Orion Sells $66M in Buses

ORISKANY - On May 17, 230 buses traveled from Oriskany to Washington. The buses were built by Orion Bus Industries in this Oneida County town and are the first of a potential 580 buses destined for the nation's capital.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) paid Orion nearly $66 million for this first contingent of diesel-fueled buses. The contract calls for an additional 330 buses "if more routes are added and consumer demand increases," says Cheryl Johnson, Metro spokeswoman. The new vehicles replace buses that have been in service since 1962. The new buses are Orion V-type, with high floors, as in traditional buses, and Orion VI-type, with low-floor entry, accessible to wheelchairs, the handicapped, and senior citizens.

The Washington Metro is a regional transit agency that transports an average of 470,000 every weekday via 1,344 buses in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington.

Orion Bus Industries came to Oneida County in 1991, with six employees. That number has risen to 700. Orion now has two additional plants in the area, in Rome and in Westmoreland.

In the recession of the 1990s, the business was acquired by Western Star Truck Holdings Ltd. of Kelowna, British Columbia. Western Star makes trucks and buses for municipal and commercial markets in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and 40 other countries. it has plants in British Columbia and South Carolina and almost 400 dealers and distributors worldwide.

At Orion's plant in Mississauga, Ontario, bus frames are manufactured, then sent to Oneida County for completion.

Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced an Airport Air Quality Bill, which the President has signed, to promote the use of low-emission vehicles at the nation's largest airports. This is significant for Orion Industrires, which manufactures alternative-fuel vehicles