The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, visited Wrightbus in Ballymena on Monday to see the production of previously ordered new electric double-decker buses.
While in Northern Ireland, Mr Khan urged the Government to provide longer-term capital funding to Transport for London (TfL) to ensure the continued success of the supply chain, which supports tens of thousands of jobs across the country.
The Mayor reiterated how thousands of jobs around the UK linked to major transport projects in London could be at risk if TfL does not get the longer-term funding it needs.
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He said: "Londoners will soon see the all-electric buses we previously ordered built at this Ballymena factory on the capital’s roads, adding to our ever increasing zero-emissions bus fleet and illustrating how investment in our capital can support innovation and jobs in green technology across the country.
"This is a prime example of how TfL’s supply chain stretches throughout the UK, supporting jobs, capacity and certainty for the national move towards a zero-emission bus market, helping to clean up our filthy air.
"Each new electric bus operating on the streets of London relies on great manufacturing outside our capital and means less reliance on fossil fuels."
The high specification buses, ordered by Abellio London, are the first electric double-deckers to be manufactured for London in Northern Ireland and will be rolled out in October on route 111, linking Kingston to Heathrow - adding another 30 double-decker electric buses to London's roads.
There are already around 750 electric and zero-emission buses on the streets of London, and with sustained government funding, London could have a fully zero-emission fleet by 2030.
The Mayor continued: "However, as it stands the Government’s short-term funding deals are trapping TfL on life support and putting innovation, economic growth and jobs like this at risk, as well as slowing our efforts to improve energy security.
"I urge the Government to engage with TfL and City Hall in good faith over the next few weeks so that we can finally agree a fair, longer-term funding deal that will protect London’s transport network – for the sake of the capital and the whole country."
England’s first hydrogen double-decker buses, which Sadiq launched on London’s streets in June last year, were also manufactured by Wrightbus in Ballymena.
Wrightbus has a large engineering team in the town with around 90 people in R&D, and it also funds 35 research posts at Belfast’s Queen’s University. The company currently employs 25 apprentices and is recruiting more.
The contract for these buses is supporting around 800 jobs linked to skilled manufacturing, with plans to now expand the workforce.
Highlighting the demand for zero-emission vehicles, production at the Wrightbus factory has switched from 30 per cent zero-emission buses in 2021 to almost 70 per cent in 2022 - overall production at the factory will be almost double this year compared to last year, driven largely by the desire for zero-emission buses.
Ballymena’s Wrightbus factory is a prime example of how TfL’s supply chain stretches around the country and throughout the pandemic, the Government has refused to provide TfL with a long-term funding deal that would allow it to invest for the future.
Buta Atwal, Wrightbus CEO, said: "We were delighted to welcome Sadiq Khan to our Ballymena factory to see the world-leading StreetDeck Electroliners in production. We're looking forward to seeing them on the roads of London and helping to improve air quality later this year.
"We’re proud to be a UK company that is not only supporting the UK’s decarbonisation push thanks to our zero emission buses, but that is creating and supporting jobs in the UK at the same time.
"We design and manufacture our buses in Northern Ireland using parts that are, as much as possible, made and sourced in the UK and we directly employ almost 900 people, with many thousands more supported throughout the UK supply chain. As a result, every new Wrightbus-made zero emission bus for the capital is not just good news for air quality in London, but for jobs across the UK."
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