ORION BUS INDUSTRIES

'Orion Bus Industries' is a Mississauga, Ontario, Canada-based bus manufacturer established by the government of Ontario in 1975.
It was known as 'Ontario Bus Industries' until 1995 and was created to produce buses for the province's transit agencies in the late 1970s. Since 1990, except for two small orders from New Flyer and NovaBus, it has been the exclusive supplier of buses to the TTC.
In 1982, Orion opened a plant in Oriskany, New York under the name "Bus Industries of America"; founded by Donald Sheardown to manufacture buses for the United States market.
Orion Bus Industries was the first bus manufacturer to use compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel on the Orion I model in 1988 and it is also the first one to use on diesel hybrid electric on the Orion VI model, making them the leader of alternative fuels market.
Orion was acquired by DaimlerChrysler in July 2000, and is now part of DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses North America.

Contents

Currently offered products

Discontinued products

See also

External links

Hybrid buses

Currently offered products

★ 'Orion V standard floor' - Starting in 1989, the Orion V is the true work horse product line for Orion. It offers many options to choose from the length and the width of the bus and also, it was pioneered the (CNG) or Compressed Natural Gas alternative fuel in the Orion V product line to meet the demands of clean air and environment friendly for the transit agency needs. Many transit agencies in North America are buying and operating the Orion V bus throughout the years on the product lineup and still continued today, making the most successful product for Orion's history. The current Orion V's power train offered is Cummins ISM Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) engines, and Cummins C 8.3 and John Deere Gas Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) alternative fuel engines. There are various transmissions options to customize from Allison B 400 R, ZF 5HP592 and Voith D863.

Model Number	Length (feet, inches)	Length (mm)	Width (inches)	Width (mm)	Notes
05.501	40' 8.5"	12,408	102"	2,591	Available now
05.502			96"	2,438	Discontinued
05.503	35' 7.5"	10,859			Available now
05.504			102"	2,591
05.505	32' 5"	9,881	96"	2,438
05.506			102"	2,591	Discontinued

★ 'Orion VII low floor' - The Orion VII is the new flagship product lineup for Orion Bus Industries. Starting in 2001, the Orion VII is marketed as a low floor bus to the North America market. ^[1] Based on the Orion VI true low floor bus design, the Orion VII has some of major enhancements to accommodate like a high floor bus model. Instead of making a true low floor, it has a step up at the rear section of the bus that provides additional passenger seats and standee capacity, a full fuel regular 125 gallon (473 L) tank and also the used of the standard rear axle design that was more closely related to the Orion V, instead of the separate control rear axle used in the now discontinued Orion VI bus product. It provides wheelchair passengers that uses a mechanical ramp feature located on the front of the bus that speeds up the loading process instead of using a lift. The convenient of the stop requested push button on the poles. It also adds safety features that includes the emergency exit bar on the bottom of the window located every seat and safety emergency exit trigger box located at the rear and the front doors. The unique part of of the current Orion VII design is the windows and the exterior appearance where it is square or rectangular shape form. All Orion VII models are 102 inches (2,591 mm) wide and powered by diesel, compressed natural gas, or hybrid electric diesel engines.

Model Number	Length (feet, inches)	Length (mm)
07.501	40' 10.5"	12,459
07.502	35' 11"	10,947
07.503	32' 5"	9,881

Discontinued products

★ 'Orion I' - "Citycruiser" 30, 35 and 40 foot (9,144 mm, 10,668 mm, and 12,192 mm) bus (1976-1993). US production from 1979-1982 was licenced to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation or (TMC), a division of Greyhound. All Orion I models are 96 inches (2,438 mm) wide transit bus. (Powered by Detroit Diesel 6V53T, 6V71, 6V92TA or Cummins L10 diesel engines, and Cummins L10G Compressed Natural Gas engine).

Model Number	Length (feet, inches)	Length (mm)	Total Seats	Notes
01.501	31' 7"	9,627	31
01.502				Air conditioned bus (Originally designated as "U.S. specification")
01.503			33	Suburban
01.504	36' 8"	11,176	39
01.505			41	Suburban
01.506			39
01.507			42
01.508	40' 7"	12,370	48
01.509			53	Suburban
05.510	36' 8"	11,176	45

★ 'Orion II' - 25 foot "Community bus", wheelchair accessible bus. The Orion II was the first bus to produced a true low floor designed. It was the forerunner of today’s low floor models in North America. All Orion II models are 96 inches (2,438 mm) wide bus. (Powered by Diesel and Compressed Natural Gas engines) (1983-2003).

Model Number	Length (feet, inches)	Length (mm)	Total Seats	Engine
02.501	25' 11"	7,899	26	Detroit Diesel 8.2L
02.502			18	Cummins 4BT3.9

★ 'Orion III (03.501)' - 60 footer (18,288 mm), 102 inches (2,591 mm) wide articulated bus, Canadian distribution of Ikarus 286. Total number of seats: 66. (Powered by Cummins NHHTC or Detroit Diesel 6L71TA (diesel power) engine) (1985-1989).



★ 'Orion IV' - "People Mover" (Powered by Ford Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) LSG870-6003-C engine) - for Niagara Parks Commission and New York City Emergency Medical Service (1985-1989).

Model Number	Length (feet, inches)	Length (mm)	Width (inches)	Width (mm)	Total Seats	Notes
04.501	37' 6"	11,430	98"	2,489	39	Motor/Tractor unit
04.502	35' 6"	10,820				Trailer unit

★ 'Orion VI (06.501)' - True low floor 40 foot (12,192 mm), 102 inches (2,591 mm) wide bus (Powered by Diesel, Compressed Natural Gas, or Hybrid Electric engines) (1995-2004).

See also

★ General Motors Diesel Division Buses

★ Gillig Corporation

★ Millennium Transit Services LLC

★ Motor Coach Industries

★ Neoplan USA

★ New Flyer Industries

★ North American Bus Industries

★ NovaBus

★ Prevost Car

External links

★ Orion Bus Official Homepage

★ Orion Buses

★ Educated » Hybrid Sounds

Hybrid buses

★ Hybrid buses.

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