New Flyer of America Inc. announced the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority (MBTA) awarded New Flyer a contract for up to 725 40-foot Xcelsior heavy-duty transit buses. This contract comprises 725 of the 1,169 equivalent units pending award at the end of the third fiscal quarter of 2015.

The award was approved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board of directors in Boston and includes a firm order for 175 compressed natural gas buses (XN40) and 150 diesel-electric hybrid buses (XDE40), plus options for an additional 200 clean diesel buses (XD40) and 200 diesel-electric hybrid buses (XDE40) over the next five years.

The firm portion of the contract is valued at approximately $223 million with the options valued at approximately $254 million. MBTA currently operates a fleet of 1008 heavy-duty transit buses, 412 of which have been built by New Flyer and 299 of which have been built by NABI, making 70% of the MBTA fleet supported by New Flyer.

“This award builds on the successful partnership that we have developed with MBTA” said New Flyer President/CEO Paul Soubry. “We are proud to have our best-in-class Xcelsior bus selected yet again by MBTA to operate in their challenging and diverse operating environment. These new Xcelsior buses will be used to replace portions of the MBTA fleet that have reached the end of their useful life.”

In terms of daily ridership, the MBTA remains the fifth largest mass transit system in the U.S. serving a population of over 4.8 million people in 176 cities and towns, with an area of 3,249 square miles. To carry out its mission it maintains 183 bus routes, two of which are bus rapid transit lines, three rapid transit lines, five light rail routes, four trackless trolley lines and 13 commuter rail routes. The average weekday ridership for the entire system is approximately 1.27 million passenger trips.