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Service History

In 2003, the CTA began receiving an order of 226 new articulated buses from North American Bus Industries (NABI). The $102.1 million contract was the CTA’s first order of new articulated vehicles since 1983. They replaced the rapidly deteriorating 7300-series MAN articulated buses, which were purchased used from Seattle in 2001. The used bus purchase was meant to temporarily fill the need for articulated buses, as the 7100-series MAN articulated buses delivered to the CTA in 1983 were no longer suitable for operation, yet could not be immediately replaced with new buses.

The NABI vehicles came equipped with modern amenities including wheelchair ramps, air conditioning, security cameras, bike racks, and automated announcement systems.

Shortly after the NABI buses went into service, several manufactural defects became apparent. These included poor suspension systems, faulty rear doors, and the appearance of cracks in the articulation joint. In 2004, the ongoing issues led the CTA to stop payment on the contract. In May 2007, CTA Chairman Carole Brown stated on her blog that the CTA was still working with NABI to correct ongoing suspension problems, calling it a “serious issue” that “must be fixed.”

Despite the assertion from the chairman, the buses continued to exhibit a failure rate higher than that of those three times their age. In January 2009, a number of NABI vehicles began to drop off CTA’s roster, indicating possible plans for early retirement of the fleet. It would later be revealed that the CTA had plans to cease operation of the NABI buses as early as September 2008. In a letter to the Federal Transit Administration, then CTA president Ron Huberman wrote that it was “no longer prudent to continue to operate these buses in revenue service.” Huberman requested FTA’s permission “to remove the buses from service and dispose of them as quickly as possible.” (Buses purchased with federal funds are typically required to remain in service for at least 12 years.)

On February 19, 2009, the CTA abruptly pulled all NABI buses from service citing safety reasons after an out of service bus experienced a structural failure related to the articulation joint. On April 23, 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported that the buses were unlikely to resume service. The CTA will attempt to dispose of the buses, the Tribune reported, while working with the FTA to preserve federal interest in the remaining value of the buses.