page_title: Blue Bird Micro Bird
section_title: MB-II/MB-IV (1992-1999; 2010-present)
hierarchical_section_title: Blue Bird Micro Bird / Design overview / Body / MB-II/MB-IV (1992-1999; 2010-present)
caption_attribution_description: A photograph of a school bus in New Paltz, New York. The bus is a Micro Bird, Inc. (Blue Bird/Girardin) MB-II on a 2011-2013 Chevrolet Express 3500SRW cutaway van chassis.
context_page_description: The Blue Bird Micro Bird is a bus body produced in the United States and Canada by Blue Bird Corporation. First introduced in 1975, the Micro Bird body is combined with a cutaway van chassis, with passenger capacity ranging from 10 to 30 passengers. While most examples are produced as a school bus, the Micro Bird has been sold in various configurations, including commercial-use minibuses and as a MFSAB. MFSABs are alternatives to 15-passenger vans; examples have come into use by child care centers and other organizations due to updated safety regulations.
  Since 2010, the Blue Bird Micro Bird has been produced as part of a joint venture with Blue Bird and Girardin Minibus, called Micro Bird, Inc. Final assembly currently takes place at the Girardin facilities in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.
context_section_description: Blue Bird and Quebec-based manufacturer Girardin Minibus have produced cutaway school bus bodies in two separate joint ventures; the first joint venture was from 1992 to 1999 while the second has been in place since 2009.    
  In 1992, the two companies organized a distribution agreement, with Blue Bird selling the Girardin MB-II and MB-IV buses in its sales network ("Blue Bird MBII/IV by Girardin" badging) alongside the Micro Bird.  Launched in 1991, there were two buses in the Girardin MB Series.  The MB-IV was produced for dual rear-wheel chassis (similar in configuration to the Blue Bird Micro Bird); the MB-II was produced for single rear-wheel chassis.  In a large departure from manufacturing precedent of the time, the MB-II was constructed as a cutaway bus body rather than as a conversion of a passenger van to a school bus.  In another departure from precedent, the MB-series buses utilized aluminum body panels in place of steel. The MB-II was offered with two different entry door configurations: a standard bus door (standard on Ford-chassis buses) and a van-style door (standard on Chevrolet/GMC G-van prior to 1997).  
  In 2009, Girardin Minibus entered its second joint venture with Blue Bird.  The partnership, named Micro Bird, Inc., consolidated all Type A school bus production at the Girardin facilities in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.  Under the agreement, Blue Bird shifted production of van-based buses to Girardin (to again sell under the Blue Bird brand) while Blue Bird concentrated on design and production of full-size buses.  As part of the joint venture, the MB-II returned to the Blue Bird product line during 2010, serving as the replacement for the single rear-wheel Micro Bird.
caption: Micro Bird MB-II by Girardin (2011-2013)
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