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High-spec interior bus design revealed for Manchester

Posted: 10 December 2015 | Katie Sadler, Digital Content Producer, Intelligent Transport | 2 comments

First Manchester has revealed a new interior double-deck bus design to be introduced on the Leigh-Salford-Manchester premium Busway. Twenty new double-deck buses featuring a high-specification interior will be introduced on the Salford-Manchester premium Busway next year. The new interiors have been developed following feedback from over 1,000 people who had their say via an online […]

High-spec interior bus design revealed for Manchester

First Manchester has revealed a new interior double-deck bus design to be introduced on the Leigh-Salford-Manchester premium Busway.

High-spec interior bus design revealed for Manchester

Twenty new double-deck buses featuring a high-specification interior will be introduced on the Salford-Manchester premium Busway next year. The new interiors have been developed following feedback from over 1,000 people who had their say via an online survey, community meetings, public events and on-street surveys in Tyldesley, Atherton, Leigh and Salford.

According to operator First, twenty accessible buses will be fitted with luxury interiors and e-leather seating and feature interior and exterior CCTV and free Wi-Fi. Customers will also benefit from on-board “next stop” audio and visual announcements and USB charging points as well as coach-back seating and table areas on the upper floor.

20 Vehicles will be fitted with the new bus design interior

The new buses will operate in a 14-mile route linking Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley and Salford to Manchester city centre and through to the universities, Central Manchester Hospital site and businesses along Oxford Road. The Busway will allow services to run free from congestion on a 4.5 mile guided section linking Leigh and Ellenbrook.

High-spec interior bus design revealed for Manchester

Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said: “I am delighted residents who may be future bus passengers can see we are moving ever closer to services starting on the busway.  We promised a fast, frequent, premium service as a result of our investment in the bus priority package and we are delivering on that commitment with First.”

The first vehicles are expected to be delivered in January for full guideway and route testing as well as driver and route familiarisation before the Busway is fully open.

Commenting on the announcement, Ian Humphreys, Head of Commercial for First Manchester said: “We’re delighted to be able to unveil these stunning images in advance of the delivery of these new vehicles next year. I’d like to thank members of the local communities, our customers and our partners at TfGM who together have helped to help shape the future of bus services. The Busway will bring faster and more reliable links for customers and we’re very excited to be part of such an important, premium service in Greater Manchester.”

Further information about the Busway and the wider bus priority package can be found here.

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2 responses to “High-spec interior bus design revealed for Manchester”

  1. Anne Gareth says:

    This is disgusting. First has drastically cut bus services to the poorest areas of North Manchester all the while setting this up to serve the rich. You should be ashamed.

  2. Paul Green says:

    I think you ignored a key part of the article Anne. It may well coincide with reduced services to North Manchester, but I can’t comment on that, but as it points out in the article these changes have come about following consumer feedback, and whilst there will always be people who don’t agree with change the operator can only make changes based on that information. If there are thousands of people that disagree with what had been put forward then it can only be down to the fact that they didn’t provide feedback themselves to bring about a different sort of change.

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