Thomas Sees Competition as ‘Good for the Marketplace’ No matter


how


the other school bus OEMs are planning to entice more custom- ers to purchases their buses, Tomas Built Buses will continue to explore new ways to improve all of its ve-


hicles, including its Type A offering, the Minotour. “We cost-effectively and efficiently produce three models that


meet the needs of most Type A school bus customers,” said Bob West, Tomas Built Buses’ Type A product manager. Even the ups and downs of the economy aren’t keeping the top


brass at Tomas from making any stringent decisions. No matter what the future brings, children will continue to need safe trans- portation to and from school, added West, who, like most within the industry, see school buses as the most logical transportation choice to provide safe, reliable access to every school day. “We can’t speculate what’s in store for our economy, but we’re


confident that Tomas’ ability to continue to build a quality Type A product that meets our customers’ unique needs will keep us in their consideration set,” said West. West added that the growth of Type A competition is good for


the marketplace, with recent changes in the market that could make for some interesting customer reactions in the next buying cycle. But, like at some other OEMs, any plans to jump into the alternatively-fueled Type A arena is something Tomas is open to. For example, GM said it plans to bring to market its own LPG chas- sis for Type A school buses straight from the factory. “Tomas Built Buses is continually exploring ways to improve all


our vehicles but doesn’t have any specific plans we can share for alternatively-powered or -fueled Type A buses. However, if a chassis OEM, like GM, decides to pursue alternative fuels, we support their efforts,” added West regarding announced plans from GM to manu- facture its own factory-supplied, liquefied propane chassis in 2011. Te most recent renovation, which was made during the 2007-2008 production year, is continuing to benefit Tomas’ customers after $10 million was invested in improving bus qual- ity and increasing production efficiency, even with the effects of the current economy. “In general, the Type A school bus market is a little down,” said


West. “We are also seeing that the buying cycle is much longer than it used to be.” For now, Tomas remains vigilant and committed to being “a


leader in the transportation industry by designing and building innovative, safe and reliable transportation solutions to meet the evolving needs of its customers,” concluded West. ■


Blue Bird, Girardin Deliver First Propane-Powered Micro Bird The first propane-


powered Blue Bird Mirco Bird by Girar- din was scheduled to be delivered this year to a customer in Tex- as, according to Steve Girardin, president of the company.


Te Type A now heading into its second full year also repre-


sents a unique OEM partnership. Girardin builds the vehicle at its Drummondville, Quebec manufacturing plant and Ford supplies and warranties the engine equipped with a propane injection system that ROUSH Performance adds and warranties. In fact, “it was crash tested and EPA certified by ROUSH before we selected their system as the power plant,” said Girardin. “Te crash testing was a collaborative effort between Micro Bird, ROUSH and Ford.” Starting with a Ford 6.8 liter V-10 gasoline engine, Girardin will


strip the gasoline fuel delivery system, install a propane version and then recalibrate the engine. “For us it is a normal build. We just integrate the propane sys-


tem, meaning a different fuel tank and delivery system, into the engine. Te torque and fuel range of a converted propane engine is equivalent to a normal gasoline engine,” Girardin added. “Te


advantage we have with ROUSH is they work in partnership with Ford and together they properly calibrated the fuel system. All of this is done with OE collaboration, meaning it will be an OEM project and not an aftermarket kit installation.” Both ROUSH and Ford have been in the performance indus-


try together for many years. ROUSH is the premiere after-market performance manufacturer for Ford Mustangs. It has a commer- cial division and converts pickup trucks and cutaways, many of which it acquires at the Ford factory, to accommodate alternate- fuel propane systems. In the U.S. school bus industry, FMVSS 301 is the major cer-


tification test for fuel integrity. When the companies reviewed the requirement, “we discovered there is no federal requirement to test propane in the United States. But there is a propane test requirement in Canada in CVMSS 301,” said Girardin. “Tere was a lot of caution on the part of the three companies. We wanted to test the system just in case. It turns out that Ford has a legal department that only looks at crashworthiness issues, and we decided to adhere to all their legal recommendations. Ten Ford came up with the most stringent test they could devise.” Ford is warranting the engine even with the conversion. All


Ford dealerships can diagnose the vehicles, but only approved ROUSH modifiers and technicians can fix them. Many Ford deal- ers are already ROUSH-approved and certified. ■


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