Blackpool Borough Council have approved a £16.2m loan to its arms-length municipal – Blackpool Transport – to buy 72 brand new buses.
The funding is the second part of the company’s five-year plan and brings to fruition its intention to have no bus older than five years by 2020.
This ambitious plan has already seen £7.7m invested, with 54 vehicles in the fleet now using the new Palladium brand.
The 2017 delivery of buses will include two wheelchair spaces, group seating, three tables, two TFT screens and on-board infotainment – a combination that is a first for Blackpool.
It continues its unique relationship with Alexander Dennis, and the first batch of 20 new Enviro 400 double-deckers are due for delivery in October 2017.
Jane Cole, Managing Director at Blackpool Transport said: “We aim to remain at the cutting edge of technology by providing buses that are the very best in class.
“We’ve implemented a model whereby we’ll be renewing our vehicles once they reach five-years old so we can continuously offer customers the best possible experience.
“The Shareholder has fully backed our plans throughout and brought this unique relationship between Blackpool Borough Council, our stakeholders and ourselves to life.
“Blackpool is going from strength to strength with its residents and 13 million annual visitors expecting to have a transport network to match”.
Councillor Christine Wright, Chair of BTSL said “Blackpool will see mainline trains arriving in the resort from May 2018 and we have plans to extend the world famous tramway to Blackpool North railway station by 2019. The resort is placing itself amongst the most attractive visitor destinations in the UK.”
