Sometimes building and delivering the bus is the easy part, but maintaining it for 12 years is the hard part. Stop Requested.
This is Stop Requested. by ETA. I’m Christian. And I’m Levi. These are real conversations with the innovators, operators, and advocates driving improvements in public transportation. Today, we’re joined by John Walsh and Mike Aman from ABC
Companies. We’ recorded this conversation at APTA Expo 2026 in Chicago shortly after the company announced Core Transit’s entry into the American bus market. We discuss the need for greater competition in bus manufacturing, the challenges of procurement, and how Core Transit’ plans to prioritize reliability, safety, and long-term support.
Here’s our conversation with John and Mike from ABC Companies. February
7th, 2024, there was a very important meeting at the White House, and Paul Skoutelas gave me a personal in- invitation to be there. There were five business members there, New Flyer,
Gillig, BAE, Clever Device, and John Walsh with EO Charging. The reason they brought me into that meeting wasn’t really the charging side, it was more I had left Proterra about six months before.
That manufacturer was one of the ones that exited, along with some others, and this was the original task force meeting that Rich Davey and Dorval Carter had put together. So this was manufacturing, bus OEM
1.0, ’cause now we’re on 3.0. What came out of that meeting were 30 CEOs sitting at a table with APTA, with FTA, and with the Biden administration, with Samantha
Silverberg, and she called this meeting, and they had a lot of other stakeholders in that, in that meeting. And that’s when Nuria Fernandez put out this 10-page letter, dear colleague letter, that said- Mm
… we have to do something different on the way we’re doing business with our OEMs as transit systems. Mm-hmm.
And it was about complexity of the vehicle. It was about progress payments. It was about inspections. And as I looked around the room, and, and this was a very, very group of CEOs,
I saw, I saw the light bulbs coming on everywhere saying, “We’re, we’re taking our industry and we’re limiting ourselves now,” ’cause we were down to two OEMs at the time. It’s great to be at APTA Expo 2026.
Lot of OEMs in here. We just announced Core Transit today, and the main reason we did it, and you heard Roman say this, is we listened to the customer, and they’re telling us, we…
You, you have the foundation of a company like no other. You have parts, you have service, you have financing, you have short-term lease buses.
We do everything that’s aftermarket. Building the bus sometimes, Mike and I have done this together for a long- time, sometimes building and delivering the bus is the easy part, but maintaining it for 12 years is the hard part. So that’s where the whole idea of Core Transit came from, was listening to the customer on what they need.
And we all know long lead times, higher prices, you know, those types of things that are driving the market into needing more competition, because there’s definitely demand in the market. Okay. And, um, so y- I love that … you fast-forward two and a half years later, and here’ we are. So my background, 37 years in transit. Mike’s background, as many years. Uh, but Mike, Mike’s a little different from me. I did distribution and manufacturing.
Mike’s all manufacturing. So Mike is really the brains behind what the design is. This is a US company. This is a
US bus. It’s gonna be built in the US. We’ll tell you really soon where that’s at. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause we, we kinda know, uh, where it’s gonna be, but that’s really the genesis of why we did this.
Okay. Yeah. If that’s helpful. Yeah, uh, that’s very helpful and, and very important. You know, um, we’ve, we’ve had on our podcast, uh, different folks and, and we had conversations like the one, uh, you and I had earlier,
Mike, about the options in the American market- Right … when you compare to Europe, Asia, even Latin America. And, you know, um, buy America i- is definitely something good for the US market and, and being able to, you know, source things in America, making sure things are being made in America.
But in a certain way, it limits the US market in terms of the technologies and the options that are out there. And then when you have low competition, there’s not a lot of innovation, right? So the, the need for having new companies. to come in and start manufacturing vehicles and providing agencies with more options than the traditional options, uh, I mean, it, it was a big need that needed to be filled. So definitely great, uh, to see, you know, you guys taking the initiative to put in a new product in the US market.
