Rotala has placed an order with Wrightbus for 163 vehicles worth over £29m. They will be delivered throughout 2020.
128 of the additions will be StreetDeck double-deckers for Rotala’s Diamond Bus North West (DBNW) subsidiary. The remainder will be StreetLite single-deckers. They will go to both DBNW and Rotala’s operations in the Midlands, Preston and at Heathrow Airport.
All of the buses will have the third generation of Wrightbus’ Micro Hybrid system, which recaptures kinetic energy via the alternator. They will also come with synthetic leather upholstery, USB charging points and CCTV monitoring
DBNW Managing Director Bob Dunn says the new vehicles for Greater Manchester will help to improve reliability.
The new Wrightbus StreetDecks for DBNW that are part of the Rotala order are to be used on trunk routes.
They will join 16 StreetDecks already in its fleet. The forthcoming buses will allow the return to First of all 125 of the vehicles that were leased by when it purchased First’s Bolton operation for £5.3m in 2019.
Adds Mr Dunn: “The latest order is an important part of our strategy to encourage even more people to take the bus.
“Our network covers a number of communities that are dependent on our services. We hope that this news shows our intent to deliver the right services for those customers.”
