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Toronto's First Order to Nova Bus Corporation

8 July 1997

TORONTO'S FIRST ORDER TO NOVA BUS CORPORATION

    SAINT-EUSTACHE, Quebec, July 8 -- Canadian based Nova BUS
Corporation is pleased to announce the conclusion of a first sales contract
with the Toronto Transit Commission. The TTC will acquire two RTS and one
low-floor LFS from Nova BUS at a cost of nearly $ 1.2 M. Furthermore, Toronto
showed its interest for an option on 150 extra buses at an estimated cost of
nearly $ 65 M.
    "We are very happy to introduce our Nova LFS and RTS buses to Toronto
passengers and we intend to do our best to become a major supplier to the
TTC," declared Scott A. Mintier, President and Chief Operating Officer of
Nova BUS Corporation.
    The recent removal of restrictions on inter-provincial bus purchases and
the low quality of the existing fleet of vehicles in Toronto both made it
possible for Nova BUS to get this first contract. "Unfortunately, we have
experienced continued poor and unreliable performance of the current fleet of
135 Orion V and the 50 CNG Orion V vehicles. In addition, delivery of the new
Orion VI buses has been very unpredictable", stated the TTC staff in their
recommendation adopted by the TTC at its June 24th meeting.
    All three Canadian bus manufacturers were invited to submit a proposal to
the TTC. Rather than submitting a responsive proposal, Orion provided a letter
expressing their concerns with the procurement process. New Flyer responded
and received an order for one low floor bus, while Nova BUS was awarded a
contract for three vehicles. TTC has a fleet of some 1,500 buses to serve over
2 million riders. It plans to order more than 350 new buses by the year 2001.
    Nova BUS Corporation is the largest designer and manufacturer of urban
transit buses in North America. In 1996, the company assembled and delivered
close to 1,500 urban transit buses. It has 1,700 employees and annual sales of
nearly $ 450 million.

SOURCE  Nova Bus Corporation