Wrightbus Electroliners for City Sightseeing Glasgow Open-Top Tour

One of the greenest tours in the world will soon be offered by City Sightseeing Glasgow, which has announced it will introduce a full fleet of brand-new electric Wrightbus Electroliner open-top buses.

Wrightbus

The city's major attractions, including Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Green, Clydeside Distillery, Riverside Museum, Glasgow University, The Hunterian, and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, are served by the open-top tour, which utilises famous red buses.

The Glasgow tour operator is a subsidiary of City Sightseeing Worldwide, a global company that offers open-top tours in just under 100 cities worldwide, including Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Berlin, New York, Dubai, and Johannesburg.

Investment in the vehicles totals £4,500,000, including funding from the Scottish Zero Emission Bus (ScotZEB) Challenge Fund.

Sharon Morrison, Communications Director at City Sightseeing Glasgow, said:

“We are excited to be introducing a full electric fleet to our open top tour in Glasgow. It’s great for the city’s green credentials and reinforces our commitment to meeting Scotland’s climate change goals.

“Whilst we already offer one of the most sustainable ways for visitors to enjoy the best of Glasgow, the move to full electric means we can showcase our city’s wealth of cultural heritage, and of-course its dear green spaces, with zero environmental impact on our city, its residents and visitors.

“As well as the environmental benefits of operating an electric fleet, the buses will offer an improved customer experience, with a much smoother and quieter journey for those enjoying Glasgow’s story.”

Glasgow Life Chief Executive, Susan Deighan, said:

“This investment in a fleet of electric City Sightseeing Glasgow buses is a great example of how our tourism industry partners are driving forward climate-change action.

“Boosting their green credentials will help Glasgow further enhance its reputation as a leading international destination for responsible tourism and achieve its aims of becoming one of Europe’s most sustainable cities.

“Promoting the sustainability of the visitor experience Glasgow offers not only supports tourism, it also greatly benefits the people of our city, our economy, and of course our environment.”

Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, said:

“Today’s announcement from City Sightseeing Glasgow is great news for Glasgow and means visitors can enjoy exploring the city of Glasgow in sustainable and environment friendly manner.

“We are committed to becoming a world leader in 21st century tourism and have set world-leading climate targets which include a 75 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2045. By working together, we can help Scotland become a world-class destination, and the best destination for responsible, sustainable tourism.”

Tom Greenshields, Head of Business Development at Wrightbus, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be supporting the city of Glasgow’s sustainability mission with our StreetDeck Electroliner Open Top buses. This 10-bus order will be one of the first City Sightseeing fleet in the world to be fully electric, which demonstrates Glasgow’s commitment to helping to reduce emissions.

“We feel proud to be working alongside City Sightseeing Glasgow and West Coast Motors, who operate the city’s Sightseeing buses, as their objectives very clearly align with ours to help play a part in the UK’s decarbonisation ambitions.”

Enrique Ybarra, Founder of City Sightseeing Worldwide, added:

“Sustainability is a goal that the entire tourism industry shares and City Sightseeing Worldwide is delighted City Sightseeing Glasgow, through this pioneering development, has become one of the benchmarks for the entire sightseeing tour sector. We will continue to work with the same awareness to extend this example to the rest of our global network.”

The electric vehicles are expected to be introduced to the tour in July 2023.