£3,1 million investment in new buses for the X46/7

We're delighted to announce a £3.1 million investment in a brand new fleet of Alexander Dennis double deck buses for our flagship X46 and X47 services, bringing customers travelling between Hull, Beverley, Market Weighton, Pocklington and York an even more comfortable, modern and reliable journey.

The X46 and X47 are among East Yorkshire's busiest and most important routes, linking communities across the region with fast, frequent connections between Hull and York. This investment represents another major step in our commitment to providing high-quality, modern public transport across East Yorkshire.

Many of the new buses have already entered service over the past couple of weeks, with the remainder expected to be in operation over the next week. Once the full fleet is in service, customers can expect to see the new buses operating across the X46 and X47 throughout the day.

While many of our existing buses have operated on the X46 and X47 for over five years, they have more than proved their worth on one of the longest and most demanding duties on our network. As these vehicles reach the point where they are due their mid-life refurbishment, we felt it was the right time to move them onto less intensive duties elsewhere across the East Yorkshire network, where they'll continue to provide many more years of reliable service.

When we became aware that a batch of new buses was available from manufacturer stock, we took the decision to invest immediately. Purchasing these vehicles "off the shelf" has enabled us to bring them into service much sooner than waiting for a bespoke factory build, improving reliability, increasing capacity and enhancing the customer experience without delay.

The new buses offer more seats, a fresh contemporary look both inside and out, and a host of features designed to make every journey more enjoyable.

Customers can look forward to:

• More comfortable seating with increased capacity
• A striking new exterior livery and refreshed interior design
• Audio and visual next stop announcements
• USB-A and USB-C charging points at every seat
• Improved accessibility features

The investment represents our continued commitment to improving public transport across East Yorkshire, ensuring customers enjoy a high-quality experience whether travelling for work, education, shopping or leisure.

Changes to On-board Cycle Spaces

As the new buses continue to enter service, they will also mark the end of the cycle storage areas that have been available on the current fleet of X46/7 buses.

The new buses were purchased from manufacturer stock, meaning they were built to a high, pre-specified standard rather than being bespoke vehicles designed exclusively for East Yorkshire. This enabled us to introduce these exceptional new buses much more quickly while still providing an extremely comfortable, modern and well-equipped vehicle.

Over the coming months, we'll be assessing the feasibility of converting the downstairs area to take a second wheelchair user, helping to further improve accessibility for customers. Should this prove possible, there would be no practical space or engineering provision to retrofit cycle storage in the future.

We know a number of customers have enjoyed making use of the cycle storage areas over the years, and we appreciate that some will be disappointed by this change. However, usage has remained relatively low and, when balanced against the significant cost of designing, installing and maintaining a bespoke solution, it isn't an investment that can be justified.

Instead, our £3.1 million investment has focused on improvements that will benefit every customer travelling on the route, including increased seating capacity, enhanced passenger comfort, audio and visual next stop announcements, USB-A and USB-C charging at every seat, improved accessibility and an all-new look inside and out.

A Fresh New Chapter

These new Alexander Dennis locally built buses represent one of the biggest investments we've made in this corridor for many years and are another significant step forward in delivering a better experience for everyone travelling on the X46 and X47.

We look forward to completing the rollout over the coming week and welcoming even more customers on board to experience the new fleet for themselves.