Wrightbus has won an order from north of England bus company Rotala to provide 163 new vehicles in 2020 in a deal worth more than £29m.

One hundred and twenty-eight of the additions will be StreetDeck double-deckers for Rotala’s Diamond Bus North West (DBNW) services.

The remainder will be StreetLite single-deckers and they will be spread across operations in the Midlands, Preston and at Heathrow Airport.

The news of the multi-million deal has been welcomed by north Antrim MP Ian Paisley.

“This is great news for Ballymena. This order is from a world-renowned, very prestigious group and shows that Wrightbus is right back at the top of the industry. It’s all down to the prowess of the new, top-grade ownership and the expertise of the 500 plus employees on site. I’m sure there will be plenty more good news to come.”

All of the buses will have the third generation of Wrightbus’ Micro Hybrid system, which recaptures kinetic energy via the alternator. They will also come with synthetic leather upholstery, USB charging points and CCTV monitoring.

DBNW managing director Bob Dunn said the new vehicles for Greater Manchester will help to improve reliability.

“The new Wrightbus StreetDecks for DBNW that are part of the Rotala order are to be used on trunk routes,” he said.

“They will join 16 StreetDecks already in its fleet.

“The new buses will allow the return of all 125 of the vehicles that were leased by when Rotala purchased First’s Bolton operation for £5.3m in 2019.

“This latest order is an important part of our strategy to encourage even more people to take the bus.

“Our network covers a number of communities dependent on our services. We hope that this news shows our intent to deliver the right services for customers.”