Blog

If you are operating in the UK or if you want to know some quick industry updates from the UK then have a look at the recent news articles below!

Are you an operator? Head over to eCoachManager for more info on the best solution to manage your transport business and increase revenue.

Coffee Powered Biofuel Buses

Some of the buses within the London region are now being fueled from waste coffee grounds.

Shell and clean technology, bio-bean, are now working together on a project to power London’s buses by using this source of energy. The B20 biofuel contain 20 percent bio-component which is part coffee oil and this will help power some of the London fleet. There is no need to any modifications to be made and the fuel used will provide a much cleaner, more sustainable solution for buses within the London network. This will help decrease emissions.

The grounds are dried and processed before the coffee oil is extracted from them. The bio-bean company work together with the fuel parter, Argent Energy, to process the oil which is blended into B20 biofuel.

The Orion E’s Heading For Europe

The Rochdale based company, Mellor Coachcraft, hails 2017 as an important year as Mellors electric Orion E 16 seat left hand drive minibuses are now heading to europe.

Also this year, Mellor announced their expansion plans the the Rochdale Plant which included new products such as the Orion E and leading the way into European sales.

“It’s been a different sort of year for Mellor,” said MD John Randerson. “It’s been good in terms of overall sales, following development work in 2016; without that earlier work, we wouldn’t have grown into these new markets.”

“We’re now starting to see initial orders from Europe, and Orion E demonstrators are on their way to our new European distributors; Netherlands already have theirs, Germany will have one before Christmas and in the New Year, a third is going into Sweden,” said John.

He also mentioned that Europe has a ‘clearer path’ for funding electric vehicles that the UK.

D Jones & Son Cease Trading

The Wrexham operators D Jones & Son, Acrefair, have now ceased trading as of 16th December 2017.

Lead Member for Transport, David A Bithell from Wrexham Council stated, “In the last 24 hours Wrexham County Borough Council has received notification that the local bus operator D Jones & Son of Acrefair, Wrexham will cease trading with effect from Sunday 17th December 2017.
“This news has come without any prior warning, and the Council’s immediate priority is to ensure that statutory contracted education transport is provided. Despite the late notice, the Council has been able to secure alternative transport arrangements for entitled students for next week.
“Disruption to local bus services formally operated by D Jones & Son is inevitable. The Council has enacted its contingency plan with a view to securing as many replacement bus services as soon as we possibly can. They have been working over the weekend and will continue to work hard to secure new operators for those lost through the closure of D Jones and Sons.”