Nova BUS Delivers Its 1,000th Low-Floor Bus
2 December 1999
Nova BUS Delivers Its 1,000th Low-Floor Bus
SAINT-EUSTACHE, Quebec, Canada, Dec. 1 - Nova BUS management is
proud to announce that it is delivering today its 1,000th LFS low-floor urban
transit bus to the Montreal South Shore Transit Authority (MSSTA). This
model, designed in cooperation with many transit authorities, has a stainless
steel frame manufactured by the employees of Nova FABTECH as well as
technological components and a body developed and assembled by Nova BUS
employees in Saint-Eustache.
``With 1,000 vehicles now in circulation in Quebec, Canada and the United
States, it can be said that Nova BUS' LFS low-floor bus has become a great
success in North America's urban transit industry,'' said Mr. Gilles Tardif,
General Manager of Nova BUS, at the official ceremony held at the STRSM's
administrative center in Longueuil.
As for the Chairman of the Board of the MSSTA, Mr. Claude Gladu, he
insisted on congratulating the artisans responsible for the production of this
avant-gardist bus model. ``We all deserve to be congratulated because the
success of Nova BUS' low-floor bus is a matter of team work and involves the
customer as much as the manufacturer.''
Since the Saint-Eustache bus plant reopened its doors in 1993, the Quebec
transit authorities had insisted that the founders of Nova BUS design and
assemble here in Quebec a better performing new bus model and one better
adapted to the needs of a mobility impaired clientele. Thus, it was in
collaboration with the engineers, drivers and mechanics of Quebec transit
authorities that Nova BUS designers drew the plans for the LFS low-floor bus
model that was marketed in Quebec for the first time at the end of 1996.
In addition to the fact that the floor of the bus can be lowered to about
20 cm off the ground in order to facilitate the boarding of mobility impaired
passengers and that the vehicle offers an access ramp as well as a space for
wheel chairs, the LFS model manufactured by Nova BUS has many other
interesting features. Its frame is made of stainless steel, its electronically
controlled motor is less polluting, its interior and exterior sidings are
graffiti-proof and its electric and hydraulic systems are state-of-the-art.
The quality of the LFS is such that the Chicago Transit Authority has
decided to order 150 units as well as retaining an option for the purchase of
300 other vehicles. This quality was recently recognized in a study jointly
conducted by the Government of Canada's Transport Department, Transport Quebec
and the Montreal Urban Community Transit Corporation (MUCTC), which concluded
that the LFS satisfies the rigorous urban transit standards required by
Quebec's harsh climatic conditions.
Nova BUS, a division of Prevost Car Inc., which is a subsidiary of Volvo
Bus Corporation, is the leading designer and manufacturer of urban transit
buses in North America. The company operates four plants, two of which are
located in Quebec, namely in Saint-Eustache and Saint-Franois-du-Lac, a third
in Schenectady in New York State, and a fourth in Roswell, New Mexico, as well
as a parts distribution centers in Montreal and Chicago.
SOURCE Nova BUS