And, uh, o- one thing that I wanted to know is, as you’re coming in with this new vehicle and, you know, breaking into, into this market, h- how are you trying to differentiate w- what’s in the market? You know, li- like
I said, outside of the US, there’s a lot of different technologies and offerings. Uh, are you considering anything that you’ve seen overseas or in your years of experience manufacturing vehicles? What are some of those key things that, you know, you might be bringing that agencies need to be, uh, pay attention to? Like, okay, th- this is something why we need to really pay attention on how we are, uh, selecting the technologies.
Christian, that’s a great question. And, um, you know, one of, one of the core competencies at ABC, as John alluded to, is, y- you know, we’ve been servicing buses for
50 years. We understand how transit buses are built. You know, we, we service everybody’s bus. So we know what works, we know what doesn’t work, and we know what this market demands of us. It demands a bus that obviously meets buy America. Mm-hmm. But it also has to have the components in it
The powertrain, the axles, the suspension, the HVAC system that transit agencies understand. They have parts bins full of components to be able to service those buses. Our goal was not to introduce a brand-new bus with foreign components, things that, that we’ll, we’ll have to retrain transit agencies to service.
So we wanted the learning curve to be very low. So from that standpoint, you know, our partners, uh, Cummins Meritor axles, uh, Allison transmissions, both TK, uh, Thermo King and BCC HVAC systems, um,
Steer seating, Freedman seating, uh, Gerflor. You know, all the components that, that go into a transit bus, we’re, we’re integrating those into our bus. But what we’ve learned, and again, you know, a lot of our suppliers on the motor coach side, they’re coming from Europe. European styling, technology’s a bit different. Um, starting with a clean sheet of paper, we wanted to have that base foundation of the bus that the mechanics are gonna like.
But the people in the corner office want a bus that’s attractive. They want it to be inviting, so the exterior of the bus, the front end, the rear end, the interior, the lighting, uh, including ambient lighting, um, that’s where we’re gonna separate this bus from everything that is currently available in the marketplace. We wanna bring something that offers a better experience to, uh, the riding public and, and the agencies that serve them. So I think, um, if you think the, a lot of the market thought that maybe because of our association with Van Hool and VDL, that just like
Mike said, we’re bringing a European bus in here, and then we’re gonna homologate it to US standards. And we didn’t make the market think anything different. But we just didn’t, because it wasn’t time to make the announcement.
But we’re trying to make it very clear, this is a clean sheet of paper, as Mike mentioned. This is a, a, a, a US company, but there’s a lot of European design concepts in the vehicle we’re gonna bring to market, and you’re really gonna like what you see. Because I think that is important, what you bring up, Cristian, is it, you know, is it, is it gonna have innovation in it? You know, what’s gonna separate you? What’s gonna make you look and feel different?
You’re gonna see a lot of that in the product we’re gonna bring to market. And, and with your experience, right, like you have extensive experience manufacturing vehicles, delivering vehicles, knowing the, the US market, right? Like you said, w- I,
I remember when, you know, I work at my agency, and we were discussing, you know, bringing a new vehicle. It’s like, well, you know, we, we have to increase, like, the, the, uh, storeroom. We, we have to get all these new parts to support- Right … this sort of vehicle, and then what’s the training for the mechanics and the staff is all these things are gonna be foreign to them. So there’s gonna be, it’s gonna be a hard transition.
And, and, and maybe we don’t wanna have a mixed fleet. Let’s just keep with the same one. But you’re saying, first, you know, a lot of the, uh, manufacturers and, and a lot of the offerings are things that they’re familiar with. They’re, you know, American-based, and, uh, these mechanics, they’re, you know, opening the hood, and they’re not finding something that is too strange for them. Right. But also, you, if I understood correctly, you’re designing and building this bus kinda like from, from scratch, which gives a great opportunity, I would imagine, with your degree of experience.
Then now you get the option to, like, well, I, I would never build this the same. You know, that, that, this or that way that I know didn’t work. And now when you’re starting, you’re not starting, you know, like the first prototype that is untested, no experience, but you’re bringing all that former experience to build it in a way that, you know, the, uh, the American market is gonna be happy with. I wanna go back to something Mike touched on, but I’m gonna, I’m gonna amplify it a little bit more. We hear a lot in this industry, and you hear the same thing. This agency buys a certain brand of bus. Yeah.
