RailBus63

Has MTA tested the New Flyer XE40 like they did the Proterra?  I wouldn't mind seeing NF get the initial contract for NYC's electric buses, since Proterra seems to be a few years ahead of them in getting buses to the market.

Nova is developing its own version - the LFSe.  They are behind NF at this stage, though, since the first production buses were just recently delivered to Montreal.

The B46 was the third busiest bus route in the city in 2015 - curious why artics wouldn't work on this route.

All Novas on the S79-SBS this morning according to BusTime.

What cars will the extended operate with?

Curious what issues were found with the MTA XN40's. I rode one of Boston MBTA's brand new XN40's on Friday (in service just over a week) and I was less than impressed. The entire bus rattled over every bump, the back end shook at idle, and there was a persistent squeaking noise coming from the back-mounted AC unit. I also rode a brand-new XD40 and the fit and finish was much tighter - the difference was immediately noticeable. I would have thought New Flyer would have the CNG production smoothed out by now.

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So, what would people prefer?

1 . Install the red/green displays over the old signs as a quick fix that allows 7 line riders to continue to quickly distinguish local trains from express trains, or

2. Put in a capital request to buy all-new destination signs for the fleet and force riders to go without this popular feature for an extended time (or possibly forever if the money isn't available)

Sometimes, 'good enough' is fine.

Isn't the MTA currently working on their project with the Jamaica Bus Depot by demolishing the old depot, looking for a new location, and/or expanding? And if so and IF the merger goes through, maybe they can take BP's routes under their operation or maybe they can't, but only time can tell.

Sure, plans can change, but as of now I believe the current plans call only for a new depot to accommodate the current Jamaica fleet including sufficient onsite parking space to end the practice of parking buses on surrounding streets.  Any possible consolidation with another depot would require a much larger new Jamaica depot.  At this time there is no capital money allocated for that.

 

1.  there are 28 depots. Some depots close to another can close (Baisley Park for one thing. Jamaica can take over BP's routes). CP can finally be converted to Express only routes while all local routes get transferred to nearby CS. 

 

 

The only way depots can be closed is if some new larger depots with expanded capacity are built.  The depot 'taking over' would need to have room for additional operations and management staff, available maintenance, fueling and bus storage space, etc.  Jamaica Depot could not take on Baisley Park's operations because they are crammed with their own operations and have no additional capacity to take on another depot's buses right now. 

Very shortly, those buses are going to be running on public streets.  No need to risk trespassing just to get a photo of one standing still.

What is the recall that is being referred to in recent posts?

Just a suggestion - once buses start getting the new wrap, maybe there should be a separate thread to track those.  There will still be older buses getting repainted in blue and white so it would probably be easier to track the wrapped buses in a new thread. 

Curious to see if DOB will continue repainting older buses in the blue and white while newer buses are getting Guv'nor Andy's 'I Love NY' wrap.

Would it make sense to just hand the whole bus operation (both NYCT and MTAB) over to the DOT? Given they own the roads the buses run on and control stop placement they have more than enough skin in the game to be operating the buses on their own terms. It would also lower the need for MTA funding since the city would have to come up with the cash for the buses and the MTA would just have to worry about the subway, commuter rails and bridges and tunnels. The DOT is the major force behind the SBS push so instead of having to go through and work with the MTA they can just do their thing.

No.  MTA RBO is not perfect (no government agency is) but it is one of the best-operated bus transit agencies in North America.  NYCDOT had their chance and let private lines like Triboro and Green Bus fall apart.  Why should they be given a chance to ruin the rest of the New York bus system?

The numbers of the Nova Artics are 6001 & 6002, saw them again last evening.

Did they buy Nova LFS artics in additional to New Flyer XD60 Xcelsior artics?  CDTA showed off Xcelsior artic #6000 back in October - http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/CDTA-unveils-new-expanded-bus-6572482.php

The Q10 have been inundated with 40 footers as of late. 

One of the RTS's was out on the Q10 yesterday according to Bus Time.

You got a source on that? I want to see this for myself.

Just Google "Designline bankruptcy".  Lots of articles available.

The GO service is just a limited stop city bus - no need for any special suburban seating or amenities.  It probably just made sense at the time for NJT to wrap those RTS suburbans because they were oddballs in the fleet.

Whatever happened to that 2000 bus order from the "confidential" buyer? Was it canceled or was it complete bullshit from the start?

Wait, you mean the buyer wasn't really a Nigerian prince?

CTA is probably gun-shy after the NABI fiasco - they will likely do everything they can to steer contracts to companies they are familiar with.

Nova wins the big CTA order.

http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?Month=&Year=&Category=2&ArticleId=3133

Oh really?

 

How many buses have been already ordered via signed contracts?

I think you know what I meant. Whatever new buses are ordered, they are going to appear at many depots across the system, regardless of what some bus fans hope or wish for.

If FB gets XD40s, I'm done.

 

Lots of depots are probably going to get XD40's in the next few years.

Not sure if this is true, but they did build the RTS in Detroit, but so many were ordered that a new manufacturing facility was built in Roswell, NM. This is me taking a wild guess and assuming that is what happened.

 

GMC built the RTS in Pontiac, Michigan until 1987 when the transit bus business was sold to TMC. TMC moved the production to Roswell, although some of the bodies for early TMC RTS's were built in Michigan and shipped by truck to New Mexico.

Awww shit, no we ain't!

 

It was said before that it was going to go back to Long Island....

 

-EDIT- : It's scheduled to go back to Long Island on the first week of January

 

Exactly - the bus is owned by Nassau County, not the MTA.

The B44 +SBS+ is long overdue and it should be happening as soon as possible.

SBS will not happen until the bus lanes are in place and the traffic signal priority system is ready.