Following repeated delays to the TTC’s streetcar order with Bombardier, the transit agency is asking other companies if they’re interested in supplying Toronto’s next batch of vehicles.

Last Tuesday the TTC issued an official request for information (RFI) in order to “gauge market interest and capabilities of potential suppliers” to deliver up to 100 new streetcars.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said the RFI isn’t an indication that the agency has decided to go with another company for its next purchase, and asserted the request was “strictly part of our planning to best understand how we can address our long term needs.”

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“No decision has been made,” he said.

The TTC is in the midst of taking delivery of a $1-billion, 204-vehicle order from Bombardier, but the Quebec-based company has fallen far behind the original delivery schedule.

The TTC is effectively locked into that order and has no intention to cancel. But the contract has an option for additional cars, and the TTC has considered exercising it and buying an extra 60 vehicles.

However, as Bombardier’s production problems mounted, the TTC board directed the agency to seek out potential alternate suppliers for additional vehicles beyond the original 204.

According to Green, the agency expects that it will need to start deploying additional streetcars around 2023 or 2024 to keep up with ridership growth. In order to have the vehicles available by then, the TTC will have to choose a supplier by the end of next year.

The RFI closes November 14. As of Thursday seven companies had downloaded the information package from the public sector procurement website, Green said.

A spokesperson for Bombardier said the company is among those that plans to take part in the RFI.

“This will give us an opportunity to show that we are the only manufacturer on the market to already have a vehicle that is designed to the specific needs of the TTC, and an established production line geared towards such a project,” wrote Marc-André Lefebvre in an email.

He said that Bombardier would also continue discussions with the TTC to exercise the option in the existing contract, which he asserted would be cheaper for taxpayers than placing a new order with another company.

Under the terms of the original contract, in order to be guaranteed a lower price on additional Bombardier cars, the TTC must decide whether to pick up the option by the time the company delivers the 60th vehicle. That could happen before the end of the year.

Green said the TTC is talking with Bombardier about pushing the decision date back “so that we have more time to assess the situation.”

An official with Siemens said the company is “very interested” in the TTC’s request.

“We’re currently reviewing the RFI and will make a decision as to whether to participate in the coming weeks,” said Patrick O’Neill, vice president of mobility at Siemens Canada Limited. The company has already won contracts to manufacture light rail vehicles for Seattle, Minneapolis, and San Diego.

A spokesperson for Alstom, which earlier this year secured a $528-million vehicle contract from regional transit agency Metrolinx, said the company “is reviewing this opportunity and giving it full consideration.”

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The TTC placed the initial order with Bombardier in 2009. The company was supposed to have supplied close to 150 vehicles by the end of this year, but has since slashed the year-end target to just 70 vehicles. The TTC currently has 44 of the cars on its property.

In July, the company warned the TTC that it may not meet even the reduced 2017 target due to what it described as a “short-term” production issue.

Bombardier says it is “deploying extraordinary resources” to hit delivery goals and is still on track to complete all 204 streetcars by the original 2019 deadline.

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