Okay? And, and they say that because of parts commonality. We have this on the shelf. Our drivers are trained, that sort of thing. We’re already out in front of that because every, we have 684 transit authorities that buy parts from
ABC today. We sell parts- Wow … we have 200,000 SKUs. So every transit customer on this floor, we’re selling them parts today. So the whole concept of, well, we need parts commonality, we’re going, “Great- Right … ’cause we already have that.” Yeah.
You’re, this is already horizontal to that. We’re, we’re supplying. And they go, “Oh, yeah, I see these ABC invoices come by my desk every day.” Listen, we’re the largest company in the US with aftermarket parts today. So that whole idea of we want parts commonality, we’re going,
“You already have it.” What’s, what’s the n- Because when you come into the market new, you know, there’s always gonna be a little bit of pause, and I don’t blame them. Yeah. You know, companies have come and gone.
We’re gonna build something that’s very reliable. You know, you heard Roman say, “We want it to be reliable. We want it to work.” And that’s what agencies like. You talk to the agency, what do they want? They want that bus to, to make pull-out every single morning. They don’t wanna have issues with it, and that’s why the propulsion system we chose to start with is, is a diesel.
And then on the roadmap, Mike, what, what do we have next, you know, beyond the diesel? You know, it, it, um, this is where, pardon me, th- this trade show and the follow-up after this trade show’s so important because we’re going to be, uh, we’re, we’ve already begun the process of, of asking our future customers, “What do you want us to do next? Do you want us to go, uh, the, the latest generation, uh, diesel electric hybrid? Do you want us to go CNG?
Should we go straight to battery electric?” So, you know, we have a roadmap, and, and we’re going to touch all of these things eventually, but the cadence of when, when we introduce a new propulsion, um, the industry will help dictate that.
But to John’s point, you know, we’re gonna start with a diesel bus. It’s simple. We’re going to optimize our product. And we’re bringing a new bus to market, and th- there’ll be, they’ll, it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for us. We understand it, and that’s why we have a very measured approach on how we introduce this bus and, and including technologies as well. Today’s episode is brought to you by ETA.
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Yeah, I, I think it’s a, it’s a, a great approach and, and you said something that, that is key is reliability. I mean, uh, Levi and I, we work at transit agencies, and the most important, uh, thing is pull out, is putting the service out there. Right. At the end of the day, the customer has to get to work, they have to get to school.
Right. And they’re not as keen on what type of propulsion system the vehicle has. Is, is the, is the service on time? Is it getting me where I need to go? Does the AC work? Yeah. Well, that, that’s, uh- Especially in South Florida, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, how the AC has to be working in South Florida. Right. But th- that’s paramount, and I think this, this is a great, uh, place to start.
You know, diesel is, it doesn’t require all this, uh, infrastructure that a lot of other technologies require, which allow agencies to just put ’em in service right away. Right. And it’s something they’re already familiar with too. Yeah. There’s not the- It is … learning curves. It is. And, and, you know, the, the diesel powertrain won’t be for everyone, and we realize that. Sure. And that’s why we’ll, we’ll move on to those next, to those next steps as far as propulsion.
Um, so, you know, from, from a propulsion standpoint, we’re covering our bases. Um, from a body structure, corrosion standpoint, we understand that corrosion up here. in Chicago- Mm … uh, you know, is a major concern.
So we’ve spent a lot of time designing the, the bus structure itself. And, uh, as time goes on, we’ll share more information on- Okay … on, on how we’re designing our body structure.
But, um, we’re looking at corrosion, we’re looking at safety. We’re gonna be doing some things that currently don’t exist in this industry. They’re, they’re, it exists in other industries, it exists in Europe from a safety standpoint-
Mm … and it’s something we’re gonna integrate into our bus, so. Is this something you can speak about today or not yet? Not yet. Okay. But, uh, soon. Okay. Yeah. But that’s exciting. You see, that’s what we need more of, you know? Like, that, that innovation. Agencies, they’re familiar with what we have, and that’s as much as we can offer to the communities here in the US. Right. Once you’re disrupting that industry and bringing things that are new and that are better ultimately for the communities and the customer, uh, tho- those are the vendors that we need in the industry, so I’m excited. We’re gonna be looking out, be on the lookout for, for those announcements. Absolutely.
