Ireland orders 120 Wrightbus double-deck electric buses; up to 800 over five years

Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA) has ordered 120 double-deck battery-electric buses from Bamford Bus Company (trading as Wrightbus). These 120 buses are part of a framework agreement which provides for the procurement of up to 800 zero-emission battery-electric buses over a period of five years.

The buses—Streetdeck Electroliner BEVs—will be manufactured and assembled at the Wrightbus facility in Galgorm, on the outskirts of Ballymena in Northern Ireland.

The framework agreement now in place between the NTA and Wrightbus has the potential to be the single biggest bus procurement in the history of the State. These will be the first battery-electric double-deck buses to be added to the national bus fleet in Ireland.

This deal is a major component of the overall strategy to decarbonize the country’s PSO public transport fleet.

This initial order for 120 buses represents an investment of some €80.4 million.

Of the 120 buses currently on order, 100 are destined for use by Dublin Bus on PSO bus services within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and 20 are destined for use by Bus Éireann for use in the Limerick Metropolitan Area. Buses from future orders may also be used to operate PSO bus services in other parts of Ireland, including the metropolitan areas of Cork, Galway and Waterford.

Commissioning and training activities will get under way later this year, as will work on installing the necessary charging infrastructure. The first buses are expected to enter passenger service in 2023.

The buses will be outshopped in the green, white and yellow Transport For Ireland (TFI) livery which is in the course of being applied to all buses and coaches in the PSO fleet.