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| PRESS RELEASE (15 January 2009) |
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| £6 Million Investment in New Buses |
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Customers who travel on trentbarton routes are to benefit from an investment of £6 million in new buses this year despite the economic downturn.
The 43 new buses will be rolled out on to five routes in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Commercial director Ian Morgan said: “Like most businesses we expect to be hit by aspects of the recession, but it would be short sighted not to continue the policy of investing in our fleet that has served us so well over more than 20 years.
“Passengers want clean, modern buses in which to travel for work and leisure. We have one of the youngest fleets in Britain, and that position will be strengthened as this multi-million pound investment shows.”
The routes that will get new buses:
> The Mickleover which will have the most comfortable new buses in Derby from March at a cost of £1.2 million;
> The 15 service between Ilkeston, Long Eaton and Sawley which will have a new fleet of larger buses after £930,000 is invested;
> The nines route between Sutton-in-Ashfield to Alfreton and Derby which will receive an investment of £1.3 million in 13 new buses in May;
> Ten new buses costing £1.6 million will appear on the rainbow 2 service between Ilkeston and Nottingham in July;
> The Calverton Connection service to Nottingham will get new buses in August at a cost of £960,000.
All the new buses are environmentally state-of-the-art in terms of low emissions. As standard, they have double-glazing, and are wheelchair and buggy friendly – and most have air conditioning.
All buses will come with leather seats and trentbarton’s designer interior, creating an environment that would normally be associated with a high street coffee shop.
With a total fleet size of just over 250 buses, the £6 million investment will represent a turnover in the trentbarton fleet of almost a fifth.
trentbarton has pursued a policy of continuously upgrading its fleet since a management buy-out in 1987. The company is still owned by its current and retired employees.
Ian Morgan said: “Our first big investment in new buses was in 1988. That was £1 million and at the time some of our buses were nearly 25 years old. It was a major decision as it was a lot of money for the new company. Over the years, we have pursued this investment strategy, and now we have one of the most modern, fully low floor bus fleets in the UK – years ahead of government targets for low floor accessibility.”
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