Anchor Transportation adds 6 new MCI J4500s

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) delivered six new MCI J4500 coaches to long-time customer Anchor Transportation.

Based in Nashville, Anchor recently inaugurated the J4500 model into its fleet, adding a total of 13 amenity-filled J4500s over the past two years, increasing its fleet size and capacity. The operation’s newest J4500s carry full entertainment systems, in-cabin Wi-Fi and power outlets at every seat, woodgrain flooring, and back up cameras.

Anchor works with students, churches, military personnel, and with shuttle system clients at airports, convention centers, hotels, special events, and park-and-ride locations. It now employs 175 employees in multiple office locations including a 10-acre headquarters site and facilities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.

BYD to deliver 379 battery-electric buses to Colombia 

BYD will provide the Colombian capital of Bogotá with a fleet of 379 pure electric buses, in a deal awarded by the capital’s TransMilenio SA mass transport authority. The fleet will begin operations in September 2020, giving Bogotá the largest electric bus fleet on the continent and one of the largest in the world. Along with the 64 pure electric buses in Medellín, Colombia will have a total of 443 BYD electric buses, putting it at the vanguard of Latin America’s rapid push towards public transport electrification.

The buses will be manufactured entirely by BYD and operate in the Integrated Public Transportation System — SITP, with the towns of Usme and Fontibón to be the first to enjoy the firm’s cutting-edge electric bus technology. The order also sees BYD again smashing the record for the largest electric bus order in the Americas, following its delivery of 183 buses to Chile during August 2019.

Byk-Rak becomes U.S. retailer for vertical bike rack distributor Parkis

Parkis, a Lithuanian manufacturer of vertical bicycle racks, is partnering with Byk-Rak to expand availability of its vertical bike rack in the U.S. The rack is unique in that it requires little physical effort to store the bicycle vertically.

Byk-Rak normally provides bike racks for the front of transit buses. Working with the consumer market is a new frontier for them.

The Parkis rack is especially user-friendly because it requires virtually no physical effort to lift it. The bike is wheeled into a channel on the floor and then grasped by a locking mechanism that easily lifts the bike into a vertical position. Parkis’ racks are eco-friendly, don’t require electricity, and save about 40% of floor space over a horizontal rack, according to the company.