A NORTH Yorkshire specialist bus designer and manufacturer has supplied 28 single-decker vehicles to serve local communities in a £4 million deal.

The Versa and Solo buses made by Optare, based at Sherburn-in-Elmet, will be used by transport firm Transdev for services across Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Transdev said their customers’ experience would be enhanced on the new buses “as users can take advantage of superfast free wifi, next-stop announcements, USB power points at every seat, new comfortable seats with leather headrests, and the pioneering use of ‘countdown’ destination displays, letting people know exactly when the bus will depart”.

Robert Drewery, commercial director at Optare, said: “We are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with Transdev and support them in their mission to become ‘the amazing bus company’ by providing more high-specification Optare buses that will operate close to where they are designed and manufactured in Sherburn-in-Elmet.”

Alex Hornby, Transdev’s chief executive, said customers’ views were had been crucial in developing the new buses and the company’s new brands.

The changes were all part of repositioning Transdev’s product “to fit the needs of the modern traveller and to attract more people to the bus”.

He said: “This £4 million investment in Yorkshire manufacturing and new, better buses across the north is all part of our aim to become, quite simply, the amazing bus company for our teams and our customers.”

The buses are currently going into service across the two counties, and have already been launched in part of West Yorkshire to introduce a new brand, the Keighley Bus Company.

The multiple-award-winning Optare was first formed in 1985, and its Sherburn-in-Elmet facility was opened in 2011.