Miami Signs Contract with New Flyer to Build 300 Xcelsior Natural Gas Transit Buses

New Flyer of America has been awarded a contract to build 300 40-foot Xcelsior CNG-powered buses for Miami-Dade Transit. The contract is part of a project launched by Miami-Dade County to replace 300 old diesel buses with new CNG vehicles. New Flyer was selected to manufacture the heavy duty transit buses and to provide aftermarket support to Miami-Dade County as part of an innovative turn-key competition awarded to Trillium CNG to design, build, operate and maintain CNG fuel service stations, upgrade maintenance facilities, and supply CNG fuel to Miami-Dade Transit, as reported last week. While there are no options as part of this initial contract, Miami-Dade County may elect to add additional CNG buses in the future as part of the larger initiative.

“Our Miami-Dade County Mayor, Carlos A. Gimenez , and our County Commissioners have directed the Department of Transportation and Public Works to upgrade our Metrobus fleet with buses that are more sustainable and use greener fuel sources,” said Alice N. Bravo , Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works Director. “By upgrading our fleet with CNG buses, we’re implementing a cost-effective approach to the reduction of our dependency on petroleum-based fuel and lowering our maintenance costs.”

Miami-Dade Transit is the 15^th largest public transit system in the US, and the largest transit agency in the state of Florida who provides service from Miami Beach and Key Biscayne to West Miami-Dade, as far north as Broward County and as far south as Homestead, Florida City and the Middle Keys.

The contract is valued at approximately $159 million and will be used to replace some of Miami-Dade’s transit buses that have reached the end of their useful life. Delivery of these buses is planned throughout 2017 and 2018.