Grande West Transportation Group Inc. has launched the medium-duty Vicinity LT bus, which was designed with customer input and will be available for delivery to Canadian customers and U.S. private operators in January 2020.
Grande West originally debuted a medium-duty concept in October 2017 and has moved to commercial production of the buses following integration of customer input on the vehicle’s design. Grande West believes that this monocoque body, rear-engine, low floor medium-duty transit vehicle is a game changer and the company says the bus is set to revolutionize the “cutaway” bus market.
The company has engineered the 26-foot vehicle to accommodate up to 23 seated passengers with two wheelchair positions, it is fully accessible for all passengers in need of extra assistance and wheelchair accessibility. This unique transit vehicle, powered by a gas engine and Allison transmission, raises the bar for serviceability, maintainability and reliability typically found in transit vehicles with similar powertrains. The company believes this new category of "crossover" vehicles will provide a superior option to current “cutaway” offerings available to the market today. The Vicinity LT is unique with its monocoque design, true low floor, accessibility and provides new opportunities in a medium-duty market of over 5,000 units sold per year.
"We are very excited to be fast-tracking the Vicinity LT to the market," said Jean-Marc Landry, CEO of Grande West. "Similar to the heavy-duty Vicinity, management feels this is a very underserved part of the market. The price point of the Vicinity LT will put it head-to-head against current cutaway offerings. This addition to our product line will allow the Company to address a much larger market segment with strong demand across Canada and the USA. Grande West continues to design and build robust products for underdeveloped markets with real-world needs."
