Nov 02 - Government Purchases Six New Buses For Upper Town And Mount Alvernia Area

Six new Ford Transit buses are expected to arrive in Gibraltar later on this year.

These modern buses conform to the latest Euro 6 emission guidelines. This particular vehicle type and model was chosen following a series of tests carried out with various different types of buses to ensure that they met the stringent requirements of our Upper Town.

The buses need to be powerful enough to deal with steep inclines while being able to provide an adequately cool environment within, capable of dealing with our hot summer temperatures while at the same time being small enough to be able to navigate our narrow roads and offer an adequate passenger capacity. This model has also proved to be the best value for money.

The buses will be fully equipped with CCTV for passenger/driver safety, they will be fitted with grab rails, electric sliding doors and several buses will be fitted with ramps for wheelchair accessibility.

This is part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to improve Public Transport. The present buses that service the Upper Town are fast becoming unreliable and expensive to run. It is envisaged that the new buses will be fully operational and in service early in the New Year.

The Minister for Public Transport, the Hon Paul Balban, said: “It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce the forthcoming arrival of new environmentally friendly buses in the coming months to serve the Upper Town and Mount Alvernia. It was important to ensure that these buses provide the best possible solution for our unique roads and environment. I think that we have achieved exactly that.” 

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