21st century fleet

Aberdeen-based transport company FirstGroup has struck a deal with Falkirk based bus company Alexander Dennis (ADL) and Wrightbus of Northern Ireland to build a new fleet of state of the art buses.

The deal is worth a total of ÂŁ70m. The majority of this will be built by ADL.

The order will underpin existing jobs in Falkirk where Unite has almost 700 members out of a total workforce of 1000. Unite, Britain’s biggest union, also has 600 members at the Wrightbus plant in Northern Ireland.

The buses – which will serve routes in Sheffield, Doncaster, Bristol and Cornwall – will be fitted with Wi-Fi and USB charging points in order to charge phones and tablets while on the move.

Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “Unite welcomes today’s announcement that Alexander Dennis will build a new fleet of buses for FirstGroup.

Good news

“This deal is good news for jobs and good news for Scottish manufacturing.

“The new fleet will bring together quality workmanship with modern technology. This deal will make bus travel an attractive alternative for customers while safeguarding jobs in Scottish manufacturing.

“The Falkirk based company has shown yet again that it can produce quality transport vehicles which are capable of incorporating state of the art technology.

“Affordable, clean and modern public transport should be the mode of choice for the travelling public especially around our cities and by making them technology enabled they are also meeting the needs of passengers.”