Nova Bus

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Nova Bus is a bus manufacturing company based in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada. The company is now owned by Prevost, which is a division of Volvo Buses.

Nova Bus was created by a reorganization of the transit bus division of MCI in 1993, and continued the production of the Classic model (which was started by General Motors Diesel Division Buses in late 1982) until MCI bought the transit division in 1987. The RTS model, originating from General Motors, was also acquired by NovaBus.

They currently produce a single product, the Nova LFS, a low-floor urban transit bus, which was introduced in 1995. The last Classic model was produced in 1997. After closing their American assembly plants in Roswell, New Mexico, and Schenectady, New York, in 2002, Nova Bus basically withdrew from the U.S. bus market, instead primarily focusing on Canadian transit. This was a result of the Nova LFS performing poorly compared to the Classic and RTS.

Current Models

  • Low Floor Series (LFS) - 40 foot Low floor transit bus with a stainless steel structure, diesel engine and wheelchair accessible (1995-present)
  • LFS Suburban - 40 foot Suburban bus (single and two door variations)
  • LFS Shuttle - 40 foot shuttle bus
  • LFS Articulated - 60 foot articulated bus, currently completing testing, with full production expected in 2007, and orders are anticpated by RTC, who have already called for tenders on an articulated bus order, and STM in Montréal.
  • LFS HEV - NovaBus is now marketing a hybrid electric bus as well, using an Allison hybrid drive system in order to help them compete better with their main rivals who already offer hybrid buses. This should also help NovaBus become more competitive outside of eastern Canada (where few NovaBus products have been sold), and to provide this option to Quebec-based systems, who usually only purchase from NovaBus, as the nine large, public systems in that province purchase as a consortium and receive a lower price by doing so than if they each called for individual tenders.

Past Models

  • Rapid Transit Series (RTS) - developed by General Motors Diesel Division Buses (1977-2003), although no longer produced by NovaBus, a small company named Millennium Transit now builds them) RT80-2W
  • Classic - high floor buses (developed as a redesign of the original GM New Look) originally produced by GMDD (1983 - 1987), then MCI (1987-1993), and by NovaBus from 1993 - 1997. Models: TC40102N (40", 102' wide) and TC60102N (60", 102' wide, articulated)