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Fairfax, VA – March 23, 2016 – Motorcoach manufacturer Bus and Coach America (BCA) has joined Trailways Transportation System, Inc., as an affiliated partner.
“Our Trailways motor carriers operate more than 12,000 passenger transportation vehicles. Bus and Coach America will offer them exciting new options when they’re ready to replace vehicles or to make additions to their fleets,” said Diane Walden, Trailways’ Vice President-Sales.
Founded in 2010, Bus and Coach America unveiled its first product, the BCA45 three-axle, 60-passenger maximum capacity motorcoach, in early 2014 after several years of research, development, and testing. The company plans to introduce a smaller sibling, the BCA40 two-axle, 50-passenger maximum capacity coach, in mid-2016. Both feature durable, stainless steel monocoque construction. Both are designed specifically for the North American market.
“We’ve created some of the most advanced yet competitively priced vehicles available today,” asserts Andrew Fung, P.Eng., BCA Chief Operating Officer.
Eventually, BCA expects to offer a product line that also will include transit buses and shuttles, among them an all-electric city bus due for launch this year. It is developing vehicles with clean diesel, compressed natural gas, fuel cell and electric powertrains. Both the BCA45 and BCA40 comply with FMVSS and EPA regulations and are available with optional, ADA-compliant wheelchair lifts.
BCA’s stakeholders include one of the most advanced bus manufacturers in the world, at whose world-class facility BCA’s engineering, production, and quality control teams are embedded. Depending on customer needs and cost, final-stage manufacturing can also be completed to meet Buy America at U.S. facilities. All major subassemblies and components in any BCA coach are made and/or supported in North America.
Major components and systems that the BCA45 and BCA40 have in common include Cummins engines, Allison transmissions, ZF axles, Knorr-Bremse brakes, Bendix automatic braking systems, Wabco electronic suspension control, Prestolite or Niehoff alternators, Parker cooling and multiplex systems, MCC climate control units, Doga windshield washerr systems, Grammer driver seats, Kiel passenger seats and Monogram toilets, among others.
“Each Buy America-compliant BCA bus or coach is built to order,” Fung explained. “BCA and its technology partners have devoted more than five years of research, development, product improvement and testing to produce a world-class motorcoach that is the talk of the U.S. market.”
BCA’s goal is eventually to design, build, distribute and support its bus and coach products in North America with “comparable or better quality and features at a lower cost than the competition.” For maintenance, warranty and repair work, BCA already has a national parts supply facility in Azusa, CA, and numerous U.S.-based service centers, including Mlaker Trailways in Davidsville, PA, and Trailways affiliated partner Budget Truck and Auto, Inc., in Janesville, WI.
Trailways Transportation System, Inc. (Trailways), consists of approximately 65 independently owned and operated motorcoach companies in North America and Europe. Each company adheres to the highest safety standards required by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) or its country’s equivalent.
Through its Affiliated Partners Program, Trailways maintains a close working relationship with industry-related supplier and vendor companies, as well as other tour and travel service entities, to ensure that its group of motorcoach companies receives the latest and most effective technology, information, services and products needed to maintain superior delivery of safe, comfortable, reliable passenger service.