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First Bus Passengers in the Midlands to Benefit from Groundbreaking Fuel Efficient Bus

Nov. 11, 2014

First Midlands becomes first company in FirstGroup bus division to purchase and operate vehicle with Euro 6 engine.

Nigel Eggleton, left, managing director of First Midlands, at the official handover of the new Wrightbus StreetLite Max featuring a Daimler Euro 6 engine with Ian Downie, sales and customcare managing director for Wrightbus.

Bus passengers travelling between Hanley and Blythe Bridge in the Midlands will have the opportunity to travel on board one of the most fuel efficient buses of its type in the world early in 2015.

Managing director of First Midlands, Nigel Eggleton, was in Birmingham recently at the Euro Bus Expo trade show, where he officially took delivery of a 'Streetlite Max’ bus, which is manufactured by Ballymena based Wrightbus. The new vehicle is fitted with a Daimler Euro 6 engine, the latest design in fuel efficient engineering technology. It's the first bus across FirstGroup's entire 6,400 fleet to feature a Euro 6 engine.

The new bus comes fitted with leather seats, CCTV and a modern interior design as standard and is earmarked for running services on First Midlands’ Raspberry Route between Hanley and Blythe Bridge. When it enters service early in 2015 it will be one of the most fuel efficient buses in the Midlands.

“I'm delighted that First Midlands will be the first company within FirstGroup’s bus division to take delivery of a vehicle fitted with a Euro 6 engine,” said Nigel Eggleton.

"We are committed to improving our services and attracting more people on to our buses. Investing in brand new, state of the art vehicles is central to that strategy. Indeed across the Midlands we’ve invested around £3m in 18 new buses this year, all featuring leather seats, CCTV and modern interiors – they’ve been very well received by customers.”

Ian Downie, Sales & Customcare Managing Director for Wrightbus added: "Our previous Euro 5 version of the Streetlite Max has proved to be very successful for First Bus in the Midlands since it was introduced. It is particularly exciting to now be handing over this latest Euro 6 vehicle featuring the Daimler engine with the second generation of our innovative Micro Hybrid technology and we’re confident it will offer even higher fuel efficiency for First Bus.”