Optare has announced a £23m refinance with Barclays. The deal was arranged by Miles Rothbury, Global Corporates Director for Barclays Corporate Banking in Manchester. Part of Ashok Leyland, Optare employs over 200 people and has a turnover in excess of £70m. CFO, Optare Plc, Ramesh Narasimhan, said, ‘Since Optare was acquired by Ashok Leyland we […]
Arriva has strengthened its position as the largest international passenger transport operator in central and eastern Europe following the acquisition of Abellio’s operations in the Czech Republic for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees the company acquire intercity and city bus services operator, Probo Bus, and PT Real, an asset management and engineering company. The […]
The American bus and coach specialist, ABC Companies, has begun working in partnership with ADL, according to US magazine, BUSRide. It was announced during the American dealer’s Xtreme Event that the agreement will see it assemble the Enviro500 and the 40, 45 and 60foot Enviro400. Assembly is due to take place in its Nappanee facilities […]
Wokingham based Courtney Buses has celebrated its 40th anniversary. The company has been promoting to local media the fact it has reached the milestone year and has advertised the fact with new graphics on the sides of its 37 strong fleet. The company was the runner up in the Top Independent Operator of the Year […]
Minister for Transport and Veterans, Keith Brown MSP, has launched the first free running, fully electric bus to be used for a local bus service in Scotland. The service links the ferry ports at Cairnryan to the railway station in Stranraer. It is being operated six days a week with a 27-seat battery powered Optare […]
An article on the front page of the Birmingham Mail reported what it described as ‘shocking’ figures for the amount of fines issued to motorists for driving in bus lanes in Birmingham city centre. It was revealed that in 52 days, there were 11,038 fines issued to drivers, meaning on average 222 motorists a day […]
First Aberdeen surprised Cove Bay Kindergarten children earlier this month by turning up with one of its buses to allow them to pretend to be bus drivers. Staff at the kindergarten wrote to First Aberdeen explaining that the children love seeing buses drive past and always wave to the driver and customers. They were treated […]
The International Transport Forum at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental group for the transport sector with 54 member countries, is calling for applications for a new award. The ‘Promising Transport Innovation Award’ is to recognise innovations that have a potential to significantly improve the transport industry. The innovation can be […]