Based in Rothbury, Spirit Buses provided daily scheduled bus services between Upper Coquetdale and Alnwick, Northumberland. A regular entrant to Bus and Coach Buyer’s Photo Friday, it was founded in 2013 by Director Steve Hurst. The company’s services are to pass over to PCL Travel, trading as Rural Link. The operator had a special destination […]
Suppliers of products and services are an essential part of our business and over 200 of them took space at Euro Bus Expo displaying their latest innovations or just catching up with customers. Although it wasn’t possible for the Bus and Coach Buyer team to talk to everyone, we discovered much of interest that was […]
At the last Euro Bus Expo in 2014, the talk was all about possible replacements for the discontinued Mercedes-Benz Vario in the 33 seat category. A number of solutions were presented, mostly based on members of the Mercedes-Benz Atego chassis family plus a few other contenders. It was interesting to note which have come through […]
This article concentrates on the large vehicles at the show and their manufacturers and suppliers and for reasons of space may gloss over the details of models that have been extensively covered in pre-show issues. My colleague, Rob Orchard, was also there and has compiled the second part of our report covering the smaller vehicles […]
In an update on its performance over the past 12 months, Rotala reports it has made ‘good progress’ during the year. It says the longer term trading outlook remains in line with market expectations. Growth has been achieved this year predominantly through acquisition, with the company making three acquisitions during the year. Two of these, […]
Former MD of Volvo Bus in the UK, Michael Ball, has passed away following a period of illness. A statement from Volvo said, ‘A much liked and respected figure, not only in the Volvo organisation but throughout the bus industry around the world, he will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him. The company […]
Full houses with plenty standing on the outside were the order of the day in the Master Class Theatre at Euro Bus Expo, particularly on the final day where the Minister with responsibility for buses, Andrew Jones MP, addressed the audience on the Bus Services Bill currently going through Parliament. He reiterated his view that […]
Wrights Group has exchanged contracts for the purchase of a major manufacturing facility in Lisnafillan, near its existing Ballymena facility. The 100 acre site, which is currently owned by JTI (Japan Tobacco International), is set to become available in mid-2017 as JTI restructures its manufacturing operations in Europe. The transaction, details of which will remain […]