We’re very excited about it. We just can’t put the cart in front of the horse. Yes. So with bus safety being a major concern for fleet operators, how has Core Transit bus design taken that into consideration? Well, to, to that end, you know, we’re, we’re looking at, uh, at our body construction and how safe is that safety cage, that, that cage- Mm … that surrounds that bus.
Uh, and we’re going above and beyond. We’re going beyond what’s required for a transit bus in the US, uh, a- as far as safety. And, and again, we’ll, we’ll share more of that as time goes on.
Um, but we’re being proactive there. This is our opportunity to, to build a bus from the ground up. Let’s, let’s advance the ball. Let’s advance the technology in body design, uh, in safety systems.
So we’re, we’re very excited about the direction we’re heading on that. Yeah. Excellent. Um, I wanna ask about, um, procurement in a…
I understand if maybe you don’t have all the answers to, to my procurement questions, but I’m thinking, I’m putting my, uh, transit executive, uh, hat on, like, you know, working for a transit agency, and transit agencies buy a lot of buses every year. I remember at my agency, we were buying 10 to 15 buses every year, uh, which, you know, might not be a lot, but also it’s a lot compared to, you know, some smaller agencies. Oh, yeah. It is a big investment when you take a look at, at the rising cost of, you know, buses i- in the US.
So, um, I’m interested, you know, as a, as a transit executive to take a look at what you guys are offering. But, like, procurement sometimes is a roadblock, right? Like, y- you know, certain s- um, agencies use the, the state consortium contracts, or they, they try to find an avenue where they don’t have to write an RFP themselves-
Right … and go and, and, and have everybody bid in on it, and then, and then do this. How, how can, or what can we expect from your side, like, proactively, um, to providing options for, for, you know, transit agencies to start considering or finding a path to, to buy, um, your vehicle? Yeah. I think what you’ll see, let’s just talk timing, ’cause we tried to hit on that during the announcement today. So pilots in
2027, you know, we’re gonna get to Altoona. Our production models come out in 2028. So you’ll start seeing us participate in those RFPs and those state schedules in 2027, because, you know, the cycle’s long. Right. There are 35,000 buses that are going to retire in the next five years. It’s, there’s gonna be a lot of buses bought in the next cycle.
And so we like the state schedules. We think they’re smart. They don’t fit everyone, but we think that’s a great Vehicle for someone to be able to go to, to say, “I’m gonna use that schedule.”
Mike and I both used those in our careers a lot. But if agency says, “Hey, we wanna do our own procurement,” what we’re gonna keep an eye on, and we’re gonna go back to this 2024 White
House meeting, is this was a dear colleague letter. The FTA doesn’t make up rules, you know, Congress does those sort of things. They administer ’em, but when they put out a dear colleague letter, most of the time people really pay attention. So, complexity that we’re gonna see in these specifications.
What’s that look like compared to the product we have? Uh, progress payments, what’s that look like financially? Because I think, you know, we have to help each other. Um, out of that White House meeting, we found out from one of the OEMs that they built 2,000 buses in 2023, and there were 92 different window combinations.
So you can imagine that in the manufacturing process, but think about 12 years of having to supply parts and having to warehouse that. Like, that’s, that’s the sort of things that Mike and I are gonna look at because we’re trying to make the product where it’s got some standardization, but also you can do some customization as well.
But I think you’ll see us show up in, in some point ’27, you’ll see that core transit bid, uh, getting submitted, and that’s, that’s gonna be a, a, a, a fun day for us once we get the first one. But we’ve, we’ve got enough experience with the agencies to understand how the process works. None of that will be foreign to us. You know, we’re not a company that comes in with, without that level of experience.
