Greater Manchester’s first fully electric buses will soon hit city centre streets on the free hop-on hop-off Metroshuttle service. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has now taken delivery of three new environmentally friendly Optare Versa electric buses, which have been jointly funded through the Department for Transport’s Green Bus Fund. The three fully electric buses […]

The Mayor of London officially welcomed the introduction of four British built, pure electric buses yesterday evening (29 July) at an air quality event at The Mansion House. The four buses, in service on route H98, deliver significant air quality benefits due to zero tail pipe emissions Lower running and maintenance costs compared to a […]

Peter and Linda McKenzie of Donric Group, a family owned large bus and coach operator in Australia, visited the Optare production facility on a recent trip over to the UK.  The Donric Group has grown from a fleet of 8 vehicles in 1980 to in excess of 360 buses and coaches today.  The group’s bus […]

John Horn has retired as UK Sales Director at Optare after 45 years in the industry.  The decision will enable him to spend more time with his family at their home on the South Coast.  John will hand over the reins to Tim Matthews. John joined the industry straight from school as an apprentice coach […]

Quality Line, the bus operating division of Epsom Coaches Group has taken delivery of a fleet of 12 new Optare MetroCity buses to operate along its S1 London route. The Quality Line bus fleet is now made up of 80% Optare vehicles and the new 9.9m 2 door MetroCity buses are to full TfL specification. […]

The next milestone in Nottingham’s electric bus project was marked on 12th June 2014 at Queens Drive Park and Ride when Transport Minister Baroness Kramer visited the site. The visit marked the electric bus network’s extension onto the Medlink service and the establishment of the Queens Drive Park & Ride site as a demonstration ‘Eco […]

The UK’s top Park&Ride (P&R) service has officially opened two new sites today, including a fully electric P&R fleet at the new Poppleton Bar site. In partnership with First, the new sites will further increase York’s successful portfolio to six P&R sites – making this one of the largest Park&Ride services in the UK. The […]

Cllr James Lewis, Chair of the new West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee has visited Optare’s bus manufacturing plant in east Leeds, where seven new AccessBus vehicles are to be built. At its last meeting at the end of March, the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority’s Executive Board agreed expenditure to buy seven Solo SE […]

Renowned UK bus manufacturer, Optare, a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland – the world’s 4th largest bus manufacturer, launched the MetroDecker, its exciting new double decker bus in London on 21 May 2014 at the Transport Museum in Covent Garden. The launch was led by the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, Cabinet Office Minister […]