Bus Ambassador

More than 500 yellow electric buses are now on Greater Manchester’s streets as the Bee Network marks a major milestone in making journeys greener, cleaner and quieter. Transport for Greater Manchester The 500th zero emissions bus, built by UK manufacturer Wrightbus, has crossed the Irish Sea by ferry, been delivered at Stagecoach’s upgraded depot in Oldham and is now serving communities.

Preserved buses from the Corporation, PTE and privatisation eras took to the road on Saturday 10th October for the 2026 Mersey Road Run, a members-only event run by the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust (NWVRT). The convoy travelled from Jackson Street garage in St Helens to Laird Street garage in Birkenhead via Liverpool city centre, just over a fortnight before the Wirral becomes the second part of the Liverpool City Region to have its buses brought under public control. Tom Harrison (Bus Ambassador) We joined the NWVRT for the day, along with local preservation groups Merseyside Transport Trust and the 201 Bus Group. The run marked the end of four decades of deregulated bus services on Merseyside and 125 years of Laird Street garage, and one brand-new bus was there to show what comes next.

Busworld Europe returns to Brussels a year from today, and the first names on the 2027 exhibitor list have already been published. Tom Harrison (Bus Ambassador)

More than 80 coaches, buses and minibuses will be on show when Euro Bus Expo returns to the NEC next month, and Bus Ambassador will be there to bring you the highlights.   Euro Bus Expo The UK’s biggest coach and bus trade show takes place in Halls 17 to 19 at the NEC Birmingham from 3rd to 5th November. More than 200 exhibitors are expected, including 31 vehicle manufacturers, dealers and converters. Organisers say it will be the world’s largest collection of UK road-ready coaches, buses and minibuses, with several UK and global debuts.

Nottingham City Transport (NCT) has taken delivery of its first electric double-deck buses, with six Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliner Gen 2.0 vehicles signed off and now at the company, ahead of entering passenger service later this year on Lilac Line 27 to Carlton. Nottingham City Transport NCT will host a launch event at Sneinton Market Square on Wednesday 14th October, from 10am until 3pm. Passengers and the local community can step aboard the buses and find out how they will change journeys on the Lilac Line.

Mellor has begun delivering 33 Strata Plus low-floor buses to replace West Yorkshire's AccessBus fleet, as part of a £6.5m programme run by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA). Mellor Bus The order was awarded earlier this year, and Mellor says the ultra-low emission vehicles will be introduced progressively across the region. WYCA said the buses being replaced were between 11 and 18 years old when the programme was announced.

West Yorkshire's new Weaver Network buses are taking shape at the Wrightbus factory in Northern Ireland, with Mayor Tracy Brabin among those getting a first look at the fleet before they head to Yorkshire. West Yorkshire Combined Authority The vehicles are being assembled ahead of their rollout from spring 2027, when the Weaver Network comes into effect. Wrightbus won the contract to build almost 200 new electric buses in May, following a competitive process.

Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled 'Buses for London', a new publicly owned bus company for the capital, and named route 6 as the first service it will run.  Tom Harrison (Bus Ambassador) The company is due to launch in late 2027, with Park Royal Depot in west London as its first operational base. A further four routes will be announced over the coming year and are due to transfer from 2028. TfL says the company will let it test new approaches to reliability, safety, decarbonisation, customer experience and driver welfare. It also means any profits can be reinvested in the transport network. How London's Buses Work Today For readers outside the capital, London's bus system works differently from most of Britain. London was not part of bus deregulation in 1986. Instead, TfL plans the routes, sets fares and timetables, and pays private companies to run the buses. Operators bid for each route. Contracts generally run for seven years and pay the operator a set income ...

Edwards Coaches has been appointed to run TaithCymru , Transport for Wales's (TfW) new coach service linking north and south-west Wales, with north Wales operator Llew Jones as its partner. Transport for Wales From 25th October, TaithCymru will run nine return journeys a day between Bangor and Carmarthen railway stations. It will call at Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Dolgellau, Machynlleth, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth bus station and Aberaeron.

Seven British-built Treka CitySprint minibuses are entering service in the Liverpool City Region, giving the new franchised Metro bus network a compact option for routes where larger buses are not suitable. The vehicles are built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, with bodywork by Treka Bus at its factory in Brighouse, West Yorkshire. They have been delivered to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA). Three have gone to St Helens and four to Wirral. Treka Bus St Helens became the first part of the city region to bring its buses back under public control on 6th September. Wirral follows on 25th October 2026, and bus franchising will then be extended across the rest of the region throughout 2027.

Mobico Group has confirmed it has reached an agreement in principle to sell the net assets and operations of its West Midlands bus business, National Express West Midlands, to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The deal is expected to bring Mobico upfront residual proceeds of around £24 million, once deductions for transferred liabilities are accounted for.

Alexander Dennis has won an order for at least 207 low- and zero-emission buses from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority , days before the region starts running bus services under public control in St Helens.

West Yorkshire has signed its first bus franchising contracts, marking the moment the region's Weaver Network moves from blueprint to reality. First Bus has been chosen to run services from the Bramley and Huddersfield strategic depots, while Transdev Blazefield will operate out of Dewsbury, following a competitive procurement process that has run for the best part of a year.

Arriva's latest investment on the Wrexham network is a significant one, with 11 new 11.8m Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs joining the fleet as part of a £2.5million spend on the town's bus services, replacing the previous Sapphire branded Enviro400City double-decks that have served route 1 between Wrexham and Chester since 2017.

Hot on the heels of the recent bus franchising update for St Helens, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has confirmed the detail behind one of its headline promises for St Helens. A brand-new X3 express service will link St Helens town centre directly to Liverpool John Lennon Airport , putting more than 25,000 extra residents within a 60-minute journey of the terminal and over 100,000 within 80 minutes once onward rail and bus connections are counted.

From Sunday 6th September 2026, St Helens becomes the first place in the Liverpool City Region to see its buses come back under public control and the improvements landing on Day One are by no means insignificant. Two-hourly routes are being upgraded to hourly, evening and weekend timetables are being extended and a brand-new express link to Liverpool John Lennon Airport is being introduced from the off.

Fourteen new Wrightbus double-deck diesel buses have recently entered service across the TrawsCymru network, and for passengers in some of Wales's more rural corners, that's a bigger deal than it might sound. TrawsCymru is TfW's longer distance bus network, funded by the Welsh Government specifically to link communities the trains can't, with timetables designed to connect into the wider rail network rather than compete with it.

Liverpool Cruise Port has recently taken delivery of two brand new, fully electric Karsan e-JEST buses, a welcome and well-timed addition that marks another positive step in the port's journey towards a cleaner, quieter and more sustainable operation. Liverpool Cruise Port

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has completed a multimillion-pound electrification project at Stagecoach's Gillmoss depot in North Liverpool, paving the way for over 100 new publicly owned battery-electric buses to enter service this week.

After four decades of deregulation, Liverpool City Region is about to try something decidedly unfashionable in the 1980s, but very on trend in 2026. Putting buses back under public control. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority