BUS company McGill’s has said it is committed to working with Glasgow City Council to make travel more sustainable after awarding a £4.8 million order for low emission buses to Alexander Dennis.

The company is buying 26 Enviro200 single deck buses from the Falkirk-based manufacturer with delivery expected by the end of March 2019.

The buses will be used on McGill’s Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and Glasgow networks.

McGill’s said features such as engine stop/start technology will help ensure the vehicles will be fully compliant with the requirements of the Low Emissions Zone Glasgow is set to introduce from the beginning of next year.

The company’s chairman James Easdale said: “We are delighted to support a Scottish bus manufacturer and my brother Sandy and I are particularly proud that we have done this deal entirely free of subsidies which is quite unusual in the current business climate.”

He added: “Given there is great uncertainty in the business environment at the moment, this is a strong commitment to the Scottish transport infrastructure as well as the economy at large.”

Including the Alexander Dennis order, McGill’s has invested £8.3m in new buses in the last 18 months.

It spent a further £2m on ticketing systems, with features such as contactless payments intended to increase convenience for customers.

The company last month highlighted the challenges caused for industry players by falling high street footfall, traffic congestion, roadworks and cheap car parking.

The order from McGill’s comes weeks after Alexander Dennis won a contract to supply a fleet of Enviro500 double deck buses for use in Berlin.