New York City will soon have a more environmentally friendly way to transport its citizens and visitors: 325 Orion VII hybrid buses — the largest order ever for heavy-duty hybrid buses.

The Orion VII with the HybriDrive propulsion system is an advanced, low-floor, high-capacity transit bus designed to help operators achieve significantly lower emissions, higher fuel economy, reduced brake maintenance, and better acceleration.

“The entire industry is paying close attention to see how the Orion VII performs in New York. We’re confident it will come through with flying colors,” said Mark Brager, Director of Sales, Orion Bus Industries.

According to Brager, the hybrid propulsion system in the Orion VII bus reduces emissions by up to 90 percent while providing up to 50 percent better fuel economy. It’s also diesel compatible, avoiding costly infrastructure.

Orion Bus was the first company to have hybrid buses in actual everyday service. With over half a million miles accumulated in revenue service, Orion understands hybrid electric buses better than anyone. The feedback Orion Bus has received on this clean bus has been extremely positive.

“For passengers, the Orion VII hybrid bus provides a very smooth ride, since a transmission is not required. For operators, the Orion VII hybrid makes a lot of sense. It accelerates smartly while returning better fuel economy than regular fuel vehicles,” Brager added.

The Orion VII hybrid comes equipped with the Cummins ISB engine. The ISB 5.9 liter is the only engine today that is certified to the new EPA urban bus standards of NOx 2.5 g/bhp-hr and PM 0.05 g/bhp-hr. And it’s the only engine sized appropriately for a hybrid-electric transit bus. The HybriDrive system and Cummins technology make the Orion VII hybrid the cleanest, most efficient, and most advanced diesel bus available for commercial use.

Orion also provides a bus for those municipalities whose needs are best met by CNG propulsion.

“The heavy-duty Orion V has been the workhorse of the Orion fleet for over 10 years,” Brager said. “This sturdy, high-floor vehicle is available in three lengths and in 96-inch and 102-inch widths.”

Orion V buses have logged millions of miles of service carrying passengers in hundreds of municipalities throughout the United States and Canada. The Orion V features numerous CNG powertrain choices and hundreds of options tailored to meet the exacting needs of modern transit agencies.

“The installation of CNG systems on transit buses was pioneered on Orion V buses. Today, thousands of natural gaspowered Orion Vs traverse the streets of our cities, carrying our environmental responsibility to the hearts of the cities they serve,” Brager added.

And there are still more mass and commercial transportation choices from the DaimlerChrysler family for those requiring alternative fuel vehicles.

Thomas Dennis Company
Along with Orion Bus Industries, the Thomas Dennis Company forms DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses — a DaimlerChrysler division designed explicitly to meet the mass transportation needs of cities and private companies.

The Thomas Dennis SLF 200 is ideal for municipalities with clean air requirements. It offers the advantages of a low-floor city bus with superior maneuverability, passenger capacity and durability.

The SLF 200 is available with a variety of diesel engines and the powerful Cummins 230-horsepower, turbocharged engine that runs on compressed natural gas. That makes the SLF 200 CNG model a highperformance transit bus that’s easily accessible for commuters and environmentally friendly for cities.

Thomas Built Buses
Thomas Built has been synonymous with transportation for nearly a century. The North Carolina-based company was a leading manufacturer of streetcars until 1936, when it saw the need to develop school buses. Today, Thomas Built buses are manufactured for the commercial transit, school bus and specialty vehicle markets and many are available in AFV configurations.

Since air quality is a primary concern for AFV customers, Thomas Built provides a CNG-powered Saf-T-Liner school bus that’s propelled by an 8.1-liter, 250-horsepower John Deere engine with a 3,600-psi fuel system.

Multiple Choices From One Family
Within the DaimlerChrysler family are some of the most revered names in the transportation industry, providing our fleet customers with the most diverse choice of vehicles in the industry. Today, DaimlerChrysler can meet nearly any transportation need — from commercial to mass transit to personal neighborhood vehicles — and do so with offerings that will leave a cleaner environment for generations to come.