Happy New Year NYC Transit Forums users! With a new year comes many new changes, and It is finally time to flood the forums with all the fun and exiting changes that await all of us.
As previously mentioned here and there over the last 6 months, the MTA was said to be shaking things up within the department of buses in major ways. Again I apologize for not posting regular as I normally do, but as I said, I needed to confirm things on all angles. All of the following information is now 100% confirmed by The Department of Buses.
All updates, and detailed information will remain in the MTA Bus Ops Fleet & Depots thread as always. Updates have been made as of this evening, and more are coming.
First lets take a look at the newly revised bus delivery and procurement plans.
All Current & Proposed Orders
300 Prevost X3-45 Commuter Coaches (NYCT Delivery in progress)
321 New Flyer XD40 "Xcelsior" Buses (NYCT Delivery in progress, MTAB Lead due April)
414 NovaBus LFS Buses (NYCT - Pilots in service and config. testing Delivery to be accelerated)
75 New Flyer XD60 Articulated "Xcelsior" Buses (MTABC - 4 Pilots due June 2015)
231 Low Floor Articulated 60 foot buses (NYCT - To Be Awarded Summer 2015)
772 Low Floor Standard 40 foot bus options (NYCT - To be accelerated & exercised mid 2015)
138 Low Floor Standard CNG powered buses (NYCT)
Now we will note several major changes that reflect new 2015 plans for the DOB.
1.) The NovaBus order for a total of 414 buses was originally scheduled to be complete in early 2017. NovaBus has now committed to an increase in bus production that many did not think would be possible. Nova has now assured the MTA that they can deliver the balance of the buses by June. This means the last would come in at nearly the exact same time as the last of the New Flyer buses. This way, MTA can better evaluate and predict delivery slots for the option buses, which will now be increased by a total of 72 buses.
2.) MTA has yet again delayed award of 256 articulated buses, and has now decided to defer 25 of them off the base order. These decisions were made collectively for several reasons. The delay was expected, and it is to give New Flyer time to deliver 75 buses to MTABC depots. The deferral of 25 buses off the base order will be added to the option, for a new total of 300 buses. The main reason MTA finally decided on the deferral was so they can increase the standard 40 foot option from 700 buses, to 772. This way, MTA can re-allocate funds to the low floor procurement, and thus does not have to seek funds from elsewhere for the time being.
3.) The option for 700 buses will now be increased to 772 in order for MTA to expedite retirement of all Orion V buses. It was originally planned, that when all the new buses come in, MTA would keep the best RTS and Orion buses in the fleet. This would have been 375 RTS buses, and 72 Orion V buses. MTA has now decided that they want to move to replace the entire fleet of Orion V's as soon as possible. This means 72 buses need to be added to the standard 40 foot option immediately to make this happen.
Sources: 
New York City Transit, Department of Buses, East New York Headquarters