For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Steve Kratzer
Marketing and Business Development Representative
steve.kratzer@optimabus.com
316-779-7700 ext. 344

Clark County, Wash., Charlottesville, Va., Wichita, Kan. purchase buses from Optima Bus Corporation

Wichita, KS – March 4, 2004 – With the announcement of sales to transit organizations in Vancouver, Wash., Wichita, Kan., and Charlottesville, Va., Optima Bus officials say the company's popular Opus low-floor buses and American Heritage Streetcars continue to spark solid growth for the mass transit bus manufacturer.

Clark County Public Transportation Benefit Area Authority, (C-TRAN) in Vancouver, Wash., recently purchased ten under-30-ft. Opus low floor buses. Lynne Griffith, C-TRAN's Executive Director/CEO says "C-TRAN's decision to purchase the Opus low-floor buses allows C-TRAN to demonstrate to our citizens that we are listening to their concerns of the ‘big empty buses.' The low-floor design of these Opus buses," explains Griffith, "will work very well on some of our routes that travel through neighborhood streets while adding a fresh new look to our fleet."

John Hoefs, C-TRAN Director of Maintenance, is also enthusiastic about C-TRAN's new fleet of Opus low-floor buses. "Though the Opus is light, it is probably the strongest bus on the road today; which translates into maximum product life. Everyone from our drivers to our maintenance people are impressed with the many user-friendly features that are built right into the Opus," says Hoefs. "It's a very cost-effective, heavy duty bus."

The Charlottesville Transit Service (CTS) in Charlottesville, Va., and Wichita Transit in Wichita, Kan., are also among the growing number of cities with fleets of the modernistic, state-of-the-art, Opus low-floor bus and operate six and five, respectively. However, in addition to their fleets of Opus low-floor buses, CTS and Wichita Transit have also added new American Heritage Streetcars to their fleets of Optima mass transit buses.

With the purchase of one new American Heritage Streetcar, CTS brings its Optima Streetcar fleet total to four. Wichita Transit's addition of two new American Heritage Streetcars to its fleet of Optima Streetcars brings that organization's total to seven. Of that total, four Streetcars are 28 passenger American Heritage models and three are 24-passenger Alamo City Streetcars, the evolutionary predecessor to the larger American Heritage Streetcar.

"Our fleet of Optima Streetcars are very popular in Wichita," says Wichita Transit General Manager Jay Banasiak. "Not only do people like their ride, their air of authenticity and nostalgia, the quality of the streetcars enhance the high quality of life that Wichitans expect," explains Banasiak. "And, from an operational perspective, Optima streetcars are also among the most cost-efficient buses on the road today."

Illustrating his point, Banasiak says that in some cities, Optima Streetcars purchased more than twenty years ago are still in service and as dependable as ever.

CTS Acting Transit Manager Charles Petty says, "The City of Charlottesville has chosen the American Heritage Streetcar vehicle to ‘brand' a specific ‘Free Trolley' route between downtown Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. The vehicles are visually striking," explains Petty, "and immediately distinguish this route."

Commenting on Charlottesville's fleet of Opus low-floor buses, Petty says reaction to its "European" styling has been equally positive among both ridership and citizenry.