CTA Receives First NABI CompoBus
- By Kevin Zolkiewicz
The CTA has received a prototype CompoBus model from North American Bus Industries (NABI). The CTA had ordered 1 bus, with an option for 24 additional models.
The CompoBus is made of a single piece glass fiber reinforced composite body, rather than traditional steel. CompoBus models are lighter weight than steel buses, thus making operations of the bus easier by reducing brake and tire wear. Additionally, the bodies of CompoBus models are entirely impervious to corrosion; therefore, the regular preventive maintenance against corrosion is unnecessary.
The new CompoBus is unique for CTA in other ways. It is the first bus to sport a modified paint scheme along with a new type of seating design.
The new paint scheme, while utilizing the same colors as the previous, uses red as a dominant color. The middle portion of the bus contains a strip of white, with blue at the bottom.
The CompoBus also uses a new seating design from the local-based Freedman Seating Company. The model chosen by the CTA, the Citi Pro, was installed on a Nova LFS in late 2003 as an experiment. The seats are much slimmer and lighter weight than the previous generation of CTA bus seats. They feature the same low pile plush insert typically used by CTA along with a stainless steal back.
Photos of the new CompoBus are available in the “gallery”:/buses/7800/photos.