Optare drives forward with contract
OPTARE, the Lancashire-based bus maker with a manufacturing facility in Yorkshire, has won a £1.9m contract to repair and maintain a fleet of its own buses.
The Darwen-based business will be looking after a 66 hybrid vehicles that it agreed to supply to the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) last month.
The £13m deal was the largest single order for hybrid buses to be placed under the Government’s Green Bus Fund, which encourages low emission bus use.
GMITA secured more than £3m from the fund and £1.3m from other sources to help pay for the order.
Glenn Saint, Optare’s commercial Director said: “Optare’s position at the forefront of newly emerging ‘green’ technologies makes us a natural partner for Greater Manchester in the maintenance of these hybrid vehicles.
“Our success in winning this important contract is a measure of the level we have reached in our understanding and experience of hybrid technology and of fully integrated electrical systems.”
The GMITA fleet will be made up of Optare Solo, Solo SR, Versa and Tempo models all featuring a diesel-electric hybrid system and also Optare’s own Eco Drive system, which encourages optimal driver behaviour.
