Bus services for rural areas of Northern Ireland are to be improved with the purchase of 48 new vehicles.

Ballymena bus manufacturer Wrightbus and supplier Scania won the contract, Transport Minister Conor Murphy announced.

"It will help make travelling by public transport more accessible for those living in rural communities," he said.

Mr Murphy said the first of the new Solar Rural buses would make their debut on the roads next month.

He said Wrightbus had also delivered 61 high-capacity vehicles to Translink.

"Significant investment of almost ?04m by my department has been provided from 2004/05 to 2008/09 to purchase over 700 new buses," he added.