Nova Bus (stylized as NOVABUS) is a Canadian bus manufacturer headquartered in

Saint-Eustache, Quebec Saint-Eustache () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in western Quebec, Canada, west of Montreal on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles. It is located northwest of Montreal. History The city was founded in 1770 and was incorpo ...

, Canada. Nova is owned by the

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Group. The company has roots in the

General Motors Diesel Division General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD) was a marketing and customer service unit of General Motors founded in 1938. It sought customers for GM's diesel engines, which had undergone major development during the 1930s. It was most active in associa ...

, which opened in 1979. Nova Bus was established in 1993, by Nova Quintech, through the acquisition of

Dial Corporation Henkel Corporation, doing business as Henkel North American Consumer Goods, and formerly The Dial Corporation, is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut. It is a manufacturer of personal care and household cleaning products, and is ...

's transit division which consisted of

Motor Coach Industries Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is a North American multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in production of motorcoaches. Best known for coaches produced for intercity transit and commuter buses, MCI produces coaches for a variety of appli ...

and

Transportation Manufacturing Corporation Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) was a bus manufacturer based in Roswell, New Mexico. The company was formed in 1974 by Greyhound Bus Lines to manufacture Motor Coach Industries vehicles. In 1987, General Motors decided to close ...

. Volvo took partial ownership of Nova Bus in 1998 and complete ownership in 2004.

History

Nova Bus's Saint-Eustache factory is a former

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

plant that built city transit buses for the Canadian and US market. Inaugurated in 1979, the plant was used to produce the New Look bus (up to 1983) and the

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

(starting 1982) model for sales in Canada. In 1987 GM sold its bus-building holdings to Greyhound Dial Corporation, the parent company of

(MCI) while GMC's

Rapid Transit Series The Rapid Transit Series (RTS) city bus is a long-running series of transit buses that was originally manufactured by GMC Truck and Coach Division during 1977, in Pontiac, Michigan. First produced in 1977, the RTS was GMC's offering of an Adv ...

(RTS) product was moved to join MCI's own designs at

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

. By the 1990s, Dial intended to sell its transportation manufacturing and service divisions. The St-Eustache facility was faced with closure. The entity, known as NovaBus Corporation, was formed by individuals from Nova Quintech and the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec to acquire MCI's St-Eustache facility from Dial. Nova Quintech was formed in 1991 after a group of investors purchased the assets of the bankrupt fire truck manufacturer Camions Pierre Thibault Inc. The Government of Quebec agreed to contribute a $2.5-million, interest-free loan, and $10 million in loan guarantees. In addition, they agreed to purchase over 300 buses between 1993 and 1994. The sale of the MCI's St-Eustache operations occurred on July 6, 1993. MCI and TMC were spun-off from Dial in 1993, and merged with Mexican

DINA S.A. DINA (''Diesel Nacional, S.A. de C.V'', in English: ''National Diesel'') is a Mexican bus and truck manufacturer based in Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo, Mexico. It was created by the federal government of Mexico in 1951 as Diesel Nacional, S.A., and ...

, who sold the TMC plant and RTS rights to Nova Bus in 1994. The RTS model was continued to be produced in the Roswell plant to meet Buy America requirements. The Nova Classic and Nova RTS were later discontinued in order to concentrate on the Nova LFS, a

low floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

city bus, which was announced in 1994 with deliveries starting in 1997. The last Classic model was produced in 1997. Sales of Nova RTS were insufficient and Nova Bus closed its Roswell and

Niskayuna, New York Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 23,278 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county. ...

plants in 2002 to concentrate all efforts on the Canadian market. The Roswell plant was later acquired by a local consortium,

Millennium Transit Services The Rapid Transit Series (RTS) city bus is a long-running series of transit buses that was originally manufactured by GMC Truck and Coach Division during 1977, in Pontiac, Michigan. First produced in 1977, the RTS was GMC's offering of an Advanc ...

, that almost went bankrupt in 2008, then emerged from bankruptcy in 2011. The

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , o ...

(CTA), which in 1998, placed an order for 484 LFS units that were manufactured and delivered between 2000 and 2002, was the first US customer to purchase a large order of this model, and remains one of the larger operators of Nova LFS buses. By 1998, Nova Bus was then acquired by

Volvo Buses Volvo Buses (Volvo Bus Corporation / formal name: ''Volvo Bussar AB'') (stylized as VOLVO) is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Gothenburg. It is on ...

and

Prevost Car Prevost (, , formally known as Prevost Car) is a Canadian manufacturer of touring coaches and bus shells for high-end motorhomes and specialty conversions. The company is a subsidiary of the Volvo Buses division of the Volvo Group. History ...

who owned 51% of the company while

Henlys Group Henlys Group PLC was a major London motor distributor and dealer founded in 1917 in London's Great Portland Street. In the 1980s it was taken over by a company associated with Michael Ashcroft then some years later sold to Yorkshire bus manufa ...

owned 49%. Volvo acquired Henlys remaining interest in 2004. On February 2, 2008, NovaBus announced plans for the construction of a new assembly plant in

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

, signifying the company's return to the US bus market. The plant opened on June 15, 2009. The first order from a US-based customer came from the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

(NYCTA) for 90 LFS articulated buses; the NYCTA now has nearly 500 articulated and non-articulated LFSs. In March 2010, Nova Bus received the first order for the US-built, redesigned LFS from

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

's TheBus; 24 were delivered in December 2010. TheBus planned to order more, but ultimately chose buses from

Gillig Gillig (formerly Gillig Brothers) is an American designer and manufacturer of buses. The company headquarters, along with its manufacturing operations, is located in Livermore, California (in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area) ...

instead. In March 2012, the Walt Disney Company announced that it plans to test a Nova articulated bus on certain high traffic routes at the Walt Disney World Resort. In 2012, the

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

(SEPTA) ordered 315 buses, including 225 articulated buses to replace its aging

Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It is a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE. History Foundations The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and man ...

AN460 articulated buses and its remaining

North American Bus Industries NABI Bus, LLC (NABI) is a former manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses with its headquarters, bus manufacturing and assembly operations, located in Anniston, Alabama. Its products ranged from 31-feet to 60-feet in length, and were sold to ...

NABI 416 The NABI SFW was a line of standard (high)-floor transit buses available in 40' rigid (NABI 416) and 60' articulated (NABI 436) nominal lengths, manufactured by the Ikarus USA joint venture, then by American Ikarus and North American Bus Indus ...

standard buses; the articulated hybrid buses were introduced in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on October 27, 2014. In 2013, the

placed an order for 300 40 foot Nova Bus clean-diesel buses, with an option to buy an additional 150.

Products

Current

The LFS (Low Floor Series) is currently the only vehicle built by Nova Bus. It was the first bus designed by the company and entered production in 1996. Since being introduced, the LFS has been redesigned several times, across four generations. Introduced as a diesel-fueled, rigid bus, several variants have been offered over the last several decades of production. Several alternative powertrains have been offered including

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

(CNG) fueled engines, diesel-electric hybrids (both series and parallel arrangements) and battery-electric.

Articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

versions have been offered since 2009. Nova Bus also offers suburban configurations of their 40-foot buses with one door and

motorcoach A coach (or coach bus/motorcoach) is a type of bus built for longer-distance service, in contrast to transit buses that are typically used within a single metropolitan region. Often used for touring, intercity, and international bus service ...

style seating, and previously offered special bodywork styling packages for 62-foot buses intended for use on

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

services.

Past

References

External links