New Flyer Industries

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New Flyer Industries is a leading bus manufacturer in North America, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It also has factories in Crookston and St. Cloud, Minnesota.

It has been a supplier of buses to Vancouver and the Toronto Transit Commission over several decades.

New Flyer Advanced Styling BRT hybrid demonstrator.

1 History
2 Bus models
- 2.1 Historical
- 2.2 Current
3 Photo Gallery
4 Clients
5 Rivals
6 External links

[edit] History

New Flyer was founded by John Coval in 1930 as the Western Auto and Truck Body Works Ltd. Reflecting an increased focus on bus manufacturing, it changed its name in 1948 to Western Flyer Coach. In the 1960s the company further focused on the urban transit bus market. Once again it changed its name to Flyer Industries Limited in 1971.

On July 15, 1986, Jan den Oudsten, a descendant of the family who created the Dutch company Den Oudsten Bussen BV, purchased Flyer Industries, changing its name to New Flyer Industries Limited. Den Oudsten Bussen B.V was a leading and innovative bus manufacturer in its native country, the Netherlands. New Flyer subsequently introduced North America's first low-floor bus, delivering the D40LF to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1991. In 2001, the delivery of 6300 low-floor buses represented close to half of the North American fleet, confirming New Flyer as the dominant player in the transit bus manufacturing industry in North America.

In March 2002, New Flyer was acquired by KPS Special Situations Fund in New York. Also in the same year, Mr. den Oudsten retired as CEO of New Flyer Industries Ltd. and has recently been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Public Transportation Association for his achievements and contributions at New Flyer.

On December 15, 2003, New Flyer announced that Harvest Partners, Inc., a New York-based leading private equity firm specializing in middle market investments, had entered into definitive agreements to acquire New Flyer Industries Limited, from KPS Special Situations Fund. Lightyear Capital, LLC, a New York-based private equity firm joined Harvest as a co-investor in the transaction. John Marinucci, CEO of New Flyer, said, "This is exciting news for New Flyer" And he went on to say that KPS specializes in turning around struggling businesses and that they typically do not hold assets after the turnaround has been accomplished. And that ever since the KPS purchase, New Flyer had achieved excellent operational and financial performance. He especially praised the employees.

In 2004, New Flyer received an order of low-floor trolleybuses from the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority; the order consists of 188 E40LFR units and 40 E60LFR units. The first E40LFR was delivered in July 2005, and the rest of the units will be delivered beginning August 2006.

2005 also saw the introduction of optional redesigned front and rear endcaps for their buses. The new endcaps are an attempt to modernize and streamline the look of their fleet, which is more or less a box on wheels. Also, a new "R" suffix was applied on all units produced with the new endcaps. The redesigned endcaps made their debut with the 2005 E40LFR order from the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority.

On March 22, 2006, John Marinucci, met with Harvest Partners, Inc., to discuss the sale of New Flyer to an undisclosed (potential) buyer. It is believed that the latest numbers for the company shall be released soon. "October 2nd's numbers are trailing and not a reflection of where we are today".

Marinucci had no comment when asked about the possibility of any new ownership of the company happening soon. Instead he responded by saying, "I've been involved with two different private equity groups as owners and recently gone public all in a short period of time" (referring to the ownership of the company). As of March 22, 2005, at the close of stock exchange the share price of NFI remained substantially unchanged, at $9.40 in low volume, 0% change. CoreData.

[edit] Bus models

New Flyer buses are represented by a prefix-number-suffix code, which describe the basic details about the model.

Prefix, indicates propulsion type:

C - CNG, D - Diesel*, E - Electric (electric trolley bus), F - Fuel cell, G - gasoline*, H - Hydrogen Fuel Cell*, L - LNG.

* Also available as a fuel in a hybrid electric propulsion setup, signified as DE, HE, or GE.

Number, indicates the length of the bus in feet. Currently, New Flyer offers buses in 30, 35, 40, and 60 feet lengths.

Suffix, indicates the bus configuration:

LF - Low Floor units with the conventional front and rear ends, HF - High Floor

S and V - Viking (suburban transit coach) discontinued around 2000. The remaining models see good usage in Houston, Texas and small usage (only 3 buses used, all on one route, the X51 run out of Casey Stengel Bus Depot) in New York City.

LFR - Low Floor units with restyled front and rear ends.

LFBRT - BRT styling

Frameless passenger windows are also an option, but is not represented in the name of the bus.

[edit] Historical

The D700 buses are similar models to Flxible-Grumman Model 53102-6-1 (buses used by New York's MTA). The D800 buses are a badge engineered version of the AM General Metropolitan which itself was a updated version of the D700:

C-40
T-40
P-37 "Canuck"
P-41 "Canuck"
D500 Canuck
D600 Canuck
D700/D700A (1968–1974)
E700/E700A (trolley, 1968–1973)
D800/D800B (1974–1981)
E800/E800B (trolley, 1974–1978)
D900 (1978–1980)
D901/D901A (1980–1986)
D902 (1984, for San Francisco)
E901A (trolley; 1981, for Vancouver)
E902 (trolley; 1982–1984, for Vancouver)

D35HF (1988–1997)
C40HF/D40HF/L40HF (1987–1999)
D40S (late 1980s—mid 1990s, Canada-only)
D45S (late 1980s—mid 1990s, Canada-only)
D45V "Viking" Coach bus (1998–1999, only purchased by Houston METRO and MTA New York City Transit)
F40LF — Fuel Cell (Hydrogen) Test Buses (1996)

[edit] Current

C/D/DE/L30LF (1996–present — not all propulsion types originally available)
C/D/DE/L35LF (1996–present — not all propulsion types originally available)
C/D/DE/E/GE/L40LF (1989–present — not all propulsion types originally available)
HE40LF (2005–present)
D60LF (1997–present)
DE/E60LF (2002–present)
D/E60HF (1988–present)
D40i/DE40i (Invero; 2001–present)
DE40LF BRT/DE60LF BRT (Bus Rapid Transit; 2005–present)
C/D/DE30LFR (2005–present)
C/D/DE35LFR (2005–present)
C/D/DE40LFR (2005–present)
E60LFR (Debut expected January 2007 at Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority)

[edit] Photo Gallery

An Invero bus belonging to OC Transpo.	New Flyer D40LFR at Sperling-Burnaby Lake Station in Burnaby, British Columbia.	New Flyer D40HF at the University Endowment Lands, British Columbia.	New Flyer D40LF bus in Richmond, British Columbia.
New Flyer D60HF at the University Endowment Lands, British Columbia.	New Flyer D60LF articulated bus in Richmond, British Columbia.	A Flyer E901A in Vancouver, British Columbia.	A D60HF on the New England Thruway in New York City.
A C40LF standing in as a subway shuttle in Brooklyn, New York.	A New Flyver Viking owned and operated by MTA NYC Transit in Flushing, New York.	A D40HF in OC Transpo maple leaf livery	A OC Transpo D60LF
A 2004 DE60LF, operated by ABQ RIDE.	A 2006 D40LFR, owned and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).	The rear of a 2006 D40LFR, owned and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).	The rear of a 2005 DE40LFR, owned and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
The interior of a New York City Transit D60HF.	The interior of a TransLink electric trolley E901A.	The interior of a TransLink D60LF.	The interior of a TransLink D40HF.
A 2005 D60LF from RTC Las Vegas.