Valley Metro (Phoenix) Bus Fleet - Vehicle Suppliers

Vehicle Suppliers

Since 1998, the cities of Phoenix and Tempe along with the RPTA have purchased coaches from North American Bus Industries (NABI); since 2004, Valley Metro has returned to purchasing coaches from New Flyer due to the late delivery of the NABI 45C-LFWs and the most recent NABI 40-LFW order.

Valley Metro was the original launch customer for the NABI 45C-LFW Compobus for its BRT and commuter express lines in the city of Phoenix as well as Tempe (the Phoenix RAPID buses have a different paint scheme (silver and green) from all other Valley Metro buses); other models in wide use include the nationally popular 40-LFW and 35-LFW (both of which Valley Metro was also the launch customer). Older RTS coaches manufactured by Transportation Manufacturing Corporation and D40LFs manufactured by New Flyer that were built in 1994 and 1996 were mostly phased out in 2007.

Since 2004, most of Valley Metro's bus orders have been composed of former options from other transit agencies from around the western United States; these options were either added to by Valley Metro or cancelled and taken up by Valley Metro. Although this limits Valley Metro's ability to order buses to its own specifications, it also allows for quicker bus delivery, which has become essential due to Valley Metro's rapid expansion. For more information, see the roster below.

In April 2006, RPTA put the first New Flyer C40LFR restyled transit buses into service in America; these vehicles are being used on the routes it directly operates in Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and the surrounding areas. In summer 2006, Valley Metro also was the first customer outside of California to purchase the NABI 60-BRT; these buses were attached to the large Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority order and were built with similar specifications. These buses run on the same routes as the C40LFs. In January 2006, the RPTA leased 20 Nova Bus RTS suburban buses from Golden Gate Transit that are used on Mesa and Chandler express routes. In March 2007, Phoenix negotiated a short-term (six-month) lease of three RTS buses from Omnitrans to operate local routes that were served by Phoenix-purchased RTS buses and New Flyer D40LF buses that had been taken out of service earlier than expected.

For 2008 Valley Metro continued the purchase of New Flyer equipment with an order of 51 C40LFR CNG suburban buses, 1 DE40LFR hybrid suburban bus, 20 L40LF LNG transit buses, and 10 New Flyer D62LFA buses (Valley Metro is the third agency to order this bus type and the first to order it with a straight diesel engine) for more East Valley "supergrid" expansion and express route expansion. Unlike the 2007 D40LFR buses, the 2008 C40LFR and DE40LFR buses have a "transit" configuration with two more wheelchair positions, more inward-facing seating, and no headrests. The DE40LFR was used as a pilot bus to test hybrid-electric technology. Also in 2008, Valley Metro tested a Motor Coach Industries D4500CT bus as a candidate for replacing their leased Nova Bus RTS vehicles.

On October 29, 2008, Valley Metro's Phoenix division became the first transit agency in the United States to place a large-scale order for the ElDorado National Axess bus, as well as the first transit agency to order an LNG-powered model of the Axess. While there have been several orders for this bus by smaller transit agencies and airports (Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport being one of them), this is the first large-scale purchase of an ElDorado National 40-foot bus in history. However, the order was eventually cancelled due to the economy.

As of 2009, Valley Metro has begun rehabilitating a large percentage of its NABI 40-LFW fleet operated from the Phoenix and Tempe divisions. The rehabilitation process involves external changes such as new signs and a new paint-job consisting of the new Valley Metro scheme, and internal changes such as new seat cushions, window repair/replacement. Buses 6001-6256 are consisting of Phase One of this rehabilitation, but it is likely that other models will be rehabilitated as well. These buses are commonly operated on North/South routes such as 0, 8, 12, 16 and 27, but can also be seen on East/West routes such as 90 and 106 if buses on the route are running at full capacity. Buses 6157-6163 from Veolia-RPTA have also been selected for rehabilitation, They were rehabilitated in 2010.

In extremely rare situations (such as when an express trip has extremely low ridership, when an express bus trip is overcrowded, or if a bus breaks down and there is no replacement nearby), Veolia-RPTA will use former paratransit vehicles in regular service.

In November 2003, Valley Metro ordered 50 Kinki Sharyo Light Rail Vehicles for its METRO Light Rail service.

In March 2012, the city of Phoenix issued an RFP for a five-year contract for new diesel and LNG buses, with 40 buses per year. Bids were due April 5. Four manufacturers proposed bids for the contract: New Flyer Industries, North American Bus Industries, Gillig, and ElDorado National, with only New Flyer Industries submitting a bid. However, the RFP was cancelled after the city of Phoenix hired a fuel consultant, determining that future purchases should consist of CNG buses instead of LNG. The city of Phoenix will instead be purchasing 120 New Flyer CNG buses off the RPTA contract.

Meanwhile, the city of Tempe intends on replacing its ORBIT fleet with 35 new cutaway buses, as well as one 30-foot heavy-duty bus as a pilot project for using larger buses on ORBIT. RFPs for the new ORBIT buses was issued by the RPTA in September 2012, with the contracts awarded to ElDorado National and StarTrans in December 2012.

The RPTA's existing contract with New Flyer is set to expire on July 1, 2013. New Flyer and Gillig have sent demo buses that the RPTA is currently testing (a Montebello Bus Lines New Flyer XN40 and a Utah Transit Authority Gillig BRT CNG 40'). A third manufacturer, North American Bus Industries, elected not to send a demo, but a parts director. The RFP is expected to be issued in the fall of 2013.