Um, but we’re, we’re looking forward to, we’re not gonna get out there too fast. Like, Mike and I, you know, w- we, we’ve done this for a little bit, and we’ve got some, some road on us, and, and probably a few bumps and bruises along the way. You’ve scarred. And, and so we’re gonna understand the speed in which we need to go.
Um, you know, public transit is a target for us. Universities, airports, they’re a target for us. Corporate shuttle.
Um, but w- certainly, the core of our business will be with the group that’s in this room today. And I’d like to add one point to that, too. Uh, you know, talking about procurements, one of our, uh, one of our benchmarks right off the bat was to take the latest APTA standard bus procurement guideline, and we and our engineers are using that as our template as we design front overhangs, rear overhangs, approach angles, uh, GAWRs for the axle, interior headroom, uh, door width, wheelchair angles, and, and, and, uh, widths going down the aisle.
So our, our plan is to, and, and so far we’ve executed it, we’re gonna meet the APTA standard bus procurement guideline. So if they say the door has to be a minimum of 34 and a half inches, we’re gonna be there or exceed it.
So we’re, we’re cognizant of the APTA requirements, and our, our plan is, and our goal is to be totally compliant to those. And you’re able to do that because you’re working clean sheet. Right. You’re, you’re working backwards, kind of reeng- uh, kind of reverse engineering what the product will be based on the already existing standard. It’s the biggest point because there are buses here at this conference that weren’t built in the US, and they will have to be homologated to those exact standards that Mike, door widths, it’s just different in Europe. The width of the bus is actually different. And ramp angles.
Ramp angles. Everything, everything- You know, to meet ADA. Is that right? So i- it is a, a big advantage to have a clean sheet. Yeah, I can see that. So you, you mentioned earlier, uh, John, about, uh, the, the trade-offs or that differentiation between being customized and, and standardized. How do you strike a balance there? Like, w- and, and what in your mind would be something that’s more standard and, versus a, a customized feature? I could give you example after ex- Oh, I’d love to hear it. I’ve just, like, lived the life. But, um, there are certain, when you look at our standard bus-
Mm … and it doesn’t fit every application, you know, we’re really focused on the operator of the bus. That’s number one, and, and the passengers, and, and designing things with that exactly in mind. But you also have the technicians in the shop, and how easy is it for you to service our vehicle? You know, that’s a, that’s a big part of what we’re doing, you know? When we look at, you know, radiator systems or engines, transmissions, those types of things, how are we making it easy for them? Because the easier we make it, the better we’re gonna be because they’re gonna wanna buy from us again. But when someone says, “Hey,
I want you to take this, you know, steering gearbox that’s from another manufacturer, that’s never been put in my bus before,” and keep in mind, I gotta go through Altoona.
And once I do that, and someone wants me to put a component in there that they just think would be different f- just for them, we’re probably gonna say no. And I can give you a specific example. Once upon a time, I was building buses for Chicago CTA, and they called me and they said, “We wanna install stone guard down the whole side, of the bus.” Now, you can understand why. Salt, snow, rocks, everything that happens up here in the city, it made a lot of sense, but it was a, it was, you know, the stuff was three, four inches thick. It was heavy if we put it on the side of the bus, and what am I doing to the structure of the vehicle? Am I gonna need to go back to Altoona?
Pick up the phone, call the engineering team, and said, “We can’t do it.” And they said, “It’s okay.” So I think as a manufacturer, no is okay.
And if, if the answer is yes, then maybe there’s a, there’s a certain price point that a customer will pay for that customization that may work out good for the OEM and the customer. Those are the things you sit down during pre-production and get through, but there’s a hundred of these examples to go through, and we’re not gonna be a company that says no all the time, but we’re gonna have to say no some of the times because we don’t wanna build a product that we haven’t designed and validated.
Because then that spells quality issues in the field. And I think that’s what you see a lot with innovation. You gotta be really careful with innovation. You can go at it the wrong way.
So, um, I think there’s a ro- a lot of room to grow there in terms of the standardization, um, mostly from manufacturers that provide all these different parts that go into buses. Because
I think that, uh, and, and correct me if I’m wrong, the, the impact of the lead time to manufacture and deliver those buses, a lot had to do with this, uh, you know, um, customization, and choosing so many different components.
