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DetSMART45

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  1. Xcelsiors are in no way as “durable” as the old D-series of old, truthfully. You cannot simply beat the shit out of them (like their previous design) and think everything will be fine. DDOT learned that once they took full maintenance responsibility following bankruptcy and getting a sweetheart deal with NFI doing maintenance for their first batch of 2014-15 Xcelsiors. But at that time they still were beating the final 2003-4 D40LFs to a pulp before their official retirement. All of the SMART Gillig fleet currently is from 2016 to 2019. The 2016s would have come from the new facility and they’re the same old Gilligs. We’ve endured quite a few “downpour” type rainstorms and PLENTY of wet seats and serious dripping through the ad-rails (where the lighting is) because of the roof cracks — and that’s now pretty much prevalent on the 2019s. One of the only 2019s that it hasn’t happened (as heavily on) is a training bus that only got put into regular revenue because maintenance desperation called for it — they had no more buses because of the backlog of repairs/write-ups/breakdowns. Although I haven’t been following things transit-wise as closely for the past couple years, it’s a real shock that Gillig decided to do CNG — after all, how many airports have a CNG filling-farm close by vs easy access to diesel pumps. And that “customer” is still their biggest — TAs are 15 year customers but private corps (like Hertz et al) could be buying at 7-10. Anyways, enjoy the Gilligs while the “new bus smell” lingers because it’ll be a different smell and feel not too far down the line.
  2. Exactly right. Too many people who *DON’T* ride will be the first to say “I saw xxx bus at xxx at this time and there was no one on it so why are they running it. “ I ride the first bus of the day and 96% of the time I’m the only one on it for the first half of the route. BUT that other 4% could mean multiple customers could be on and I’m technically at the third stop. I’ve gotten on and, on one of the “busier” days, there were TEN PEOPLE on — where they came from at 4:30 am I don’t know — but that kind of thing happens. But the next day, I’m back to being by myself. Just because a subway runs nearby doesn’t mean “everyone” will be on it. Local buses drop off and pick up where subways don’t. Plus overnight safety does play into it. And, of course, if the subway craps out, people know the local bus can get them around.
  3. Question: MTA, I’m sure, uses Q-Straint … for (there’s no other way of saying this) restraining the disabled mobility devices … but have they started installing the “automatic” version where the operator doesn’t have to do up the straps and the rider is facing the bus load (I.e. facing backward)? On the Gilligs they’re on the curb side (with new flip seats) but on the new XD60s they’re on the opposite side. I have a pic but I need to re-do my photo-host account.
  4. Came across this while browsing after a few years and had to chime in since I ride the cheap Gillig rot-boxes daily. Not surprised that NICE went to Gillig due to their lack of financing as an agency. While they think they’ll be saving money both short- and long-term, they’re in full delusion mode. First, some have mentioned a better Gillig product is now available. Totally wrong. They are in no way built for the rigors of urban use. Remember that the Gillig low floor was practically commissioned by Hertz for their airport fleets. All Gillig did was adapt the old high floor Phantom with a low floor. In fact, the “sleek” BRT-style option is just a different front panel as well as rear — everything else is the same as the one that’s been available for 20+ years. Second, both the front and rear doors are small compared to Xcelsiors. Almost anyone using a wheelchair or motorized disability device will get caught entering or exiting. Xcelsiors even kneel lower. In the event of a rear door malfunction, it is true that a full shutdown, 15 second pause and restart is the only possible remedy. Similarly a full face plant is possible at the front door because of the significant pause even after the bus has come to a full stop. Third, going back to build quality, roof cracks are certain to develop as soon as 1.5 years in. As always is the case with Gilligs, sitting along the window during any rain event should be avoided. As NICE will probably have the hard plastic seats this will be easily noted. We have fabric seats and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to feel the seat before sitting down since I don’t want to look like someone who’s just had an accident with a wet patch on my rear. The suspension just becomes more atrocious as more miles are racked up. Now I will say that this could be based on the agency’s maintenance because DDOT’s 40-some Gillig fleet do not bottom-out like SMART’s when encountering those curb-side potholes. And DDOT’s Gillig fleet has had some poor overall maintenance over their 8 years so far. Let’s also remember that those NICE Gilligs will start Nassau County life with some serious miles on them. A cross country journey from California versus the relatively short jaunt an Xcelsior would have been on. And now, pricing. SMART’s last buses delivered in 2019 tagged out at almost $740,000 each after TWO change-orders were applied. DDOT’s Xcelsiors from 2017 onward were pegged at $630,000 each from their last contract and artics around $750,000. Something else to think about: All of the major transit agencies of California have avoided Gillig (until recently when a couple were reportedly looking to dip their toe into the puddle) even with the huge home-state advantage. Small wonder how out there the closest sighting of one would be at an airport rental car counter.
