Grande West Announces First Buy America Transit Contract

Grande West Transportation Group Inc. has announced a new contract to purchase Buy America Vicinity buses by a group of Mississippi-based transit authorities.

Grande West, along with U.S. distributor Alliance Bus Group, was the winning bid for a five-year contract for 30’ heavy-duty low floor buses. The order is for up to sixty three Vicinity buses over the term of the contract. The City of Oxford, Mississippi is the Executive Agent on behalf of a group of agencies listed for the procurement of the heavy duty transit buses, under a management contract with RATP Dev USA. Each participating agency has submitted their purchase forecast for the term of this contract. Purchase orders will be announced as they are received by the Company.

Ronald Biggs, general manager of Oxford University Transit stated, “When we first saw the Vicinity heavy-duty transit bus, we were impressed. Upon further inspection, the low floor design and perimeter seating configuration was perfect for the large number of students that board and disembark from our buses throughout the day. The heavy-duty components and impressive warranty were appealing to our customers at the City of Oxford Mississippi and Ole Miss University. When we discovered that the Vicinity was slightly narrower than most low-floor buses in this category it was clear that it would fit our needs very well. Oxford University transit operated by RATP Dev USA provides a large majority of service in and around the apartment complexes, where much of the student body resides. We expect the narrow body design and light radius to work well in our operating environment and improve our ability to operate.”

Douglas Dunn, CEO of Alliance Bus Group commented, “We are honoured and excited to be working with RATP Dev USA, The City of Oxford and the other agencies included in this order.  ABG has been diligently showcasing the Vicinity and now look forward to delivering Buy America buses into these fleets. We will continue to build on this momentum, as there are many other agencies across the country that will benefit from Vicinity’s lower capital and operating costs.”

Jean-Marc Landry, CEO of Grande West stated, ”The Grande West team is very excited to reach another important milestone in the Company’s growth. Our focused efforts on U.S. expansion and sales continue to gain traction. Much like our Canadian story, Grande West and ABG have partnered with transit in Mississippi where ‘Right-Sizing’ fleets with the Vicinity is a clear winning strategy for ridership and operations. We continue to work closely with ABG on building our sales pipeline of Buy America public transit orders, as well as sales to private operators.”