Where is it that important ultimately to the customer and to the community to that, that level of customization, or is there some more things that we could do as an industry to create a little bit more standardization on all those components, how they’re made, how they’re manufactured, so when it comes to assembling these buses and delivering those buses, we can do it more effectively? A- and also potentially reduce costs for the industry. It’s a bi- it’s a big cost. A- and when you look at- It is … at the big agencies, and I’m, I’m not naming names, but Yeah … you look at the big agencies, they have such a incredibly, uh, detailed specification that is literally their DNA only.
Uh, and it’s not only the, the time and energy of sourcing, it’s the engineering. You know, if I put a different radiator pack in that’s brand new, I gotta, to, to John’s point, I gotta make sure I, I don’t violate an Altoona issue, you know, as far as a cardinal change, but then I also have to integrate it into the rest of the body.
So it, it, uh, the industry’s gone, uh, uh, a little over the deep end on that, and it’s a matter of trying to reel them back in.
Um, and, and it’s, the, the process is starting, and the FTA realizes that, that this is a thing, that it’s a problem in the industry. So, um,
I wanna, um, s- I know you s- you alluded a little bit about this, but, um, just wanna see if there’s a little bit more that we can hear about differentiation.
Right? Like, we know who are the companies that most transit agencies are buying buses from today. Um, in terms of differentiation, what, what makes you different than those offerings? We, we understand your expertise that you’re bringing that is, you know, paramount for building a product that agencies can trust and, and is reliable. Reliability and safety, I think they’re, they’re some of the two most important things, um, that agencies are going to expect from a bus manufacturer.
But in terms of differentiation, what, what makes, you know, you unique? Well, I think if you look at Core Transit, and I wanna make this very clear, this is a separate company. It is a standalone company. Had someone in the booth after the announcement say, “So which one of these manufacturers are you partnering with?” This isn’t contract manufacturing, guys.
This is a company that is going to build this bus. I think when you look at the product, and we could look at some product differentiators that we’re gonna have, and those are gonna come. We’re gonna, we’re gonna come back to you and give you some of that detail. But I look at, at a, at a, at a different angle, and it’s who am I buying this bus from?
Because if your agency says, “We’re gonna make this decision,” it’s a 12-year decision. It’s not a, it’s not a one-year decision. And when you look at ABC, you have the following things. We feel like we have a great product all by itself, but we also have the best parts and service system in the industry today. It’s really important to note. We have financing. We have finance options that no one in the industry does. And leasing.
And leasing, which, you know, you have a short-term situation at your agency. You may have some funding where we just need 20 buses for an event. How do you go do that?
You know? You can do that with ABC. We have the capability of doing that. Midlife overhaul at our shops. We do collision. I, we had a fleet of Cobb County buses at our, uh, facility, MCIs, that we’re re- refurbing for them. We do that type of work as well. So when you look at ABC, it’s not the product by itself, it’s the entire ecosystem that’s been built around this company for
50 years. Don’t forget that. Like, this is not a brand-new company that’s just shown up and we don’t know who these guys are. They, they’ve got an install base right now of 13,000 motor coaches out in the industry, and those are very heavy-duty buses with very demanding customers that, you know, have to make, make routes as well.
So I think it’s the whole ecosystem that’s a differentiator, not just product for product. And, and if I, if I could add to that, you know, our, our
DNA at ABC was the motor coach industry. These are private operators that demand, uh, you to answer the phone, provide technical support 24/7,
’cause they’re running down the highway at any given hour. So we already have 24-hour technical support. If you have an issue with your bus at 3:00 in the morning, we have technicians that pick the phone up. Secondly, and John alluded to it with our, our 10 facilities, we have 142 service bays that can accommodate a 40-foot transit bus.
So when we deliver our first buses, if there’s an issue, the agency can service it or bring it to ABC. We have, uh, we have over 730,000 square foot of facilities a- at ABC.