  5. Is that test sign hard-wired (via underground or pole-drop electric) or solar-powered? SMART has "real-time arrival" screens on their latest iteration of shelters along the FAST-corridors, which are run off the shelter's rooftop solar array/batteries. Problem is, the solar/battery runs the 4 USB chargepoints inside the shelter, the lighted stop location sign on the one side of the shelter (approximately 18"L x 5"H), two mini-strip dot-lights inside the shelter, as well as the arrival screen. This setup is not working swimmingly. After dark, the screen frequently freezes between "refreshes" -- real-time could show 8:48 pm and then catch-up at 9:12, and run for a bit. Once the outside temps got into the 30s, the screens would completely freeze at say 10:08 when you walk up and check it at 12:15 am -- while still keeping the same brightness as in normal working mode. Other times, brightness would dim to either a barely-legible state or completely dark. Oddly enough, the inside mini lights would still be working and somewhat of a charge could be gotten through the USB. This on top of the extra expense of installation (most locations had to have partial or full cement pads laid or extensions added to existing sidewalks/smaller walkways connecting a sidewalk to the curb), and each shelter requires a crew of six to install (versus two doing the regular glass-panel only ones). We had our first significant snowfall on Monday and along the three FAST corridors, at least 3-4 inches fell. Although these shelters feature a roof with a sort of concave-design to them, I wonder if a road crew had to be sent out to "squeegee" them off so that the snowcover would not block the solar panels.
  6. With all of the tales that some of you could tell about your buses (roach infestations, customer destruction, busted seats), here's one to think about: Friday night about 1:15 am, brand new bus picks me up 1 mile from south route terminal, on the 13-mile route journey. About 2 miles further, smell of diesel becomes stronger inside the bus. Only one other customer aboard, he gets off at mile 5. Operator shuts off the HVAC (Gillig sealed-windows "BRT" bus), so no air/heat circulation -- smell gets stronger. Bus operator stops at a light at midpoint of route and walks bus to check, says it's "hot diesel fumes", then said she noticed it starting about 1 hour before while halfway through her last run. Calls dispatch and tells them, I stood up by front door, and we got some sort of "fresh air" from her side window open as well as the nice breeze coming from under/sides of the front door. We get to the north terminal where I get off, tell her that they'll probably just tell her to do her last run and come back to the depot (since it's now 1:45, and she'd be back at the depot by 3:00) -- because it's that late. Caught her doing her Saturday runs on another route, she said they actually brought out another bus and mechanic was sorta surprised until he walked to the back of the bus (really strong fumes there). Mechanic actually told her she should call off Saturday just because of the possibility of some sort of carbon monoxide poisoning. Bus was under 2 weeks in service, and had relatively few revenue miles -- the majority of the vehicle's miles came from the cross-country trek from San Francisco to Detroit.
  7. Should be pretty simple, they finally came up with (and posted) actual schedules for MLK Day and Day after Thanksgiving for Express Buses. And since those are basically Sunday schedules (under the Sunday/holiday designation), why not just use those. If the LIRR can create separate timetables every time weekend work is done, NYCT/MTABus could certainly do the same.
  8. A lot of the errors could be avoided if there was proper "proofreading" before announcements go active. For example, one crosstown route (the 760) terminates weekdays at 13 Mile Rd/Telegraph Rd, and route 275--Telegraph reads off the transfer. On Saturdays, the 760 terminates two miles to the east, yet the 275 Saturday reads off the transfer. Simple boo-boo? Hardly -- the 760 has NEVER gone to Telegraph on Saturday in its long existence. Yet somehow this happens through two factors: a] The lack of appropriate "proofreading" when telling the system what to do, via b] People who DON'T USE the system to begin with. The SMART Clever system also allows operators to run a PSA "on demand" via the console. The most famous one being, "Please avoid loud cell phone conversations, and the use of obscene or abusive language." Had one operator push that THREE TIMES and finally had to do a "HEY! Young lady, quiet down!" -- and the offender (of about 23) was in the ADA seats behind the operator. But the entire bus knew her business.
