GO double-deckers to roll out of Vaughan plant
Scottish bus maker Alexander Dennis will be able to turn out 75 bus chassis a year.

TheStar.com
Feb. 3, 2016
Tess Kalinowski

Toronto area commuters will begin seeing the first home-grown version of GO's signature double-decker buses as soon as the spring.

Scottish manufacturer Alexander Dennis expects its new 45,000-square-foot facility near Langstaff Rd. and Jane St. to begin production in the next couple of weeks, according to Mark Brager, North American operations manager.

Metrolinx awarded a contract to the company in 2014 to build 253 buses over the next five years. There is also an option for the provincial agency to buy up to 150 additional buses during that period, up to 30 per year.

The plant will build chassis and install engines, axles and steering components on a new "super low" double-decker. The platforms will then be shipped to the U.S., where the body is built, before being returned to Vaughan for pre-delivery inspections.

The first models that will expand and refurbish GO's fleet should be finished by late May or early June, said Brager.

"We're just at the point of starting production. We're doing set-up work in the next couple of weeks," he said.

"Shipping the vehicles is expensive and time-consuming; it just made sense to develop (production) here," he added.

The plant, which has 19 employees, will be capable of building several hundred buses a year, but is starting off with capacity for about 75, he said.

There could be up to 30 employees working there in the future, according to Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, whose riding is home to the facility.

"It is very good news that Alexander Dennis Ltd. has chosen Vaughan as the site to build the chassis for 253 fully accessible, low-floor, double-decker GO buses. ... delivering to the thousands of daily GO Bus passengers an enhanced commuter experience," he said.

GO has been running double-deckers since 2008. But in 2013 it introduced a new, lower model that would fit within the bridge and overpass clearance of more routes.

The Vaughan-made "super low" model will have most of the same features but be some six to eight inches lower still.

The idea is to convert most GO routes to double-deckers as the fleet is refurbished and service expanded, said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

GO runs 2,529 weekday bus trips carrying about 56,000 riders.

About a quarter of the fleet is double-deckers — 22 of the original models and 105 of the newer, lower buses. Each seats about 80 riders, compared with 55 in GO's 381 standard diesel coaches. All GO buses are fully accessible.

Alexander Dennis is also the supplier of double-decker buses in Ottawa.

The TTC has no need of double-deckers. Its 40-foot vehicles and longer articulated buses provide sufficient capacity, said a spokesman.