The Orion V was a line of rigid

high-floor High-floor describes the interior flooring of commuter vehicles primarily used in public transport such as trains, light rail cars and other rail vehicles, along with buses and trolleybuses. Interior floor height is generally measured above the ...

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

es available in 32', 35', and 40' lengths manufactured by Ontario Bus Industries (renamed

Orion Bus Industries Orion Bus Industries, also known as Bus Industries of America in the United States, was a private bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The company had its main manufacturing plant in Mississauga and sent bus body shells to ...

in 1995) between 1989 and 2009. The conventionally powered buses, either with longitudinally mounted diesel or natural gas engines, used a T-drive transmission coupling. The Orion V replaced the

Orion I The Orion I was a line of rigid high-floor transit buses made in 30-, 35-, and 40-foot lengths by Ontario Bus & Truck (renamed to Ontario Bus Industries (OBI) in 1977) between 1976 and 1993 for the Canadian and United States mass transportation ...

, and was in turn replaced by the

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

Orion VI (introduced in 1993) and

Orion VII The Orion VII was a line of low-floor transit buses available in 30' rigid, 35' rigid, and 40' rigid lengths manufactured by Orion Bus Industries between 2001 and 2013 in three generations. The conventional powered buses, either with longitudinal ...

(introduced in 2001).

Design

The two-piece windshield of the Orion V has the driver's windshield canted towards the back of the bus to reduce reflections. The bus was available in both transit (two-door) and suburban (single front door) configurations. The Orion V uses a welded monocoque steel tube frame clad with steel and fiberglass panels, and an aluminum roof. The interior floor height is except for the vestibule portion starting at the rear wheels, which is slightly lower at . The first step height is for the front ( when knelt) and for the rear. All buses, regardless of fuel type, use longitudinally mounted engines with a T-drive transmission coupling driving the rear axle. Compressed natural gas (CNG) buses carry their fuel on the roof in eight tanks, with a collective volume of at a pressure of , measured at . Diesel buses were offered with fuel tanks. Ontario (later Orion) Bus Industries (OBI) marketed the Orion V to both the Canadian and United States transit markets. Canadian buses were assembled at the OBI plant in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...

. For the US market, to meet 'Buy America' requirements for federally subsidized transit vehicles, the Orion V was assembled by wholly owned subsidiary Bus Industries of America (BIA) in

Oriskany, New York Oriskany ( or ) is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 1,400 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the Iroquois word for "nettles". The Village of Oriskany is in the Town of Whitestown, southeast of ...

Models

Internally, OBI designated the bus model as 05.50''x'', with ''x'' designating the model number.

Hybrid prototypes

A series hybrid bus was developed by the New York State Consortium using an Orion V 40' chassis equipped with powertrain components supplied by General Electric. This hybrid bus prototype used tandem rear axles driven by four traction motors, one for each wheel. Electric traction power was generated by a Cummins B5.9 diesel engine rated at driving a alternator, and energy from regenerative braking was stored in nickel-cadmium batteries.

Deployment

The Orion V was OBI's most popular transit bus. The first production bus was sold to

Mississauga Transit MiWay (pronounced "my way"; stylized miWAY), also known as Mississauga Transit and originally as Mississauga Transit Systems, is the municipal public transport agency serving Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and is responsible to the city's Tra ...

. Major transit agency users included New York City ( MTA), Toronto ( TTC), and Washington, D.C. (

WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

). For MTA, some buses in the final order from 1999 were unreliable and plagued with significant structural corrosion.

Coast Mountain Bus Company Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) is the contract operator for bus transit services in Metro Vancouver and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, known locally as TransLink, the entity respon ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

operates the Orion V Suburban models built in 2008, the last buses built for a Canadian agency. The last Orion V models were built for

Sonoma County Transit Sonoma County Transit is a public transportation system based in Sonoma County, California. Cities and communities served As the primary bus system in the county, Sonoma County Transit (SCT) operates to the following communities, listed by zone: ...

in 2008. TTC retired its Orion V fleet in December 2015; the retirement event featured a final 40-minute ride on No. 9411. As of , a handful of Orion V models remain in operation such as Beaver Bus Lines of Brandon, Manitoba, which currently operates a number of former

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...

buses built from 2000 to 2004 and

that also runs the suburban Orion V models built in 2008, as the last Orion V buses manufactured for a Canadian transit system. Bee-Line Bus System and

operates the last Orion V buses in diesel and CNG configurations.

Competition

Flxible Metro The Flxible Metro is a transit bus that was assembled and manufactured by the Flxible Corporation from 1983 until 1995. From 1978 until early-1983, when Flxible was owned by Grumman, the model was known as the Grumman 870, with a Grumman namepl ...

Gillig Phantom The Gillig Phantom is a series of buses that was produced by an American manufacturer Gillig Corporation in Hayward, California. The successor to the long-running Gillig Transit Coach model line, the Phantom marked the transition of Gillig fr ...

NABI 416 The NABI SFW was a line of standard (high)-floor transit buses available in 40' rigid (NABI 416) and 60' articulated (NABI 436) nominal lengths, manufactured by the Ikarus USA joint venture, then by American Ikarus and North American Bus Indus ...

New Flyer High Floor The New Flyer High Floor was a line of conventional (high-floor) transit buses available in 35' rigid, 40' rigid, and 60' articulated lengths manufactured by New Flyer Industries between 1987 and 1996. The buses were powered by conventional dies ...

Rapid Transit Series The Rapid Transit Series (RTS) city bus is a long-running series of transit buses that was originally manufactured by GMC Truck and Coach Division during 1977, in Pontiac, Michigan. First produced in 1977, the RTS was GMC's offering of an Adv ...

References

External links

* * {{Cite web , title=Orion Vehicle Identification Number Explanation , url=https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Orion_Vehicle_Identification_Number_Explanation , publisher=Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board wiki Buses of Canada Buses of the United States Vehicles introduced in 1989