Mayor of London to open new bus manufacturing plant

The order for 600 of these new buses is set to provide 50 new jobs.

Ballymena firm Wrightbus will build 600 of the Mayor’s new bus for London vehicles – the greenest diesel hybrid buses in the world – over the next three years.

The chassis plant, in Antrim, was only created after the Mayor’s order for 600 new buses was placed.

There are currently around 40 people employed at the chassis plant and that will increase to around 90 people when full production is underway.

As well as opening the new chassis plant the Mayor will travel to the main Wrightbus factory in Ballymena to view the full production line. The Wright Group employs more than 1,400 local people and TfL’s order of new bus for London vehicles will sustain 220 jobs in the Wrightbus factory over the next three years.

The order has also resulted in the creation of 40 new jobs in the Wrightbus factory.

The fleet of new bus for London vehicles will be supported by the Wrightbus Customcare after sales service – which will also expand its workforce with 10 new jobs. The new bus for London contract will also sustain 18 apprenticeships over the life of the contract, six per year over the three year contract.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “London’s transport network is the supply line for new jobs and growth around the whole of the United Kingdom. We already support 40,000 jobs outside of the capital and we believe we can create more. The programme of transport improvements we want to see in the capital is bursting at the seams with job generation potential, and that is why protecting investment in London transport should be the Government’s top priority as they consider how best to conduct this summer’s spending review.”

London’s Transport Commissioner, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, said: “This chassis plant and the Wrightbus main plant in Ballymena are a real demonstration of the important role investment in London’s transport network plays in supporting jobs and growth throughout the UK. Sustained and long term investment is vital to our suppliers so they have the certainty to invest in jobs including apprenticeships across the country.”