were called the Atlantis and internally N-416-xx (with xx designating nominal length in feet); these were purchased by Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA, 50× 40-foot models) and Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS, 26× 40-foot and 18× 35-foot models) and delivered in 1981 and 1982. Neoplan USA was also offering the "Advanced Design" N412 bus to compete with the GM Rapid Transit Series and Flxible Metro. By 1982, these buses had been given the name "Transliner" and the model numbers had been established as the AN435 and AN440 (for American Neoplan, Model 4, 35 or 40-foot lengths, respectively). Significant early Transliner sales included 1,000 buses to 16 transit agencies in the state of Pennsylvania, coordinated by PennDOT in 1982, which was the largest single bus contract in the U.S. to date, 50 articulated buses to MARTA, 76 buses to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in 1983, and 415 buses to LACMTA, then operating as the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD), in 1984 to support crowds expected for the 1984 Summer Olympics. Pennsylvania won a commitment from Neoplan USA to build an assembly plant in the state as a condition to fulfill the order; Neoplan USA announced its intent to add a Pennsylvania factory in 1982 and revealed a scale model of the site chosen in Honey Brook in 1984, but assembled all of the Pennliners in Lamar due to the delivery deadlines. The first bus completed for PAT, #3500, has been preserved by the Antique Motor Coach Association of Pennsylvania since March 2000. Although the Honey Brook site assembled buses briefly in 1986, it would later become the headquarters of Neopart, Neoplan USA's part distribution operation. A third Neoplan USA factory operated for approximately a year from June 2001 to June 2002 in Brownsville, Texas. Issues Joseph Alexander, a member of the WMATA board, criticized the 1983 contract award to Neoplan USA; Alexander was also serving as the president of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), which had received negative feedback from MCTS. One MCTS official called Neoplan USA "totally disorganized" and lacking quality control. Cracks were discovered in the frames of WMATA and SCRTD buses in 1984, and those agencies suspended service with their Neoplan USA buses in 1985, just ahead of a nationwide voluntary recall in March. That recall was also driven by a December 1984 incident where a faulty defroster on a WMATA bus led