New Flyer opened a new bus service facility in Ontario earlier this year, creating more than 50 new local jobs. The facility helps to support delivery and maintenance service of the 550 buses ordered by Metro.
The buses are built in the manufacturing plant in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Once they are approximately 80 percent to 90 percent complete, they make the 2,200-mile trek from St. Cloud to Ontario. The drive acts as a “breaking in” and helps New Flyer perform final testing and performance evaluation before the buses are sent into service. At the Ontario facility, buses undergo final build–i.e. the installation of seats, support rails and decals as well as testing and safety acceptance. They are then handed over to the operating agency.
The facility has already finished and delivered 66 buses, many of them Metro buses that are already in service on the streets of L.A.
Categories: Transportation News
Of course, if it weren’t for the crappy business environment here in LA, we would be manufacturing the buses right here in LA so as to create even more jobs.
Kevin, they are Canadian buses, assembled in Minnesota and now getting finishing touches in Ontario, California, instead of Minnesota, which is one city away from the (arbitrary) L.A. County line. How provinicial must we get? There are lots of available warehouses in Ontario and It is a central location for servicing other NewFlyer/NABI customers in Southern California.
Wow, in this picture ( http://thesource.metro.net/2014/04/02/new-flyer-holds-open-house-for-new-bus-facility-in-ontario/#jp-carousel-65938 ), the new Foothill bus only came into service for less than six months is now requiring some serious maintenance. I noticed that the 2013 model is very noisy. The ride quality is not as smooth as the 45-foot NABI buses. I wonder will New Flyers for Metro be more quieter and offer a smoother ride than their 2013 models.
Also the ones delivered to Foothill have luggage racks and LED reading lights above the seats. Will the ones for Metro have those features? Metro buses do need luggage racks because riders tend to carry bulky items on crowded buses.
why are they building them in Ontario and not la county?
Nice buses although I would have liked to see more 45 foot buses added to the fleet. I guess Flyer when they bought NABI discontinued them. The 45 foot buses have more seats. This will mean the last of the high floor buses will be gone. Their wheel chair lifts have been a constant problem getting stuck while deployed and clearing them was not that hard for a supervisor or mechanic to do but the bus was stuck until help arrived.
ATTENTION WHEEL CHAIR PATRONS:
Lower floor wheel chair ramps can be deployed and stowed manually, don’t let a lazy bus operator pass you up.
i cant wait to drive one of those
WOW!!!! I can’t believe it enough that New Flyer has finally opened a local bus housing facility in southern California. Woo-Woo! I can’t wait to see these amazing New Flyer Xcelsior’s (XN40) in action on the LA Metro, the arrow dynamics are this vehicle are bananas. Ultra Light-Weight and extremely sharp and sleek turns.
GO METRO!
How many cameras on these nice looking units to keep etching and other hooliganism down?
Is the open house over? Or can it be attended by the public? I’d love to see the facility!
Lol, I like that one random Foothill Transit bus
Looking good. Any word on what kind of MPG and decibel improvements these buses offer? (I assume they are not hybrids, though it would be nice to see those phased in over the next decade or so.)