Wrightbus: From 1946 to New Horizons

The history of Ballymena-based Wrightbus dates back to 1946, when the company began producing lorries, vans and mobile libraries largely for Ulster customers. After becoming firmly established, the company turned its attention to building school buses for Northern Ireland’s education departments and followed these with conventional single-deck buses and coaches for a variety of UK operators. Since the 1980s, Wrights has expanded rapidly after gaining large contracts to build single-deck, double-deck, and bendy buses for FirstGroup and Transport for London (including the New Routemaster), as well as for other major UK bus groups and operators in Hong Kong and Singapore. In addition, Wrightbus has been a forerunner in hybrid and electric bus technology.

Following a reduction in orders due to a general decline in the need for new buses, plus several other factors, the company was placed into administration in early October 2019 before being rescued by a new owner in November. This book looks at some of the many buses the company produced over the years.