Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
WOW!!! Now: ... 3D-printed buses * USA: They're are self-driving, and re-usable
* Arizona - Olli, the autonomous mini-bus that can be manufactured in a few hours
--- After introducing the world’s first-ever 3D-printed car, Arizona-based startup Local Motors is pushing a new mode of public transport system onto the US roads – 3D-printed buses that are self-driving, and re-usable... The 12-seater mini-bus, called Olli, can be booked through mobile apps. More interestingly, riders can customize Olli ride to their requirements. Once done, they can have the mini-bus in around 10 hours’ time; the time required to 3D-print and assemble the vehicles from company’s micro-factories. The manufacturers say the regulations don’t impose any restriction to this 3D-printed mini-bus for making its debut run... According to the manufacturers, the technology is more than ready for its commercial performance, and the real complexity now lies in ‘fielding’ Olli, i.e. to roll out the vehicle in a matter of hours to the riders. The entire process of 3D-printing the mini-bus parts gets completed in 10 hours, and it takes another one hour for its assembling... Micro-factories for the production of Olli are currently setup in Washington, and that’s where Olli will be making its debut. The introductory event took place in National Harbor, Washington D.C. on Thursday. Trial runs are expected to be carried out in the months ahead, and it will be followed by the expansion to cities like Las Vegas and Miami... The company is also eyeing global expansion to cities like Berlin, Copenhagen and Canberra. Local Motors John Rogers shares the view that over 100 micro-factories will have to be setup around the globe for the production of Olli mini-bus...
(Photo: The technology used in Olli is IBM’s supercomputer platform called Watson. Olli also becomes the first to adopt the car-focused cognitive learning platform from IBM) -- Phoenix, AZ. USA - Device Magazine, by Sanjeev Ramachandran - June 20, 2016
Labels: busmakers news USA, techno buses
BUS PLANT CLOSURES * USA: Prevost's
* New York - Bus manufacturer says Plattsburgh Plant will close
-- A bus manufacturer in Plattsburgh has filed notice with the New York State Department of Labor that it will close its plant in April. As WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief ,Pat Bradley, reports, local officials hope the move is precautionary and needed contracts will be realized... Prevost is a manufacturer of upscale buses and high-end motor homes and specialty conversions. The manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh is located next to Nova Bus, which specializes in building transit buses. Both are owned by the Volvo Group, a global transportation manufacturer... The warn notice filed by Prevost Bus states that the company is closing its plant in the Town of Plattsburgh for economic reasons. Other than noting that 55 employees are affected, no other details are provided...
(Photo: Prevost buses) -- Plattsburgh, NY, USA - WAMC, by PAT BRADLEY - JAN 20, 2016Labels: busmakers news USA
ELECTRIC BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: BYD Coach & Bus
* California - Electric bus maker buzzing over orders
-- In a hangarlike building on the north end of Lancaster, 13 electric buses move through the assembly line at BYD Coach & Bus... Some are almost empty shells, while others near completion with wiring and windows installed. Sections of a 60-foot bus are in booths for painting. Finished vehicles get a final check before customers take delivery... All this activity at the plant must accelerate after BYD announced last month an agreement with Washington state and Oregon for up to 800 new buses. That’s in addition to 100 buses already on back order... The new orders mean the factory’s payroll of 120 will have to expand. And the company will have to reconfigure its manufacturing operation to double output...
(Photo: BYD electric buses manufactured in Lancaster, CAL) -- Lancaster, CAL, USA - The San Fernando Valley Business Journal, by MARK MADLER - October 5, 2015Labels: busmakers news USA, electric busmakers news
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: IC Bus'
* Illinois - IC Bus first to offer new Eaton Transmission option
-- Trish Reed said IC Bus is excited to be the first brand in the school bus industry to offer its customers the option of the new Eaton's new dual-clutch, seven-speed Procision that was released last year... While the Procision is an option on the CE Series model starting later this year, the benefits of 8- to 10-percent improvement in fuel economy will result in "close parity" with the Allison 2000 Pupil Transportation Series. The data is based on Eaton testing... A feature called "Tap Down Shifting" provides drivers with more vehicle control at the brake pedal, and Procision is designed to offer drivers improved low-speed maneuverabilty in forward and reverse speeds... The transmission is designed to prevent rolling backward on 8-percent grades, based on grade and weight, and it allows for a controlled launch... The Procision will soon be offered as an option by other school bus manufacturers...
