A new £8 million fleet of luxurious buses with free 4G WiFi and extra leg room has arrived in the Black Country.

The new ‘Platinum’ National Express West Midlands buses also boast of comfier seats, and USB points to charge your mobile phone or electronic device as you travel. Forty-six of the new buses will be introduced throughout this year with the stylish new vehicles already running on the 529 service between Wolverhampton and Walsall.

They will be introduced to the 126 service between Wolverhampton and Birmingham and the X10 service between Merry Hill and Birmingham later in the autumn. Passengers will also be able to pay using contactless cards when the new technology is is rolled out by National Express next year. Managing director Peter Coates said:

“When the roll-out is finished, these luxurious new buses will be carrying passengers in every district in the Black Country.

“These beautiful buses are our pledge as part of the West Midlands Bus Alliance – to increase the amount of people taking the bus, to keep our customers happy and to keep the air clean across the West Midlands.

The buses also have crystal clear CCTV for passenger safety, bright LED interior lighting, improved sound proofing and audio next stop announcements. Built in Britain by Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL), Platinums are lighter and more fuel efficient than conventional buses and their Euro 6 engines are among the cleanest in the world. They have a curved design and have been painted in a smart two tone grey livery.

The first Platinum buses were unveiled last summer at Walsall, Birmingham, Solihull, and Coventry at a cost of £34 million. A survey found that passengers are hugely impressed with the new vehicles with overall satisfaction across all the Platinum routes was 94 per cent. And 98 per cent of passengers were satisfied with the comfort they experienced on the bus while 96 per cent said they were happy with the standard of driving. Meanwhile 81 per cent of those questioned found the services good value for money.

The X51 service from Birmingham to Walsall which had a Platinum buses introduced last year has seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of passengers using the route.