 mm lights.
- Upper deck lighting at base of seats.
- Driver's area illuminated by halogen light.