Michelin Wins London Central Contract

Michelin has won a tyre contract with London Central, a division of the Go-Ahead Group, which operates 600 buses in south east and central London from depots in Bexleyheath, Camberwell, New Cross and Peckham. The contract sees London Central switch to a three year ‘pence per mile’ contract, similar to the agreement Michelin already has with London General, a separate division of the Go-Ahead Group, comprising a fleet of 700 vehicles in south west and central London.

Commenting on the new contract, Phil Margrave, engineering director responsible for the London Central and London General operations, explains: “Michelin has demonstrated its ability to provide a consistently high level of service to London General and a number of other Go-Ahead contracts across the country, which meant we had no hesitation in awarding them 100 per cent of our London business.

“The fixed-cost contract with London Central means that everyday tasks associated with inspecting, managing and servicing the tyres are taken care of by Michelin, supported by a team of dedicated Michelin tyre fitters based at each of our bus garages,” he adds.

The contract will see existing Goodyear tyres replaced with Michelin ‘U’ Segment urban tyres as wear dictates, with 275/70 R22.5 XZU and XZU2 being the most popular tyres fitted across the range of vehicles, which includes single deck, double deck and articulated buses. Designed for buses operating in town and city environments, these tyres feature reinforced sidewalls to protect the casing against kerb damage, with a specially developed rubber compound designed to cope with demanding stop/start work on a variety of different surfaces. These tyres also provide optimum levels of grip, even in demanding weather conditions and on severe gradients.

New vehicles joining the fleet will be specified with Michelin tyres as original equipment, such as the latest batch of 39 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s which are in the process of entering operation and which meet stringent Euro 4 emissions regulations.

Michelin supplies tyres on contract to more than 90 per cent of the Go-Ahead Group bus fleet in the UK, including contracts with the Oxford Bus Company, Go North East, and Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company.