Daimler Buses North America, Inc. (Daimler Buses), a manufacturer of transit buses, motorcoaches and shuttle buses, has received an initial order of up to 500 diesel-electric hybrid buses, with options for up to 200 buses, from King County Metro in Seattle, Washington. The base, first year order is for 93 hybrid units. This order comes as Daimler Buses also announces orders totaling 225 Orion VII transit buses, 30 Setra S 417 motorcoaches and 15 Sprinter shuttle buses.
“We are pleased seeing repeat orders and also seeing new customers joining the Daimler family in our latest wave of bus orders,” said Patrick Scully, chief commercial officer for Daimler Buses. “We provide a unique advantage for customers by providing a diverse full-line product portfolio that allows customers to work with one, solid company.”
The order of Orion VII diesel-electric hybrids from King County of Seattle represents a city dedicated to cleaner public transit solutions. The first year order of hybrid buses will be delivered to Seattle beginning in mid-2010. Other hybrid orders in August 2009 includes an order for 80 hybrid buses to OC Transpo, the urban transit service for the City of Ottawa, Canada. This will bring Ottawa’s hybrid fleet to 177 Orion buses, making them the third largest hybrid fleet in Canada. Roosevelt Island, New York has ordered one additional hybrid bus as well.
“Daimler remains committed to promoting clean drive technologies which will shape future transportation,” said Andreas Strecker, president and chief executive officer of Daimler Buses. “These additional orders for the Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid bus further maintain Daimler’s position as the world’s hybrid bus leader – a position that we intend to retain through product excellence and continued innovative firsts.”
Additional orders for the Orion VII transit bus were also received as follows. 75 Orion VII clean-diesel buses were ordered by Veolia Transportation (Veolia) for its service for the New Orleans Transit Authority (RTA). Veolia and RTA’s fleet is currently 70% Orion or Sprinter shuttles, another product of Daimler Buses. In San Francisco, California, Veolia has ordered 30 Setra S 417 motorcoaches and 15 Sprinter shuttle buses.
Suffolk County of New York has ordered 55 Orion VII clean-diesel buses in varying lengths and requested an additional 28 transit buses pending ARRA funding. These buses will be delivered in 2010.
The University of Oklahoma’s Transportation Services, CART (Cleveland Area Rapid Transit) has ordered five Orion VII Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation of North Carolina (PART) has ordered an additional five Orion VII clean-diesel buses as well. Saint John Transit Commission in Canada has ordered three Orion VII clean-diesel transit buses and Sault Ste. Marie, Canada has ordered an additional Orion VII clean-diesel bus to its existing order.
Daimler Buses continues to operate with a full order board for 2009. These buses will be produced in 2010 and beyond.