New Flyer of America Inc., a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc., the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in the United States and Canada, announces that the Greater Lafayette Public Transit Corporation in conjunction with Rock Island Metro, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, South Bend Public Transportation and Santa Rosa Transit, awarded a contract to New Flyer of America Inc. for up to 159 urban transit buses to be purchased over the next five years.
The Xcelsior bus will include options for 35-, 40- or 60-foot models powered by ultra clean diesel, diesel-electric hybrid buses and compressed natural gas, while the MiDi bus will include options for 30-foot ultra clean diesel and CNG configurations.
Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation of Lafayette, IN, acting as the lead agency, operates 24 routes serving a ridership of approximately 5.2 million passengers annually. Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District of Champaign, IL, operates exclusively a New Flyer bus fleet providing over 12 million rides per year. Rock Island Quad Cities MetroLINK of Illinois has 55 routes with an annual ridership of 3.5 million passengers. South Bend TRANSPO of Indiana serves 20 routes providing 2.5 million rides annually. Santa Rosa CityBus of California has 55 routes and provides 2.8 millions trips per year.
“This contract reflects a developing trend of transit bus procurements where a number of agencies work cooperatively through a joint procurement to acquire buses,” says Paul Soubry, New Flyer’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “For the agencies, it utilizes a federally funded framework that provides an effective and a flexible vehicle to renew their bus fleet over time. For New Flyer, it provides us with an opportunity to support our customers across a variety of platforms and propulsion systems. As we grow with our customers, New Flyer’s mandate remains unequivocally to provide high quality products, services and support throughout the life of their bus fleet.”
