John Walsh, vice president of sales for ARBOC Specialty Vehicles announced June 17 an order to purchase has been received from Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) in central California. The order is for 36 Spirit of Mobility vehicles, representing the largest order for the California market in the past 3-years.
A-Z Bus Sales, the ARBOC dealer for California, is located in Colton, Calif., with the northern California office located in Sacramento. Transit Sales Manager, Clay Hartman worked closely with FCRTA and ARBOC over a numbers of months to provide the bus that best fit the agency’s needs.
Don Roberts, president and CEO of ARBOC stated the 2013 ARBOC buses, “We are proud to be the bus builder for Fresno. We will do everything possible to insure they have a reliable bus that performs to their satisfaction.”
Jeffrey D. Webster, General Manager of FCRTA, expressed his gratitude to the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) approved cooperative procurement process by Morongo Basin Transit Authority (MBTA) and the California Association for Coordinated Transportation (CalACT) which allowed his agency to expedited the process and procure the buses in a very timely manner. Webster, along with Moses Stites, operations manager and lead maintenance supervisor, Art Penson, of the city of Fresno, confirmed that, “They will be actively involved in the entire process of manufacturing, delivery and ongoing support so we can be an excellent reference to others, and a repeat customer.”
Jim Reynolds, president and CEO of A-Z Bus Sales said this was a team effort. It involved not only ARBOC, but also Freeman Seating, TransAir air conditioning, Q’Straint wheelchair tie downs, Braun ramps, destination signs by Twin Vision and mirrors built by Velvac.
Delivery is expected to begin in August and will allow FCRTA to better serve the general public transit passengers in rural areas of Fresno County.