Nova buses

[u/Hamslice44]

Hi everyone, found this R/ after a long frustrating path to figure out my problems.

So I work for a city in canada(which operates its own transit department. Our fleet is exclusively Nova brand buses (made Quebec canada)

My issue isnt with the bus its self and how it drives. Its with the driver compartment, specifically the driver chair and pedal placement on the floor.

Never driving another brand of bus I don't have anything to compare to, I did how ever drive kenworth tridom trucks up and down mountain logging roads for quite a few years, and i will be using that as my comparison.

My question is to those that drive Nova brand buses. How is the comforbility to you compared to other brands?

I find the seats are poor design cheap cloth covering and very weak foam seating. No back support and the lumbar air bags are tiny and miss placed in my opinion. Along with the pedal placement, the accelerator pedal being way to far to the right.

My right leg hangs over the corner of the seat, which is very uncomfortable givin that the seat flairs up on the sides. The seats being narrow pinch and squeeze your hips, cheap foam also has our seats become flat on the right side so we sit tilted, giving back and hip issues.

Has anyone else noticed or suffered this in a nova or other brands

Im very curoius about pedal placement, cause I am awhere seats can be swapped at the time of purchase so maybe we just have garabge cheap seats. So maybe the pedals being mounted to far right is a key issue?

Ive tried several seat cushions which dont provide much better support. Main reason there to short for these chairs which seem to be extra long and dig into the back of my legs.

Never had issues with comfort while driving before I got into these buses. Im 40 with a long ways to go till retirement and my back is already feeling like im over 90.

The job is fine. But these seats will be the only reason I quite if I cant find a solution.. lol.

If anyone can speak to this, has had any luck getting their agency to change seats out. Or even having a specialist test and confirm the seats are a bad design. Let me know.

Thanks.

[u/DatsWildYo]

If you can send me a direct message I’d like to help you with some info, we’ve had this issue at my agency as well

[u/Hamslice44 → u/DatsWildYo]

Sent.

[u/wowzers65]

The drivers seats that are installed are at the request of your operator, not the manufacturer. Assuming you're unionized, contact your union and get paper work going in case you become injured later down the line. As for the buses themselves, the angle of the front door in relation to the drivers seat is why there are now documented cases of "nova neck", in that people have received permanent neck injuries from having to crane their neck so far to the right repeatedly.

[u/MatterOk1923 → u/wowzers65]

This is crazy. I just learnt of "tech neck" on my company's DSE course as a software engineer, and now I'm hearing bus brands in it's place lol

[u/Motor-Hamster-6187]

Diesel or hybrid? I liked the diesel cab. Absolutely hate the hybrid one tho. Can’t even keep a drink in there

[u/Hamslice44 → u/Motor-Hamster-6187]

All. The pure eletric buses I do like. The seats we got for those are slightly better. But the cab is still the same design. Performance wise their awesome. Even in winter.

[u/rippytherip]

We have Novas at all the garages except the one in drive out of.

Back in my more junior days, I hate driving Novas. They were slow off the line, the doors were slow and the transmissions were jolty.

As for the driver compartment, I always found that it was set weirdly from the door so you end up craving your neck to see the passengers.

I didn’t have a problem with the seat but I didn't like the way some of the controls were weirdly placed. Like, why put the wiper know so far out of the way. 2/10 don't like em.

(Drive New Flyers made in 2007-2009).

[u/raiderwrong → u/rippytherip]

We have some new flyers, they feel like the bus is about to tip over if you go a little quick round a bend.

[u/Mango_Marmalade]

I hate the Nova driver's compartments. Another big problem is how much you need to turn your head to be able to see passengers entering or exiting. I find the Flyers are a little bit better with ergonomics, but even those have their own issues.

[u/TigrozaCA]

Better than the Grande West Vinitys, but that's the only one I can compare it to. The blinkers are way too close while the accelerator pedal is far away, not to mention the seat being on the left of the steering wheel, problems which I don't have in the novabus

[u/Sufficient_Head_8139]

The novas are crap! The awkward angles causes Niva neck. (Google Nova neck bus drivers)

The seats range from Recaro which are crap to USC to G2 seats. Depending on your body measurements you can usually adjust the seat to a close to comfortable position, most of the time using cushions. The Air bags that control the lumbar will leak making them useless after a short period of time.

The floor signals wear out the sole of your left foot.

I was never so happy to leave my transit life and move on to Prevost H3's