Nova BUS Wins the Bid For 439 Buses in Quebec

7 March 2000
Nova BUS Wins the Bid For 439 Buses in Quebec
    SAINT-EUSTACHE, Canada, March 7 /CNW-PRN/ - The Quebec Urban Transit
Association (QUTA) announced that Nova BUS is the apparent successful bidder
for the manufacturing and delivery of 439 low floor buses to the different
public transportation authorities of Quebec over the next two years. According
to QUTA officials, Nova BUS offered not only the most competitive price but
also the only proposition that respected all of QUTA's complex specifications.
The contract has now been submitted to the Ministry of Transport of Quebec for
approval.
    Out of the total order, 300 buses are for the Montreal Urban Community
Transit Corporation (MUCTC), the largest urban transit authority in Quebec.
Two hundred of their vehicles are to be delivered in 2001 and the rest in
2002. The MUCTC will then be operating 756 Low-Floor Series Nova BUS
representing nearly half of its fleet.
    ``With the delivery of this order, nearly 1,200 Nova low-floor buses will
be in passenger service all across Quebec making 40% of the total fleet of the
province accessible to handicapped and mobility impaired passengers'', noted
Mr. Robert Shaughnessy, President of Nova BUS.
    The LFS model, designed with input from many transit authorities, has a
frame manufactured by the employees of Nova FABTECH in Saint-Francois-du-Lac,
as well as technological components and a body developed and assembled by Nova
BUS employees in Saint-Eustache, in Quebec.
    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, the vehicle offers an access ramp as well as 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
engine is less polluting, its interior and exterior sidings are
graffiti-resistant and its electric and hydraulic components utilize
state-of-the-art control systems.
    The Nova LFS is fast becoming the new symbol of efficiency in urban
transit.  The combination of low floor and wide doors also allows for better
and faster flow of passengers which, in turns, translates in shorter stops,
less idle time and a more economical operation.
    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-Francois-du-Lac, a third
in Schenectady, NY, and a fourth in Roswell, NM.

    Source  Nova BUS