Grande West Transportation

[DaimlerBuses]

Oakville Transit 1709

 

Oakville Transit 1609

 

Grande West Vicinity Interior

 

 

Grande West Transportation (www.grandewest.com) is a newer player in the US transit market, offering it's Vicinity heavy duty low floor bus. The Vicinity has been Altoona tested for a heavy duty 12 year life cycle and is now available in 27.5', 30' and 35' lengths with diesel or CNG propulsion. 

 

Grande West, based in Canada, was formed in 2008 in response to a request for information by BC Transit (British Columbia) about mid sized low floor buses. Seeing that the need for a heavy duty mid-sized bus was not being adequately filled, Grande West partnered with BC Transit and developed the Vicinity bus.

 

Grande West partnered with the Yanzhou Yaxing Motor Coach Company to help bring the Vicinity to life after no suitable North American . Yaxing is a subsidary of Weichai and had many years of experience building buses and motorcoaches.

 

When designing the Vicinity, Grande West wanted to ensure that the bus would meet the needs of the North American Transit market. The Vicinity uses many of the same features as a standard North American transit bus and the major components are sourced from North American suppliers - such as a integral monocque frame, Cummins engine, ZF or Voith Transmission, Voith axle, Vansco electrical system, disc brakes, and EMP cooling fans. The interior can also be specified with the usual RCA Rubber or Altro transflor and any choice of American Seating or 4ONE seats. 

 

The company has been very successful in the Canadian market and many Canadian transit systems have received Vicinity buses or have some on order. The first Vicinity demo, a 27.5' version was placed into service with BC Transit in early 2010 and operated for over a year to evaluate the performance of the bus in multiple conditions including harsh winter weather. BC Transit then ordered an additional 15 27.5' Vicinity buses which were delivered in 2013. Since then, sales in Canada have grown and in June 2016, BC Transit placed another order for 112 Vicinity buses in 30' and 35' lengths which are currently being delivered into 2018.

 

In June 2016, Grande West announced that Alliance Bus Group would be the exclusive sales and support partner for Vicinity buses in the US. The first US order was received in November 2016 and is for 13 35' CNG Vicinity buses for shuttle service at Atlanta International Airport. Atlanta's MARTA also purchased 10 30' Vicinity buses and has placed them in service. MARTA's order was not purchased using federal funds and was assembled in China.

 

In March 2017, Grande West announced that Alliance Bus Group would convert their facility in Atlanta, Georgia to produce Buy America compliant Vicinity buses for sale to the US market. This has allowed Grande West to bid on any public and private RFP that requires Buy America compliance. 

 

Closer to New York, Grande West announced in June that 10 Vicinity buses would be delivered to private operators in New York, Boston, and Boca Raton, Florida. It has not been confirmed who exactly in New York is getting some of those 10 buses however Academy did demo a Vicinity a while ago. 

 

If the Canadian market is any indication, Grande West could stand to make gains in the US, taking away a good portion of Eldorado's EZ Rider sales and if things go right, they could give the 30' Gillig low floor a run for their money. 

 

Some relevant news about Vicinity in the US:

 

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-secures-first-us-customer-600531071.html

 

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-announces-first-us-public-transit-order-617171393.html

 

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-secures-usa-manufacturing-in-atlanta-georgia-617291243.html

 

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-gains-traction-in-the-us-private-market-628845173.html

 

http://grandewest.com/inthenews/vicinity-orders-breaking-records-across-canada

 

 

 

[Blitz]

The bus looks like a cross between the Orion BIO NG and the Nova LEG. Wouldn't mind seeing a 40' version, but I don't think they have enough of a platform to compete with the big boys (nova and new flyer)

[DaimlerBuses]

Of course a few days after I type out that post a magazine article comes out that sums up the company nicely. It's detailed and worth a read:

 

http://grandewest.com/sites/default/files/Vicinity.PDF