The full rollout of the eight-seaters, which will meet ULEZ requirements, concludes in March 2019
Mellor has secured an order for 90 new Tucana II buses from Transport for London, intended for use on its Dial-a-Ride service. The new vehicles will replace older minibuses in the fleet, which currently stands at around 320 vehicles. All 90 Tucana IIs are being built to an identical specification to suit Dial-a-Ride’s needs, and will be deployed at hubs around central and suburban London.
The vehicles are fully accessible, featuring a rear door, boarding ramp and eight seats.
Forming the base for the Tucana II is the Volkswagen T6 chassis. Mellor’s low-floor design enables it to house up to four wheelchairs. Deliveries have now begun, and are expected to continue until March 2019.
James Mead, General Manager of Dial-a-Ride at TfL, said: “These new vehicles are a big boost to our efforts to clean up the capital’s toxic air. The Tucana II meets our tough new Ultra Low Emission Zone environmental standards.
“It will help us to get older and vulnerable Londoners from A to B, while protecting the health of future generations.
“This is also a great example of how London’s transport system can benefit the rest of the UK economy.
“We are proud of the fact that this order supports jobs in Rochdale and Scarborough, as well as the wider supply chain in the North of England.”
John Randerson, Managing Director for Mellor, added: “As demand for Mellor vehicles has been steadily increasing, we anticipated quite some time ago that additional manufacturing capacity would be needed so we could meet all of the requirements of existing and new customers alike.
“This exciting new business dovetails nicely with that growth strategy. Ongoing production and delivery of our existing orders will be unaffected.”
