trentbarton commits to Michelin

trentbarton has signed a new five-year deal with Michelin.

The Effitires contract will see Michelin’s Connected Solutions division supply and manage the tyres on more than 400 buses servicing routes across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire for trentbarton, as well as the Wellglade Group’s other businesses Notts + Derby, TM Travel and Kinchbus.

The new agreement will see Michelin supply the tyres direct to trentbarton, whose in-house team will handle the fitting and all replacement work. Michelin will also carry out fleet-wide inspections as part of the agreement.

All the tyres will be carefully managed through a multi-life policy with Michelin’s technicians, regrooving them once the tread depth reaches 3-4mm, helping to extend each casing’s life in its most fuel-efficient state. Once the regrooved tyres have worn, they will be retreaded at the Michelin Remix plant in Stoke.

Matt Evans, Engineering Director, trentbarton, said: “We’ve been working with Michelin for a number of years now, and I’ve been a big advocate of the product for a long-time. It is widely regarded as the best tyre on the market. The sidewall protection is second to none, which helps to keep any disruption to our services and unnecessary costs to an absolute minimum. That’s really the most important thing from an operator point of view.”

The buses will be running predominantly on products from the MICHELIN X InCity range. The business is planning to move a portion of its fleet to the new 265/70 R19.5 X InCity EV Z fitments. Designed for electric buses, the tyres also offer outstanding performance for traditional diesel vehicles, with an improved sidewall for urban usage and a wet grip design.

“Michelin products always stand the test of time and the level of service we get from the team is very good,” adds Evans. “The Michelins tend to wear evenly as well. In my experience, that can be a real issue for other manufacturers. Overall, we had no reason to look elsewhere.”