Metro Magazine

AUG 2014

Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904

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See Us at BusCon Booth #227 63 AUGUST 2014 m ETRO m AGAZINE > We now also have an engineering team at the Lancaster fa- cility, which will be working on designing a 60-foot articulat- ed bus that we will prototype very soon. We also plan on grow- ing our workforce at this facility from 50-plus employees that we have now to somewhere between 100 and 150, by the end of the year. ARE THERE PLANS TO INTRODUCE OTHER NEW MODELS BESIDES THE ARTICULATED VERSION? Yes, as I mentioned we hope the articulated bus will be ready this fall. We also have a 26-foot shuttle bus that was recently de- moed by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Tat bus was a high-foor model, and we plan to introduce a 30-foot low-floor version by the second half of next year. We are also planning on introducing a 45-foot commuter coach bus next year as well. So, the plan is to introduce maybe three models or so each year to our market, because we also target the private industry in addition to the public transit industry. ASIDE FROM THAT, WHAT ARE BYD'S SHORT- AND LONG-TERM GOALS? For the short term, it is to ramp up our Lancaster facility suc- cessfully. Te more demos we have, the more the customer con- fdence is built in the technology. BYD as a company has also grown up: we have more people, more experience and are in a position now to recruit from with- in the industry. Now, our plan is to really focus on the expansion of the business into the entire U.S., not just California. We want to continue to provide demos all across the states and various re- gions, and hopefully if they continue to be pleased with what they see, maybe next year we can double or even triple our business. transit business In April, California Gov. Jerry Brown was on hand at the opening of BYD's new Lancaster facility.

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