Boris Johnson may not be everyone’s cup of tea. His role as a Brexit champion played no small part in ensuing that the 55.8 per cent of people in the North who voted to remain in the EU were left high and dry.
Still, there will always be a little corner of Ballymena where the UK foreign secretary will likely receive a warm welcome. Thanks to Johnson’s bus for London policy when he was mayor, there are 300 people employed today on two production lines at the locally headquartered Wright Group.
In 2009, the Wright Group won the contract to build the first eight prototypes for Johnson’s proposed bus, the new Routemaster – inspired by the iconic red London bus. This helped the company secure the option to manufacture the first 1,000 “Boris buses”, which has proven to be a vital lifeline for the family-owned business.
Ballymena has suffered a devastating series of job losses over the past two years, with two of its biggest employers(JTI-Gallagher and Michelin) pulling out. But the Boris bus has helped keep manufacturing jobs in the Co Antrim town, as highlighted by Johnson on his visit to the plant last February, when he was still mayor of London. During the tour he famously swung on one of the bus chassis in production to test its strength.
At the time, Johnson confirmed that the Wright Group would receive the go-ahead for the last of the 195 Routemasters that were part of the original 1,000 contract.
300 jobs
Mark Nodder, chairman and chief executive of the Wright Group, said then it would secure employment for some 300 workers for a further 12 months, as well as benefit its local supply chain. The company employs about 1,500 people in the North. Not only did the Routemaster contract support 300 jobs, but it has also sustained 120 apprenticeships.
Johnson’s longer-term ambition was to see 2,000 Routemaster buses in operation in London by 2020, but the goal is not shared by his successor as London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
By summer, Transport for London (TfL), the local government organisation responsible for London’s transport system, will have invested £350 million in the 1,000 Routemaster buses. But in his first TfL investment plan, Khan says it will not invest in additional Routemaster buses.
The plan for the next five years clearly confirms TfL’s intention to “discontinue purchases of new Routemaster buses”.
TfL says it does not intend to scrap any of the remaining 195 buses on order but its “new capital investment will be reduced significantly” in the future.
So what might that mean for the Wright Group and the 300 people currently working on the contract? It is not exactly the best start to 2017.
If Johnson’s plan for another 1,000 buses had materialised, it would have meant a clear route ahead for the company, which just six months ago implemented a recruitment freeze while warning that it faced “challenges in both the local and overseas markets”.
The Wright Group has been on a major drive to reduce operating costs to ensure it “remains competitive”. As the Routemaster contract winds down, it puts the firm under pressure to win new business – at a time of Brexit-fuelled uncertainty – to keep the production lines alive.
Double-decker
William Wright, who founded the original company with his father in 1946 and celebrates his 90th birthday this year, is looking to its future – one that features the new Wrightbus zero-emission double-deck bus.
The company launched the bus at London’s City Hall late last year. It features new technology, developed by the company, which encompasses a hydrogen fuel cell and a battery pack to power the vehicle.
Khan may not want to buy any more Routemasters, but he does want London to “become a world leader in hydrogen and electric bus technology”.
The hydrogen fuel cell driveline is scheduled to become “fully production ready” this year. It might just prove to be perfect timing.
