SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - Coach USA has signed what is believed to be the largest bus purchase agreement by a motorcoach company in at least two years, ordering 61 J4500-coaches from Motor Coach Industries.
Sixteen of the wheelchair-lift equipped coaches are being delivered immediately to Coach USA's North Central region, which is based in Chicago. Another 14 will be delivered next month
The Coach USA North Central operators receiving the new J4500s models are
Keeshin, Chicago; Wisconsin Coach, Milwaukee; VanGalder, Janesville, Wis.; Coach USA Central Cab, Waynesburg, Pa.; Coach USA Lenzner, Pittsburgh, and Central New York, Syracuse.
The coaches will bring the region's fleet of over-the-road buses to 360. All together, the region operates 1,300 vehicles, including school and transit buses, with operations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, central New York and West Virginia.
The remaining 31 J4500s will be delivered to Coach USA's Northeast region in May. The Northeast region, which includes New Jersey, eastern New York and southern Pennsylvania, took delivery of 17 new D4500 MCI coaches at the end of January.
MCI said the Coach USA order is a further sign the U.S. transportation sector is showing signs of optimism.
"This new investment will make a real difference to the comfort and reliability of our service on the road," said Brian Souter, chief executive of Coach USA. "We believe there is significant potential to grow our charter business, in particular, and these new state-of-the-art vehicles will improve the quality of service we can offer our customers."
The Coach USA J4500 coaches have seating for 56 passengers, and feature Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines and Allison BUS 500 transmissions.
The order marks the first J4500 coaches to be placed into CoachUSA's fleet. The J4500 was developed four years ago as a spin off to the E4500 coach. MCI says the J-model is quickly becoming its most popular coach model.
"We are again pleased to be selected by Coach USA," said Tom Sorrells,
president and CEO of MCI. "These 61 J4500s affirm MCI's already strong relationship with Coach USA. We're especially pleased to be able to meet their needs at this time."
Coach USA is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group of Perth, Scotland. Besides the U.S., it has operations in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.