ADL wins £57m order for 207 Liverpool City Region Buses

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.

Alexander Dennis

The firm order, worth £57m, covers 117 low-emission Enviro400 double-deckers, 60 low-emission Enviro200 single-deckers in two lengths and 30 zero-emission Enviro100EV minibuses.

Options written into the contract would take the total to 357 buses and the investment to £95m if they are all taken up. Every vehicle will be built or completed in Britain to the authority's specification for its Metro network, with deliveries due in 2027.

Ahead of franchising

They will join 109 low-emission Enviro200s already delivered before St Helens becomes the first area to move to franchised services on 6th September and 58 zero-emission Enviro400EV double-deckers ordered earlier by the authority.

Alexander Dennis

Under franchising, the Combined Authority sets routes, timetables and fares and private companies are contracted to run the services. Stagecoach and Go-Ahead were named as the first operators in January, following the decision to franchise the network in 2023.

The authority has also been buying up bus depots and electrifying them to support the new fleet.

Diesel now, electric later

The new Enviro400s and Enviro200s will use Alexander Dennis's SmartPack system, which combines engine stop/start with e-cooling and auxiliary load management.

Alexander Dennis

The manufacturer says the technology cuts emissions by between 18% and 24% compared with conventional Euro V diesel buses on the UK Bus Cycle.

The buses have also been designed so they can be converted to full electric operation at a later date under the company's AD Repower scheme, which replaces the diesel engine and transmission with an electric drivetrain.

'More reliable'

Mayor Steve Rotheram said the order was part of a wider effort to give the region's 1.6 million residents a more reliable and better integrated transport network, alongside new battery-powered trains and an upgraded Mersey Ferry.

Alexander Dennis

Matthew Lawrence, head of franchising and bids at Alexander Dennis, said the company's bids had been judged the most commercially advantageous in four of the six lots in the latest procurement round.

That takes the authority's total orders from the manufacturer to about 400 vehicles, adding to earlier deliveries including the electric fleet unveiled in the region's new livery.

Mr Lawrence said build work would begin shortly at the company's factories in the north of England and Scotland and that the firm was working with the Combined Authority's social value team on demonstrating the local economic benefits of the contract.

Passengers in St Helens are also due to gain a new express link to Liverpool John Lennon Airport when franchised services begin, one of a series of day-one improvements promised by the authority.