On January 11, 2013, the Chicago Transit Board approved the purchase of at least 300 clean diesel, forty-foot buses 7900-8199 from Nova Bus. The $148 million contract contained an option to purchase an additional 150 buses.
The first pilot bus as part of the order, #7900, was delivered to the CTA in early February. On February 26, 2014, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTA President Forrest Claypool officially unveiled the new bus to the public at CTA’s 74th Street Garage.
The CTA expects to take regular delivery of the new Nova buses in April through the end of 2015 and, upon inspection and acceptance, begin putting new buses into service by May 2014.
This is the CTA’s second purchase of LFS models from manufacture Nova Bus. From 2000-2002, CTA received delivery of 484 Nova LFS models. Those buses will largely be retired upon delivery of the new models.