A consortium of transit agencies has entered an agreement with New Flyer of America Inc. to buy up to 159 urban buses from the manufacturer over the next five years.
According to New Flyer, the deal includes options for 35-foot, 40-foot or 60-foot Xcelsior buses powered by clean diesel, diesel-electric hybrid technology or compressed natural gas (CNG), as well as options for 30-foot MiDi buses powered by clean diesel or CNG.
Indiana-based Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corp. is acting as the lead agency in the consortium. Other member agencies include Illinois-based Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, Illinois-based Rock Island Quad Cities MetroLINK, Indiana-based South Bend TRANSPO, and California-based Santa Rosa CityBus.
“This contract reflects a developing trend of transit bus procurements where a number of agencies work cooperatively through a joint procurement to acquire buses,” comments Paul Soubry, New Flyer’s president and CEO. “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.”
