New Flyer is a Canadian multinational

bus manufacturer Bus manufacturing, a sector of the automotive industry, manufactures buses and coaches. History Bus manufacturing had its earliest origins in carriage building. Other bus manufacturers had their origins in truck manufacturing. Historically, ...

, specializing in the production of

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

es. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States that produce the company's main product, the

New Flyer Xcelsior The New Flyer Xcelsior is a line of transit buses available in 35' rigid, 40' rigid, and 60' articulated nominal lengths manufactured by New Flyer Industries since 2008. In addition to the different available lengths, the buses are sold with a ...

family of buses.

History

New Flyer was founded by John Coval in 1930 as the Western Auto and Truck Body Works Ltd in Manitoba. The company began producing buses in 1937, selling their first full buses to Grey Goose Bus Lines in 1937, before releasing their Western Flyer bus model in 1941, prompting the company to change its name to Western Flyer Coach in 1948. In the 1960s, the company further focused on the

urban transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

bus market. In 1971, the then-financially struggling Western Flyer was sold to the Manitoba Development Corporation, an agency of the government of

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, and renamed Flyer Industries Limited.Stauss, Ed (1988). ''The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses''. Woodland Hills, CA (USA): Stauss Publications. . In 1974 the opposition

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Manitoba) is a centre-right political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is currently the governing party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, after winnin ...

had urged the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

government in power to divest Flyer Industries from government ownership. On July 15, 1986, Jan den Oudsten, a descendant of the family who formed Dutch bus manufacturer Den Oudsten Bussen BV, purchased Flyer Industries from the Manitoba government, changing its name to New Flyer Industries Limited. New Flyer designed and tested North America's first

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 ...

in 1988 and delivered the first production model, called the D40LF, to the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

in 1991. In 1994, New Flyer delivered the first

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 ...

bus in North America and the world's first

hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

powered bus. In 1995, the company delivered the first low-floor

articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a banana bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, wiggle wagon, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is u ...

in North America to

Strathcona County Transit Strathcona County Transit provides local, commuter, and school bus services to the community of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, which is east of Edmonton in Strathcona County. Transportation for elderly citizens and people with disabilities is p ...

. In March 2002, New Flyer was acquired by

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

, an investment company that specializes in turning around struggling businesses, for $44 million. Later that year Jan den Oudsten retired as CEO. He was later inducted into the

American Public Transportation Association The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit group of approximately 1,500 public and private sector member organizations that promotes and advocates for the interests of the public transportation industry in the United S ...

's Hall of Fame for his work at the company. In 2003,

King County Metro King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

placed an order for 213 hybrid buses, the world's first large order for hybrid buses. On December 15, 2003, New Flyer was purchased by

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firms

Harvest Partners Harvest Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle market industrial, business services, consumer and retail companies. The firm, which was founded in 1981 by Harvey Mallement and Ha ...

and

Lightyear Capital Lightyear Capital is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in financial services companies. The firm, which is based in New York City, was founded in 2002 with the backing of UBS AG by Donald Marron. ...

. The company's CEO, John Marinucci, called the purchase an indicator that the company's operational and financial turnaround had been accomplished. On August 19, 2005, New Flyer became a publicly traded company on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the ...

, renaming the company to New Flyer Industries Canada ULC and creating the publicly traded parent company NFI Group Inc. 2005 also saw a restyling of New Flyer's popular low-floor coaches with new front and rear endcaps, to modernize and streamline the exterior appearance of the bus. In June 2012 New Flyer, in a joint venture with

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi ...

, the

Government,

Manitoba Hydro The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board, operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Boa ...

and

Red River College Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech) is a List of colleges in Canada, college located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the province's largest institute of applied learning and applied research, with over 200 degree, diploma, and cer ...

, unveiled a fully electric battery-powered bus. In May 2012, New Flyer and

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, E ...

announced a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

to design and manufacture medium-duty low-floor bus (or midi bus) for the North American market. The bus, called the New Flyer MiDi, was based on the design of the

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative but ...

. Alexander Dennis engineered and tested the bus, and it was built and marketed by New Flyer under contract. During the partnership around 200 buses were delivered to 22 operators in Canada and US. In May 2017, New Flyer and Alexander Dennis announced their joint venture would end and production of the bus would transition to Alexander Dennis' new North American factory in Indiana where it is produced alongside the double-deck Enviro500 series bus.Enviro200 joint venture terminates ''

Buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

'' issue 748 July 2017 page 21 Alexander Dennis was later purchased by New Flyer in 2019.

Models

References

External links

Official website

{{Automotive industry in the United States Bus manufacturers of Canada Canadian brands Canadian companies established in 1930 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1930 Hybrid electric bus manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Winnipeg Natural gas vehicles Trolleybus manufacturers 1930 establishments in Manitoba