Optima Bus, LLC, formerly Chance Coach Inc., was a brand of small transit buses manufactured by
North American Bus Industries. It was established in 1976 in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...
.
It was originally the
trolley-replica and conventional-bus production business of Chance Industries, Inc. In 1998, Chance Coach, Inc. was sold to American Capital Strategies, which rebranded the company as Optima Bus Corporation in 2003. American Capital subsequently sold Optima to
North American Bus Industries, who closed the Kansas assembly plant on August 8, 2007, with production moved to their existing plant in
Anniston, Alabama
Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. Ac ...
. Optima Bus is now North American Bus Industries, Inc.
Models
Current
* Opus: under or under
low-floor bus
A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low ...
, design based on
Wrightbus bodywork
* American Heritage Streetcar AH-28 - trolley-style body on bus chassis
;Opus ISE series hybrid
* Opus ISE Series Hybrid Buses is a
hybrid Opus version.
[http://www.isecorp.com/ise_news/ise_press_releases/june-26-2007-Opus-dieselhybrid.php , isecorp.com, 08-12-13] It utilizes
ISE Ise may refer to:
Places
*Ise, Mie, a city in Japan
** Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie
* Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria
* Ise, Norway, a village in Norway
* Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan
* River Ise, a tributary of ...
-Siemens ThunderVolt hybrid technology built around
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
ELFA
motors,
generators and
inverters
A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...
.
Historic
*Chance RT-52 is a small Shuttle Bus used in Hawaii. 17 Chance RT-52 Shuttle bus still in service.
Chance manufactured the Sunliner trams, an open-air towed tram used at various parks and zoos in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
.
See also
*
RT-52
References
External links
Optima page on North American Bus Industries siteOpus ISE Series Hybrid Bus
{{North American bus builders
Bus manufacturers of the United States
Hybrid electric bus manufacturers
Companies based in Wichita, Kansas
Private equity portfolio companies
Cerberus Capital Management companies
Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States