Valley Metro (Phoenix) bus fleet

For more information about Valley Metro (Regional Public Transportation Authority) in Maricopa County, Arizona, see: Valley Metro (Phoenix).

Vehicle suppliers

Since 1998, the cities of Phoenix and Tempe along with the RPTA have purchased coaches from North American Bus Industries (NABI); since 2004, Valley Metro has returned to purchasing coaches from New Flyer due to the late delivery of the NABI 45C-LFWs and the most recent NABI 40-LFW order.

Valley Metro was the original launch customer for the NABI 45C-LFW Compobus for its BRT and commuter express lines in the city of Phoenix as well as Tempe (the Phoenix RAPID buses have a different paint scheme (silver and green) from all other Valley Metro buses); other models in wide use include the nationally popular 40-LFW and 35-LFW (both of which Valley Metro was also the launch customer). Older RTS coaches manufactured by Transportation Manufacturing Corporation and D40LFs manufactured by New Flyer that were built in 1994 and 1996 were mostly phased out in 2007.

Short, low-volume routes in Tempe and Scottsdale are still serviced by older ElDorado National EZ Rider buses; the free Copper Square DASH circulator shuttles in downtown Phoenix also use similar ElDorado coaches.

Since 2004, most of Valley Metro's bus orders have been composed of former options from other transit agencies from around the western United States; these options were either added to by Valley Metro or cancelled and taken up by Valley Metro. Although this limits Valley Metro's ability to order buses to its own specifications, it also allows for quicker bus delivery, which has become essential due to Valley Metro's rapid expansion. For more information, see the roster below.

In April 2006, RPTA put the first New Flyer C40LFR restyled transit buses into service in America; these vehicles are being used on the routes it directly operates in Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and the surrounding areas. In summer 2006, Valley Metro also was the first customer outside of California to purchase the NABI 60-BRT; these buses were attached to the large Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority order and were built with similar specifications. These buses run on the same routes as the C40LFs. In January 2006, the RPTA leased 20 Nova Bus RTS suburban buses from Golden Gate Transit that are used on Mesa and Chandler express routes. In March 2007, Phoenix negotiated a short-term (six-month) lease of three RTS buses from Omnitrans to operate local routes that were served by Phoenix-purchased RTS buses and New Flyer D40LF buses that had been taken out of service earlier than expected.

For 2008 Valley Metro continued the purchase of New Flyer equipment with an order of 51 C40LFR CNG suburban buses, 1 DE40LFR hybrid suburban bus, 20 L40LF LNG transit buses, and 10 New Flyer DE60LFA buses (Valley Metro is the third agency to order this bus type) for more East Valley "supergrid" expansion and express route expansion. Unlike the 2007 D40LFR buses, the 2008 C40LFR and DE40LFR buses have a "transit" configuration with two more wheelchair positions, more inward-facing seating, and no headrests. The DE40LFR is being used used as a pilot bus to test hybrid-electric technology. Also in 2008, Valley Metro tested a Motor Coach Industries D4500CT bus as a candidate for replacing their leased Nova Bus RTS vehicles. However, Valley Metro's next suburban bus order will consist of New Flyer RAPID-style vehicles, both 40-foot and 60-foot (articulated).

In extremely rare situations (such as when an express trip has extremely low ridership, when an express bus trip is overcrowded, or if a bus breaks down and there is no replacement nearby), Veolia-RPTA will use former paratransit vehicles in regular service.

Fleet descriptions

Active

Note that this listing does not include route 660-Wickenburg Regional Connector or GUS (Glendale Urban Shuttle) vehicles.