One of the UK’s largest transport groups chooses Irizar as strategic partner

One of the United Kingdom’s largest passenger transport groups, the Go-Ahead Group, has selected Irizar UK, the British subsidiary of Spain’s Irizar, as its strategic bus and coach supplier following the conclusion of a competitive tender process. Under the multi-year framework agreement, the group’s bus companies will have the option to procure more than 90 Irizar coaches over the next three years, in various lengths and specifications.

The framework agreement covers both standard and touring coach versions, and in addition to vehicle deliveries it also includes comprehensive parts and service support, as well as end-of-life services. The aim of the arrangement is to give the Go-Ahead Group’s bus subsidiaries, which operate more than 5,000 buses in the United Kingdom, access to a unified vehicle procurement system, while improving fleet standardisation, increasing operational flexibility and reducing whole-life vehicle costs.

Irizar UK secured the agreement as the result of a competitive tender process. According to the manufacturer, the partnership goes beyond a traditional supplier contract and could, in the longer term, create opportunities for joint fleet development projects, sustainability initiatives and the sharing of operational experience.

Sustainability considerations, whole-life cost efficiency, aftersales support and a reliable parts and service network all played a key role in the evaluation of the tender. For Go-Ahead, another important factor was that the flagship of Irizar’s UK offering, the Irizar i6S Efficient — sold on the British market through Irizar’s own sales network primarily as an integral, self-supporting vehicle — offers favourable fuel consumption, lower emissions and more competitive whole-life costs. It was also significant that the manufacturer is working on the development of alternative driveline technologies, which could support the group’s transition to a sustainable fleet in the longer term.

According to Irizar UK, the agreement also clearly reflects the consolidation taking place in the British bus and coach market, where suppliers capable of providing comprehensive lifecycle support alongside vehicles are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, this trend is not limited to the United Kingdom, but can also be seen across the European bus and coach market as a whole, where manufacturers are increasingly seeking to meet the expectations of large-fleet transport operators with complex service packages.

The Go-Ahead Group is one of the United Kingdom’s leading transport groups, operating both bus and rail services. The group employs more than 30,000 people, carries out more than one billion journeys a year, and its bus division brings together numerous regional and long-distance operators. Thanks to acquisitions in recent years, the company’s coach business has also expanded significantly, making it necessary to establish a long-term, unified supplier framework agreement.