(Photo: An IC Bus CE Series powered by the new Eaton Procision transmission at the STN EXPO on July 28. The bus was on hand for trade-show attendee, ride-and-drive opportunities) -- Lisle, Ill, USA - School Transportation News, by Ryan Gray - July 31, 2015Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSES PURCHASE * USA: 20 plus new school vehicles
* North Carolina - Horry County Schools eying 20 replacement school buses
-- Horry County School’s fleet of 109 district-owned buses might be getting an upgrade soon... The district plans to bring a recommendation to the Board of Education at their next meeting for 20 new buses, said John Gardner, chief financial officer for the district... All the buses will be funded through the general fund, and the district has already set aside $840,000 for the replacements. The board has also planned to replace 10 buses during the 2015-16 school year, Gardner said... Horry County Schools’ buses travel 33,888 miles per day and rack up 61.1 million miles every year, according to district data. About 22,500 students ride the bus, and the district has about 373 drivers... Officials hope to have 30 new buses operating for the 2015-2016 school year, if the board approves the budget as currently proposed, Gardner said... The district will make a recommendation for 20 new buses at the board’s next meeting on March 23...
(Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / The Sun News - Horry County Schools buses) -- Horry_County, South Carolina, USA - The Myrtle Beach On Line, by Claire Byun - 11 March 2015Labels: buses purchasing, busmakers news USA, school buses funds
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: MCI's
* North Dakota - Pembina based MCI sends buses to New Jersey, contributes to good year for company
(Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald - Elfstrom applies decals to a bus being assembled for New Jersey Transit)
Pembina,ND,USA -Grands Forks Herald, by K Bohn -Jan 19, 2015: -- Every 3.6 hours or so, 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, a shiny, new 45-foot bus — powered by compressed natural gas — rolls out of Motor Coach Industries' factory here.. These days, those CNG commuter coaches as they are known, are bound for the East Coast, where they being delivered to New Jersey Transit... Motor Coach already has delivered about one-third of its present contract to provide 150 of the coaches to the state's public transportation system, according to Rick Heller, MCI president/CEO... While the vehicle shells are fabricated at its Winnipeg plant, the rest of the assembly on these D-class coaches — from engines to electronics, from wheels to wheelchair lifts — is done in this community of 590 tucked up against the borders of Minnesota and Manitoba...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: School bus production 2014
* California - School Bus production up 5 percent
(Photo By: IC Bus/Navistar)
Redondo Beach,CAL,USA -School Transportation News, by Ryan Gray -December 23, 2014: -- Data compiled from all seven school bus manufacturers as well as Type A chassis makers Ford and GM show that the industry continues a growth trend after bottoming out four years ago following the recession... School bus production grew for the third consecutive year, rising to a total of 39,053 units manufactured during the period of Nov. 1, 2013 through Oct. 31 of this year. The figure was a 5-percent increase from the 37,173 school buses reported a year ago in the annual School Transportation News Buyers Guide...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Thomas Built ones
* North Caroline - Why Thomas Built Buses selected High Point for a 236-job expansion
(Pictured here is a row of C2 school buses manufactured by High Point-based Thomas Built Buses. The company plans to increase production of the school bus by 25 percent)
High Point,NC,USA -Triad Business Journal, by Katie Arcieri -Nov 4, 2014: -- When Kelley Platt became president and CEO of High Point-based Thomas Built Buses in early 2010, school districts across the country were cutting back on transportation services... But last month, Thomas Built Buses — one of the nation's leading school bus manufacturers — announced that it had selected High Point for a 236-job, $11.8 million expansion that will up production of the company's Saf-T-Liner C2 school bus by 25 percent. The reason? Growing demand from communities that want to update school bus fleets as they recover from the recession... Thomas Built is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, Platt said the company decided to stay where it had existing operations and a work force. Founded in High Point in 1916, Thomas Built is High Point's largest manufacturing employer and its fifth-largest employer overall, with about 1,400 workers. About 500 of the area employees are stationed at the company's 275,000-square-foot C2 plant...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Blue Bird's
* Georgia - Custom-made corrections buses roll off Blue Bird line in Fort Valley
(Video by The Telegraph Mid GA -2 Oct 2014: State and local officials take a tour of the facility in recognition of the completed order of five buses for the Georgia Department of Corrections)
Fort Valley,GA,USA -The Telegraph, by LINDA S. MORRIS -2 Oct 2014: -- A number of state and Middle Georgia officials gathered Thursday at the Blue Bird plant to help celebrate the company’s recent completion of five custom-made buses for the Georgia Department of Corrections... This is the second order of corrections transport buses the state has placed with Blue Bird, said company CEO and President Phil Horlock...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Blue Bird's
* Georgia - Blue Bird school bus maker to be sold
(Photo: A blue birg factory buses)
Fort Valley,GA,USA -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, by Christopher Seward