  9. Tracing everything back, Bulova must have approached the MTA prior to when this surfaced in the Feb 2018 book. They must have been on solid ground that they were finally going to offload the facility to a new buyer -- Terreno Realty. This sale was announced as finalized at the beginning of February 2018 in Crain's New York (prior to the Feb Board meeting). So if Bulova got essentially green-lighted by someone at the MTA, I'm guessing that request was submitted somewhere around 2-3 months before (at least), so let's just say around Sept/Oct of 2017. In the Staff Summary for this, note that Bulova was supposed to make adjustments to the property to enable MTA buses to serve it. So, 2-3 months out, Bulova says to the MTA, "we'll change things (do Cap Ex) for your buses to access our property." MTA flies the proposal to all the different departments for their "studies", and within that time Bulova gets a serious offer. Bulova would disclose this to Terreno, and the two outcomes would be: (a) Bulova would do the Cap Ex and thus raise the price (or include the costs) of those improvements which Terreno would pay, or (b) Leave the price as-is, tell Terreno their proposal with the MTA is out there awaiting action, and let Terreno make their own decision of whether to spend their own money. My bet is on the latter. Terreno probably put the whole thing on hold, BUT presumably used the MTA proposal as a carrot in negotiating any future tenancy proposals. Amazon came along, and was reported to be a major tenant in October 2018, with them officially leasing as of Dec 1, 2018. During this period (Feb-Oct), Terreno could have told the MTA they couldn't have access to the property (while in talks with anyone including Amazon), but once things settle, THEY would decide when buses could come on-site. This whole scenario isn't really that uncommon, but Bulova was probably trying to sweeten any sale deal by being able to boast of "direct public transportation".
  10. This exact reasoning is being applied here in Detroit, and I don't think it's flying (no pun intended). Headways have not changed since inception (weekdays 30, Saturday 40, Sunday 60), service span only adjusted with one additional trip on Saturday late night. It even had to be brought up by a SMART Board member that there were no signs or basically any mention of their new FAST service at the airport itself THREE MONTHS after it started -- BOTH terminals. (Of course, a "conversation" was to be had with the Airport Authority over this.) Although I've caught SMART's FAST 261 only a couple of times (not going anywhere near the airport-portion of the route), both times there was plenty of air aboard -- and nobody with luggage or rolling carry-on with them. And in the times the service has been in-place, where I've driven friends to/from the airport and encountered the buses going in or out, looks like very few on board if not completely empty. Also you have to consider that around here, airport workers come from practically anywhere (even to the west around Ann Arbor) VIA CAR because any bus commute is going to be over 2 hours one way -- something not particularly an "option" in the Motor City mentality.
  11. So much for the grand Cuomo-scheme being maintained then ... don't think His Majesty is gonna be too pleased with that news. Especially with another of his famous tongue-lashings of the MTA over recent publicity of crap-strewn (literally) subway cars being taken out of service causing delays. (MTA: "Oh, people are just reporting these conditions more now. Nothing to see here.") DDOT, same as MaBSTOA, never had concern for DECADES over "cosmetic" appearance, and applied the same philosophy: If the bitch runs, that's all that matters. Except that school of thought went WELL beyond just cosmetics into mechanical upkeep. Until 2015, it was an extremely rare case that you could find a DDOT bus that did not have the 8/35 air conditioning (the bus version of hooptie 4/50 A/C--open the windows and drive 50). I've detailed some of the other occurrences of shoddy maintenance before, with seats off their moorings, gunshot windows, the RTS tooling around on a busted kneeler, and many more never told including an RTS with half the rear bumper gone, another RTS with a rear door that only one side opened (also meaning no lift), one of the Nova GM Classics with a very noticeable "dip"/sponginess in the rear door steps, and of course plenty of stanchions (floor-mount or seat-mount) that were anything but secure and able to take a good pull. Numerous layover locations with absolute puddles of oil on the pavement (some a good 4-5 feet in diameter), watching operators amusingly show off how much "play" they had in the steering wheel, and one of the D40HFs from the 90s that vibrated the floor significantly when making right turns. Even had one operator openly say he hoped the rain held off until the end of his runs because his right windshield wiper didn't work, and that another operator the day before wasn't so lucky. During all the years prior to 2015, the mechanics said they were overworked, even during the exodus years when population was dropping like a rock (2000s). When the service cuts were done before eventual City bankruptcy, the public began lashing out at operators, who were caught in the middle -- yet the mechanics kept saying they were "doing the best they could with those old buses." Yep--same mantra as the late 1970s until GM "gifted" the first RTS fleet off their Pontiac Truck and Bus assembly lines to the City. Post-bankruptcy brought a new mayor, who canned the previous DDOT director and brought in someone who COULD do the job--Dan Dirks. One of the first things was to get a handful of Xcelsiors that were originally going to Massachusetts, and to get a rush-order for more placed. Service was brought back to more normal levels, with 24-hour on the three main routes in mere months. Dan Dirks talked to all of the DDOT employees, from every level. He listened to the mechanics, told them he'd give them the hours/equipment they need -- BUT if MDBF did not improve, and in a BIG WAY, all bets were off. Operators were told the same: follow the rules, show up for work, run on-time, or find somewhere else to work. So in the end, it all starts with not caring about the "cosmetic" stuff, which leads to further not caring. The public notices it, and starts leaving the system because the main thing they're interested in -- SERVICE -- isn't being met. Only so much blame can be put back on the public for the clogged roads due to traffic, because the whole thing is cyclical. Then when the money isn't there, jobs will get cut. Trouble is, the MTA is such a huge monster of its own making that a DDOT-style turnaround isn't even possible. Cuomo can't do a Dan Dirks for the MTA. But his legacy will be for everyone to see daily through his buses on the street adorned with his livery.
