Transbus Program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:48, 1 October 2023

Latest revision as of 15:33, 27 August 2025

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The Transbus specification requirement led three transit agencies{{efn|name=79bid}} to request bids for a joint procurement of 530 buses in January 1979.<ref name=Reason-80/> It was estimated that a single Transbus would cost 60% more than a comparable New Look bus, driven mainly by the low-floor requirement, which in turn would require significant investments to develop axle, drivetrain, suspension, and tire technologies. In addition, the terms of the 1979 procurement made the bidders responsible for significant risks and performance guarantees.<ref name=Whitford-83>{{cite journal |url=https://trid.trb.org/view/196256 |title=Federal Government and Integrated Vehicle Development: U.S. Experience |author=Whitford, R.K. |date=1983 |journal=Transportation Research Record |issn=0361-1981 |publisher=Transportation Research Board |issue=909 |accessdate=9 October 2020}}</ref>

By March 1979, [[Grumman]] Flxible{{efn|[[Grumman]] acquired [[Flxible]] from [[Rohr, Inc.|Rohr]] on January 3, 1978 for {{USD|55000000|1978|round=-4}}. The acquisition included two hand-built prototypes of and the design for the [[Flxible Metro|Model 870]].<ref name=GrummanVRohr>{{cite court |vol=748 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=729 |court=[[United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit|2d Cir.]] |date=1984 |litigants=Grumman Allied Industries, Inc. v. Rohr Industries, Inc. |url=https://casetext.com/case/grumman-allied-industries-v-rohr-industries|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519101506/https://casetext.com/case/grumman-allied-industries-v-rohr-industries|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 19, 2023}}</ref>}} announced it did not intend to bid on the new contract, and GM stated it was unlikely to bid. The president of Grumman Flxible, Thomas J. Bernard, said that internal estimates put the bid price at {{USD|230000|1979|round=-3}} per bus, nearly double the {{USD|120000|1979|round=-3}} cost per conventional New Look bus, and added the Department of Transportation "has been seeking a more productive bus. We believe that a bus that weighs more, gets fewer miles per gallon, has fewer seats and less standing room is not a more productive bus."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/147073438/ |title=Lack Of Bids Threatens 'Wheelchair' Bus |date=March 14, 1979 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |accessdate=9 October 2020}}</ref> Flxible also stated that component suppliers (such as [[Rockwell International]], who built transit bus axles) would need federal support to develop the new technologies needed for Transbus, as the limited transit bus market meant most component suppliers were unwilling to develop them.<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing/>{{rp|114}}

When the bidding period closed that May, neither GM, Flxible, nor any foreign manufacturers had provided a bid.<ref name=Reason-80/> Secretary Adams said he was "deeply disappointed" that no bids had been received; the companies countered the Transbus design was impossible to implement and their ADB designs already met accessibility requirements.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/147100831/ |title=Transbus: Too Many Design Handicaps, Builders Say |author=Raspberry, William |date=May 9, 1979 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |accessdate=9 October 2020}}</ref> A Congressional hearing was held later in May regarding the failure of the procurement.<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing>{{cite report |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002949644 |title=Oversight of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration's Technology Development and Equipment Procurement Programs |date=May 16–22, 1979 |publisher=U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Oversight and Review, Committee on Public Works and Transportation |accessdate=10 October 2020}}</ref> With the failure of the 1979 procurement, the requirement to procure new, federally subsidized buses to the Transbus specification was suspended in August.<ref name=TBMP/>{{rp|3–11}}