Vehicles are a component of a partnership agreement between Centro and National Express West Midlands, which will also see priority measures put in place in the future
A fleet of 33 new buses is being rolled out as part of a ground breaking deal between National Express Coventry and transport authority Centro.
The new £6.4m fleet of 23 Wright-bodied Volvo B7RLE singledeckers and 10 ADL Enviro400s are part of the wider £80m Partnership Plus deal signed in June by the two organisations which aims to bring a raft of improvements for the region’s services over the next two years.
The new Volvos are being deployed on the 9/9A Green Lane/Finham service, while the ADLs are going into service on the 8/8A route between the city and University Hospital at Walsgrave.
Centro chairman Cllr John McNicholas said: “These new vehicles, along with commitments in Partnership Plus, will continue to improve the bus network and the travel experience for the passenger.”
Peter Power, MD of National Express Coventry, said: “These new vehicles are equipped with the latest technology including greener low emission engines and state of the art CCTV.
“The new vehicles are a big investment into Coventry’s bus network and we hope our customers will be as proud of them as we are.”
The Partnership Plus deal will see £65m of investment in the bus network by National Express and £16m by Centro.
Across the region, the partnership aims to deliver:
- 300 new buses including 15 hybrids;
- 10 new ‘gold bus corridors’, with new buses, real time information and increased bus priority;
- 350 new bus shelters;
- the Swift smartcard;
- expansion of the successful onbus cleaning scheme;
- more bus priority measures; and
- more ‘talking buses’ featuring audio visual equipment
James White, Campaigns Managers at Guide Dogs, told CBW: “Blind and partially sighted passengers will be delighted by this news. Talking buses are a great way to make buses more accessible, and we hope many more of the Partnership Plus buses will be similarly equipped.”