  12. Outfront and/or the transit agencies must have changed the rate card, and ad customers are scaling back. SMART has been getting those applied (BJ's Wholesale Club [coming to Michigan], Shipt grocery delivery service, some health system) within the past two months, except they go into the headliner. So on your example, "ybrid Electric Bus" would get covered. Those ads in the past would more than likely have been a full side wrap, leading me to believe prices have gone up somewhat significantly. Haven't been out scoping the DDOT action in the City due to work scheduling, but on a few recent brief visits, it's looking like DDOT has relegated its 2004 D40LF fleet with Detroit Diesel DD50s to spare status. ALL of the Xcelsiors are out weekdays (2015-2018 with 19's on the way), the 2012 Gilligs and 2010 D40LFs also pounding the pavement. XD40s are out in force on weekends, even the most recent 17s/18s, something that wasn't done before (when the 15/16 XD40s came in, they were weekday only with maintenance on weekends). Maybe some of the DD50s are out on weekends, but on fill-in status only. Another era ends.
  13. This removing printed schedules from stops idea of the MTA's is hardly surprising. I think the whole "people can use their mobiles" to get schedules is the latest justification. They certainly could have done a more scattered approach under the guise that "service comes frequently (under 10 minutes) all day, people can just show up and wait and a bus will be there." Or just say, "we have printed schedules on the buses, they're accessible, people just have to take one and keep it with them." As I've said before, even with the proliferation of the smartphones, around here there are plenty of customers who walk up to the stop and look at the posted schedule -- with a good majority of them with said device feeding their earbuds. Even some who use the old-fashioned non-internet phones show up and use the posted schedule. Now, DDOT does not have ANY schedules posted across the City's thousands of bus stops, yet people make sure they know when they need to be at their points to get around. Someone needs to contact the "Accessibility Director" of the MTA, that Alex Elgudin (or whatever his name is), and alert him to the fact that ADA customers need those stop-side schedules -- especially those like him who need a "mobility device" to get around. A whole lot of ADA customers are reliant on the local/Express buses because they may not want to go through the hassles of Access-A-Ride. So, on the one hand, the MTA is spending oodles of cash on screens inside the buses for audio/visual compliance with ADA, but that ADA customer can't find out when the bus is actually supposed to be there to pick them up. Sounds legit.
  14. Just want to say, I've got no personal axe to grind with Mr. Man. Haven't watched his "videos" or really paid attention to his wandering babbling. But when @Cait Sith calls out a post hyped by Mr. Man that contains Shane's OWN work uncredited and no caveats are offered (even something like, "I'll get back to the creator because that's just not cool"), it says a lot by omission. Yeah, minor shit like that matters to me, reputation-wise.
  15. Surprised ... and not surprised ... @B35 via Church posted this. Anyone from 'round these parts really knows "B35" doesn't need to respond to something so petty. BUT, setting things straight has to be done, and B35 won't shirk from that. Let this be a serious lesson to you @Uncle Floyd Fan. Yeah, purposely bolded and underlined. You really walked over the line, take it as a lesson. Next time, your ass is grass and I'll be the one riding the lawnmower. And I know how to cut everything evenly -- no missed spots.
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