Orion Bus Industries

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A 2000 Orion VI (06.501) owned by WMATA is parked outside the Ballston-MU Metro station in Arlington, Virginia.

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" to manufacture buses for the US 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].

Products

Discontinued

• Orion I - "Citycruiser" 30, 35 and 40 foot bus (1976-1993). US production from 1979-1982 was licenced to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation or (TMC), a division of Greyhound (Powered by Diesel and Compressed Natural Gas engine).
• Orion II - 25 foot "Community bus" low floor, wheelchair accessible bus (Powered by Diesel and Compressed Natural Gas engines) (1984-2003).
• Orion III - 60 footer articulated bus (Canadian distribution of Ikarus 286) (Powered by Diesel engine) (1985-1988).
• Orion IV - "People Mover" (Powered by LPG engine) - for Niagara Parks Commission (1985-1989) - IV 04.501 - motor unit and IV 04.502 - trailer
• Orion VI - True low floor 40 foot bus (Powered by Diesel, Compressed Natural Gas, or Hybrid Electric engines) (1996-2001)

Current

• Orion V standard floor - Available in 30, 35 and 40-foot lengths (Powered by Diesel or Compressed Natural Gas engines) (1989-present)
• Orion VII low floor - Available in 30, 35 and 40-foot lengths (Powered by Diesel, Compressed Natural Gas, or Hybrid Electric Diesel engines) (2001-present)

Future

• Orion VIII - Possible articulated model
• Orion IX - Possible over the road coach model

Photos