We have the capability of, of servicing what we sell. Uh, you know, when you look at the other players in the industry, they don’t have- A nationwide footprint like we are bringing to the table. Yeah, that, that’s significant. And, and so you said, you know, safety is paramount. I think the, uh, in public transportation is, is the number one thing is safety. Absolutely. Um, the second thing I gotten from our conversation is reliability. Like, those buses are gonna start in the morning and run. You know, a lot of these transit systems, the buses start at 3:00 AM, and they don’t bring them back as, until, like, 1:00 AM in the morning. Right. Right. In some cases. Some cases it’s almost like 24/7 operation. So the expectation is every day as you turn it on, things are gonna work. So reliability.
But the third one, as you just mentioned, is very important, is support. Because especially if you’re considering trying a new, you know, bus manufacturer or, you know, buying a new bus, uh, well, w- how is that gonna, is support gonna look like? Right? I, and what if I get into a collision? Which a- agencies have, you know, all kinds of accidents and they have to repair these buses. So i- is somebody gonna answer the phone? And, and do I get the service to help me get this bus back into revenue service as quick as possible? A- and I think that, that’s definitely that secret sauce that you guys are bringing to bring that ease for all these, uh, fleet manage- managers. And, and as they’re testing it, because I would say in, in my invitation to, you know, transit agencies around the country, is to give it a try. Like, test something different. If you always only purchase one vehicle, and it’s not like you don’t have any maintenance challenges. Everybody does, you know, trying to keep- Right … that- Sure … that fleet running.
If you keep doing the same and staying with the same, but you expect different results, that’s the definition of crazy, right? So, so it would be that invitation to take a look at what’s out there, what are some of these new offerings, and how they could, you know, increase, uh, the reliability of their fleet all together. And those facilities that Mike outlined to you do not include our manufacturing facility that is yet to be determined. So don’t forget that. These 10 facilities that we’re talking about are support facilities.
That’s where your service is. That’s where your parts- A- and they’re already up and running today? Been running for 50 years. Wow. So many agencies already been using those for, for those type of service. There’s not one of our- Oh, we have, we have transit buses in, in our shops all the time …
ev- every single location you go to, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, New York, you- Major hub … you go there and you see transit buses- Wow … lined up at our facilities. So they’re already, it’s already happening.
Okay? Now it’s gonna be our actual product that we’re building that will support that. And, and by the way, for, for the audience, we’re gonna continue to support the other brands.
Like, that’s not something that we will stop doing ’cause it’s our, it’s our core, not to use that as a- … a word here, it’s our core competency and we will continue to do that. And our customers expect us to. They do. They fully expect it. They really do, so.
Yeah, I know, I know I’ve spoken with agencies that had really tight, uh, budgets, and they’re trying to balance, you know, how, how to make those decisions, right? Because they could either, in today’s market, buy one bus, but then they have six, seven, eight buses that are coming for retirement and some of them that are a headache they keep trying to fix, and they put a lot of money on them, and they’re still not working. And then they have to make those decisions on how they can, you know, uh, get their fleet back into good operating conditions.
So I would invite those agencies to take a look at what you guys are doing in those other offerings, in the leasing model, in the, you know, mid-live, uh, you know, uh, overhauls. Because it is not just buying a new bus. Like, you’re offering a whole array of services, uh, that will be part of this, you know, Core Transit that, that they can benefit from. It, it’s, it’s truly the full life cycle of a bus.
You know, from, from selling, selling an agency a bus, building it, supporting it throughout the warranty, then throughout its life. A- and at the end of that life, we buy used buses. Mm. So, you know, if, if we sell our bus to an agency, we know how it’s gonna be built.
Uh, we’ll be there at, at auction time to buy them back too. So we’re, we’re very confident in the, the design we’re gonna put on the table. Mike and
I are two industry guys that have been doing this for a long, long time. Glad to be on this team. Uh, I’m more recent, much more recent than Mike. Um, and we’re gonna build out a, a really strong team at the company.
Um, the, the family is very supportive of this. Uh, they’re, they’re the best people in this industry I think I’ve ever met.
And, um, and you’ll, the whole industry’s gonna get to know them much, much better. So, uh, yeah, coretransit.com. Excellent.
Well, John, Mike, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. This has been great
