On Wednesday, Daimler Buses North America and officials from Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) were on hand in Oriskany, N.Y. to celebrate the completion of an order of 1,350 Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid transit buses.

"This order represents the largest hybrid bus order in history," said Patrick Scully, chief operating officer for Daimler Buses North America. "Together we pioneered the hybrid bus and have proven it to be a viable option for city transit. We hope to continue this partnership with New York City Transit long into the future."

In the mid-1990s Daimler Buses began developing a diesel-electric hybrid bus and found a partner in NYCT to test the hybrid buses during development. By 1998 the first Orion VI diesel-electric hybrid began revenue service in New York City.

In 2005, the 325th Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid bus entered service in New York City, completing the first production order. That same year NYCT and MTA placed the largest hybrid bus order to date — 500 Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid buses. In 2007, NYCT and the MTA Bus Co. then placed an order for an additional 850 Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid transit buses.

Today, NYCT and MTA Bus boast a fleet of 1,679 hybrid buses, including a total of 1,675 diesel-electric hybrid transit buses from Daimler Buses - comprising more than 99 percent of its hybrid fleet.

Daimler Buses is the world's largest producer of diesel-electric hybrid buses with more than 3,000 units either in service or on order. In addition to New York City, the Orion VII hybrid-electric transit bus has proven itself in cities such as San Francisco, Houston, Toronto and Ottawa.