-22 Sept 2014: -- Blue Bird Corp., the Fort Valley-based school bus maker, will be acquired by the Houston investment firm Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. in a deal valued at nearly $500 million... Hennessy said it is acquiring Blue Bird from Traxis Group for $255 million in cash and shares of Hennessy stock, and the assumption of $235 million in Blue Bird debt... The deal also will make Blue Bird, which employs more than 1,500 workers, a publicly traded company...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSES PURCHASING * USA: Nova's
* Connecticut - State purchasing $33M in new CTfastrak Buses. New models offer stop announcements, wi-fi, bike space, easier on and off
Hartford,CONN,USA -Courant, by Don Stacom -August 22, 2014: -- When the CTfastrak busway starts service early next year, riders shouldn't expect the same experience they have on Connecticut's regular transit buses... Federal and state taxpayers are putting up nearly $33 million for 48 new buses that will have features not found on the CT Transit fleet... Painted in the distinctive lime green and silver-gray color scheme of the busway system, the new hybrid diesel-electric coaches won't be mistaken for the boxier, dark blue-and-silver buses that CT Transit runs on its regular routes... Different manufacturers across the country are producing four sizes of hybrid diesel-electric buses for CTfastrak, with Plattsburgh, N.Y.-based Nova providing the big 60-footers that will be the backbone of the service. Transit operators buy the two-segment, bending buses for heavily traveled routes because they carry more passengers than traditional buses, but have the same staff: a single driver... CTfastrak plans to deploy 12 of Nova's LFX model to shuttle between New Britain and Hartford along the 9.4-mile busway. The Novas cost a little more than $900,000 each, and their frames are roughly similar to the articulated buses that CT Transit introduced in the Hartford region two years ago... The CTfastrak versions will have plenty of extra equipment, though...Labels: buses purchasing, busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Thomas Built Buses'
* New York - BAE Systems and Cummins collaborate to reduce idling for hybrid transit buses
(Photo Courtesy of Cummins: Transit bus operators will now be able to employ stop/start technology to shut off bus engines as passengers board and disembark)
Endicott,NY,USA -Business Wire/The WSJ -August 04, 2014: --
For the first time in North America, transit bus operators will be able to employ engine stop/start technology to shut off bus engines as passengers board and disembark, reducing air and noise pollution as well as fuel consumption. This advancement, the result of collaboration between BAE Systems and Cummins, is now available for all buses equipped with Cummins ISB6.7 Hybrid engines and BAE Systems' HybriDrive(R) Series-E propulsion systems... Transit bus operators will now be able to employ stop/start technology to shut off bus engines as passengers board and disembark... BAE Systems' start/stop technology has shown that the stop/start mode reduces engine idling time by up to 40 percent, which helps increase fuel economy and create a quieter atmosphere for passengers at bus stops. In addition, accessories such as air conditioning, power steering, and air compressors remain operational during engine shut-off mode...
* North Caroline - Increased fuel economy coming to school buses via transmission innovations
High Point,NC,USA -School Transportation News, by Ryan Gray -1 August 2014: -- Thomas Built Buses and Allison Transmission are partnering to bring student transporters new fuel-saving technology as standard equipment on the Saf-T-Liner C2, EFX and HDX school bus models, the companies formally announced in a release... While proprietary to Thomas for its three models staring on Oct. 1 of this year, Allison's FuelSense will ultimately be available to all school bus manufacturer... Specifics on the new packages are low rolling resistance tires as technology improvements to meet new federal standards for both greenhouse gas emissions reduction and increased fuel economy for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles... The standard FuelSense offers 5- to 15-percent increase in fuel savings, while two additional options, FuelSense Plus and FuelSense Max, deliver improvements of 6- to 18-percent and 8- to 20-percent, respectively. These numbers, depend on duty cycle and are compared with fourth-generation controls for Allison 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 Series...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA:
* Maine - Bus refurbishing group gets $19 million contract
Augusta,Maine,USA -AP/The Washington Times -June 20, 2014: -- A business that got its start overhauling military vehicles has been awarded a $19 million contract to refurbish 32 Massachusetts transit buses... The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority board of directors approved the contract with the Maine Military Authority in Limestone. He says the contract could increase to $24 million with optional and additional tasks... The quasi-state agency has refurbished thousands of military vehicles at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone since it began in 1997. It has moved to buses as military budgets have declined... MMA spokesman Tim McCabe says rehabilitating the buses will increase the 12-year life expectancy of the vehicles by another six years...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Star Trans´s
* Washington - Goshen-based bus maker trying to recoup losses from faulty bus suit
(Photo by Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times: Metro Transit drivers complained about poor sight lines in these buses made by Goshen-based Supreme Corp. in a lawsuit that was settled out of court in June 2013)
