Wrightbus vehicles on Irish roads after major deal for 88 StreetLites
CO Antrim bus manufacturer Wrightbus has sold nearly 90 of its single deck buses to Transport for Ireland over the last 12 months in deals thought to be worth tens of millions of pounds, it has emerged.
The Ballymena company manufactured 88 of its StreetLite vehicles for the Republic’s public transport body and is one of its main suppliers of buses.
Transport For Ireland said it had placed orders with Wrightbus over the last 12 months and the buses are now being delivered and put into service.
Some of them are being used by Transport for Ireland under a contract with private operator Go-Ahead.
A new Irish arm of the UK transport giant last year won a tender to operate around 10% of the bus network in Dublin and will also operate some services in Kildare. Go-Ahead vehicles made by Wrightbus started on the Dublin routes on October 21.
Wrightbus has announced that a single-deck StreetLite bus, decked in Transport for Ireland livery, is on show at industry event Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham this week.
A spokesman for Transport for Ireland said the 88 buses will be used in a range of locations. “The first single deck vehicles have gone into operation under Transport for Ireland’s GoAhead contract, with a total of 40 Wrightbus single deck vehicles to be assigned to Go-Ahead operated services,” he said.
“An additional 17 single deck vehicles will commence service in operation in Waterford later this year under a tendered contract which has been awarded to Bus Eireann.
“The remainder of the vehicles will go into service with Bus Eireann in various cities and towns next year.”
The StreetLite is described as having economical fuel consumption and features other advanced technologies developed by the Ballymena manufacturer.
John McLeister, Wrights Group business development and product development direc- tor, said: “This StreetLite is part of a significant order for Transport for Ireland and it is great to see it on our stand at Euro Bus Expo before it goes into service.
“With its outstanding fuel economy rating and low emissions, alongside the use of our Micro Hybrid technology, means it is one of the most environmentally-friendly vehicles available in the UK and Ireland market today.
“We look forward to a continuation of our long and fruitful relationship with Transport for Ireland.”
Earlier this month, Wrightbus announced it had secured orders for more than 200 buses from Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong orders came days after the group company Wrights Group revealed a collapse in pre-tax profits in 2017 from £10.7m to £1.5m. The ac- counts cover five UK subsidiaries and four overseas-based entities.
The results for subsidiary Wrights Ltd were more positive. Although £181.3m turnover for 2017 was down on £214.6m in the previous 12 months, pre-tax profits held at £5m in 2017.
In June, the company announced 95 redundancies, citing low levels of demand. The accounts state its workforce stood at 1,607 in 2017, down from 1,861.