£2 million Sapphire buses for Arriva Southern Counties

The 11.5 metre-long buses will be based at Arriva's Northfleet Depot and represent a £2 million investment on top of last month's Sapphire-specification Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 buses. A sizeable fleet of StreetLite buses is building up across the Arriva Southern Counties area, with this year seeing a total of 16 introduced. All are door-forward types, and the vehicles added this year harness micro-hybrid technology. The Sapphire specification gives a mix of high-quality features, including Wi-Fi provided by Icomera, next-stop Hanover Displays audio-visual announcements, E-leather seating, three-pin and USB power points against each pair of seats, brighter lighting and rear destination displays. "As well as the benefits to the environment of these micro-hybrid buses taking exhaust emissions to an even lower level than has already been achieved, we hope that the stylish interiors will give a comfortable ride and that the audible next-stop announcements will be of benefit to customers with impaired vision," comments Arriva regional publicity manager, Richard Lewis. To provide back-up for the Sapphire StreetLites, one existing VDL SB200 with Wrightbus Pulsar bodywork has also been refurbished by ADL to Sapphire specification at its Harlow site. Overall this year, Arriva Southern Counties has invested £5.6 million in 35 new buses.