Manchester orders 55 electric buses from Wrightbus
It remains unclear which model the 55 newly ordered buses belong to. However, during Mayor Andy Burnham’s visit, he inspected the production of an earlier order of 76 battery-electric double-decker StreetDeck Electroliners. These are set to enter service as early as April.
Once the latest and previous orders are fulfilled, Greater Manchester will have a total of 293 buses from Wrightbus, all of which will be deployed within the so-called ‘Bee Network’. This large-scale project, launched in 2023, aims to integrate buses, trams, cycling, and eventually rail into a connected transport system for Greater Manchester. The region is targeting a fully zero-emission bus fleet by 2030.
During his visit to Wrightbus’s headquarters in Ballymena, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, stated: “Through local control of the Bee Network, we’re proving that when you invest properly in public transport, you don’t just transform how people get around, you drive real economic growth.”
Burnham added that the recent order of 55 new Wrightbus vehicles is “is part of our commitment to buy from UK-based manufacturers wherever we can to support and protect jobs, and strengthen our homegrown industries.”
John McLeister, Sales Director for Wrightbus in the UK and Ireland, said: “We were delighted to welcome Mayor Andy Burnham and show him around the factory here in Ballymena. Orders like this aren’t just about creating jobs in Northern Ireland, this is about the ripple effect they can have across the whole UK supply chain, strengthening businesses like McKenna Brothers from Middleton in Manchester, who supply the blinds and screens for our buses.”
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