News > The Cleanest and Greenest Buses In Staffordshire

Published 19 October 2011

“Three Volvo B5RLH Hybrids with Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 body work entered service on 17th October on our premier route X1 between Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford Beaconside.

The route was started in 2004 at the request of Staffordshire University and, over time, has developed into a partnership including London Midland Trains as a rail replacement service. Initially, the service operated with midi buses and, over the last 2 years, has grown into full single deck vehicles and many times last year was “bursting at the seams”. Three double deckers have been introduced for this year.

When we considered the type of double deckers to run on the route, the Hybrids were being developed and, having assessed the market between ADL and Volvo, we chose the Volvo option as the most appropriate for this route. Green Bus Funding was, of course, available for the 3 vehicles and it was applied for almost 12 months ago as it was considered that it would be economically viable to run Hybrids as opposed to ordinary diesel double deckers.

We have found the route extremely popular, not only with students but also with locals who rely on this service, and to offer increased capacity now will encourage even more people to use the service."