Bus builder wins £125m contract

The company is to build about 1,000 buses

A Northern Ireland bus-builder has landed a £125m order with the UK bus operator FirstGroup.

Wrightbus, based in Ballymena, County Antrim, said the order - understood to be for about 1,000 buses - is the largest in its history.

FirstGroup currently operates a fleet of almost 9,000 buses in the UK carrying 3,000,000 passengers a day in more than 40 towns and cities.

Wrightbus said it faced stiff competition to win the order.

Among the vehicles to be supplied over the next few years are a handful of innovative buses which use a combination of diesel and electric power to minimise pollution.

Mark Nodder, managing director of the Wright Group, said it showed their commitment to investing in programmes "geared to encouraging the public to switch from cars to public transport".

Although the bulk of the order will be built on Volvo chassis, it also includes nine new Wrightbus double-decker buses - five of which are the diesel-electric hybrids which were a component part of the order.