King County,WASH,USA -The Elkhart Truth, by Jeff Parrott -June 12, 2014: -- A Goshen-based bus maker is suing its former insurance carrier in an effort to recoup at least $5 million it paid out in a lawsuit alleging its buses were defective... King County, Wash., in 2012 sued the Star Trans Bus Division of Supreme Corp., alleging 35 buses the company supplied its Seattle area transit system were poorly designed and manufactured, and had numerous defects that didn’t conform to contract specifications, making the buses unsafe for drivers and passengers. Because of the alleged defects, the buses were out of service for about 70 percent of the 20 months the transit system tried to use them, the county argued in court documents. The county claimed damages of nearly $10.6 million... In June 2013, the company and county reached an out-of-court settlement in which Supreme agreed to take back the buses and pay the county about $4.7 million, about $500,000 of which it recovered from subcontractors... Supreme had to borrow against its $35 million credit line to pay the settlement because its insurance carrier, Overland Park, Kan.-based First Specialty Insurance Corp., refused coverage. First Specialty asserted the policy Supreme had taken out only covered bodily injury or property damage the buses might have caused, or personal and advertising injury, none of which pertained to the King County case...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA - Proterra´s
* Colorado - Proterra Electric Bus travels 700 miles in 24 hours with regular recharging
(Photo: A Proterra electric bus)
Golden,COL,USA -Green Cars Reports, by Stephen Edelstein -May 10, 2014: -- While electric cars make headlines, a number of electric buses have silently made their way onto U.S. city streets as well--and they're proving that they can go the distance... Proterra, for instance, has now set a record for the most miles traveled by an electric bus in a day, according to Charged EVs... As part of a test conducted last month, one of Proterra's plug-in buses traveled 700 miles in 24 hours, over a route designed to simulate both urban commuter and central business-district routes and drive cycles... The bus was driven at an average 29 mph with the HVAC system running, and was charged periodically throughout the day using Proterra's own fast-charging stations... Proterra says the bus averaged 27 MPGe, which it claims is six times that of a conventional diesel bus in comparable conditions, and seven times that of a compressed-natural gas (CNG) bus...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA - Old buses fleet - New Flyer´s
* Florida - Consultant: Buses are safe, but fleet is very old
(Photo11: WTSP - School bus-stop sign)
Hillsborough County, Florida -WTSP, by Jennifer Titus -May 7, 2014: -- "The fleet is safe. The fleet is operating but, the big but, is that your fleet is old," says consultant Tom Platt... It's good news for the Hillsborough County School Board Wednesday morning after hearing straight from the consultant's mouth that the bus fleet is not dangerous for your child to ride but, like he said, there's a huge but... "2.2% of the buses are breaking down," says Platt... Since 2006, the school district has bought a total of 36 new buses and Tom Platt says this is the outcome... The consultant says 349 units in the fleet need to be purchased now and 193 more next year...
* Minnesota - St. Cloud bus maker grows with compact product
(Photo: Jason Wachter/St Cloud Times: New Flyer Plant Manager David Bendorf (left) and Craig "Bull" Ziebol, weld and MiDi project supervisor, talk April 4 about the new MiDi bus line with the first MiDi bus to be produced behind them)
St.Cloud,MINN,USA -St Cloud Times, by Kevin Allenspach -May 3, 2014: -- New Flyer is rolling out a new line of medium-duty buses in collaboration with a bus manufacturer in the United Kingdom. To make it happen, New Flyer has expanded its factory and workforce... The longtime heavy-duty bus manufacturer is in the process of rolling out a new model — the MiDi — a medium-sized, low-floor bus intended for medium-duty transit and shuttle services... Unlike the heavy-duty buses, which can be as much as 60 feet long, the MiDi is about half that...
* Pennsylvania - Five feet could make a difference in Pottsgrove bus fleet
Pottstown,PA,USA –The Post -2 May 2014: -- Pennsylvania is one of only five states that limits the length of school buses to 40 feet... A Lawrence County state senator wants to help untie the hand behind the bidding back of the Pottsgrove School District, or any other entity in Pennsylvania that needs to buy a school bus... The Board of School Directors late last month uthorized the district to begin seeking bids for two new school buses and two 9-passenger vans for the Pottsgrove bus fleet... The order to be placed by Pottsgrove limits the length of those buses to no more than 40 feet, the maximum-sized bus allowed on state roadways. Problem is, the availability of 40-foot buses is shrinking and their prices are rising. Most bus manufacturers now make vehicles 45 feet long, the maximum length allowable in all but five states...Labels: busmakers news USA
BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: ByD ´s
* California - Chinese investment in Lancaster reaches milestone with E-Bus plant
(Photo: A BYD Zero Emissions Bus)
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -NBC Los Angeles -Apr 28, 2014: -- The Antelope Valley city of Lancaster became the setting for a milestone in U.S.-China business relations: the first vehicle manufacturing plant established on U.S. soil by a Chinese company unveiled its first two completed electric buses intended for transit fleets... An American subsidiary of the Chinese BYD company showed off two completed battery powered buses, assembled in the Lancaster plant that opened last fall.Labels: busmakers news USA
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