1. Volvo 7900 range transit bus, but painted school bus yellow.I have written about the school bus industry before. Among the major players are Thomas Built (owned by Daimler) and Bluebird (still independently owned by Taxis/ Cerberus Capital).
A major presence in the coach (as opposed to bus) industry is Volvo, through their ownership of Prévost. However Volvo has been notably absent from the school bus business in North America, concentrating on coaches and transit busses.
There have been some other developments in the school bus biz recently, with a startup called Lion Bus, establishing at St-Jérome, QC. To build composite body, Type C (i.e. with engine hood sticking out beyond the body) on Spartan chassis, and Cummins/Alison drive train, the company certainly has a modern design. However Spartan, best known for fire apparatus and RV chassis, could certainly provide a chassis for Type D (that is with front or rear engine enclosed in the school bus body) if Lion decided to expand in that direction.
So why would Volvo paint a city bus in yellow?
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Interesting, I don't think I've even seen a Volvo transit bus in North America before.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to see a bit more variety in the bus sector.
This reminds me, I caught a glimpse of a slightly older Volvo COE truck a couple days ago heading the other direction on the highway. Caught me by surprise, I never knew they had sold them here.