Blitz

Random question: yesterday morning, a little past 1am, i was test driving a bus near fordham university on Goulden ave. I saw a Fishbowl driving around in a non MTA livery with a couple guys inside. The bus number was 5128 of i remember correctly, and it had "Los Angeles" in the destination sign. The colors were hard to make out because itnwas very dark, but it looked to be painted green, with grey/silver and white stripes. I passed by the same area in a different bus a couple hours later and the bus was parked on goulden ave, on the opposite side of the resevior. Anyone know anthing about this bus? (Couldn't get a picture because i was driving)

I agree the 38 gets full but there head ways are crazy like every 5m in rush hours thou but don't see the need for Artics . ENY yes for the 15 & 82 but I'll doubt the 15 would get them just only because of the street the routes run on

I assume that most of you discussing this have never been inside grand ave depot. The way that the lifts are set up, artics would not be able to be repaired in that depot. I don't even think that they would be able to make it into the fuel station.

Once Gun Hill gets a couple and the drivers get trained, Kingsbridge will get theirs

There shouldn't need to be any training. The LFSA, in the drivers compartment, is essentially the same as and LFS minus the override switch.

Why do buses get towed to ECH instead of driven there?

Some of them need engine work and can not be driven. Others will be stripped of useful parts by the depot they are assigned to before being sent to scrap. Sometimes, those "useful parts" end up being things that the bus can not run without.

I think people done forgot about 8017. With a +1 in the order, might as well make it the replacement

Who can forget abouy the infamous "mattress" fire that seems to be so detrimental to MTA buses

Question: Was gunhill depot, at 1 point, known as John Lawe Depot? I ask this because on the flyer for the union meetings its listed as John Lawe Depot (Gunhill). I also noticed the Tuskegee and Clara Hale appear on the same flyer with their "new" names, but Manhattanville appears as its former title "132nd street garage".

Well, true, but the battery thing might take up some space though*. Not sure how many ogs they want to convert to lithium ion batteries. I still think rtss makes more sense as eny still has them and to increase the fleet age. But if jam sends over the ngs, then so be it.

 

*do they usually change the batteries after a while or are they changed somewhere else?

The lead acid batteries are SUPPOSE to last for 5 years. They usually make it through 2 before a couple need to be changed. The lithium batteries are suppose to last for 7 years if iirc...

I started to notice minor cracking on the Orion VII NG's, atleast the ones running out of CS. Is this cracking from slight accidents, or is it just the bus itself deteriorating..?

Accidents that weren't repaired properly, especially if the repair was made at Zerega...

5364 (XD60) at atlantic antic with JFK stickers on it

2053 and 2107 to QV but why?

I would think because its ridiculous to expect them to make express service with only 35 MCI's when 30 are needed. The buses they have aren't brand new anymore...

Here is the the latest with 9386 and 9532: 9532 LGA to QV. 9386 will go back to QV most likely tomorrow.

QV and jamaica are shaping up to be the last outpost for the RTS, outside of MTAB...

Load

Based

Scheduled

Shifting

 

Its a modified shifting program found on almost any bus with an Allison transmission (gen 3 or newer). More or less, the bus shifts differently (longer or shorter gear ratios) based on the load inside of the bus.

Gear ratios don't change, the RPM in which the gears switch change

I saw an out of service Xcelsior from East New New York Depot on 125th Street last night. It was an XDE40.

XD40, we don't have XDE40's

This happened...

 

 

you can hold a lot more people this way...

That is a rumor. For one, the 414 bus order just commenced, and it's months late, while New Flyer has damn near delivered an entire fleet of 393 40 footers, plus the 60 footers coming in now. No one can say who the bulk of the option will go to because its up to the MTA and there are other factors involved. The main one is the time scheduling and production slots.... New Flyer has already been awarded an option for 72 buses, and will most likely be awarded another one in short order.

 

MTA's original plan was to award all 700 to one manufacturer after the second phase of test and evaluation.... However Nova is behind the curve, and need to catch up and accelerate delivery and clear their back log before they can get nother order. MTA is not going to award them any part of the option until they know the can delivers the buses in the timeframe needed. If Nova doesn't have any production capacity until next year. NFI has production capacity for the end of this year.

 

 

That is your personal opinion, which is not fact based. While I may be a fan of the Xcelsior myself, lets look at the facts. The LFS is a solid proven platform with minor design philosophy of the RTS. The Xcelsior is lighter in weight, thus getting more fuel economy. The "3G" just happens to be the best bus Orion ever built. However, it's not as solid as the Nova, and they went out of business, so they are now irrelevant.

 

So the part where you said they don't even compare... You are correct. They don't... They are in a class of their own.

how's the MDBF comparisons between the XD40 and the LFS? I don't have access to the information on the buses as a whole...

So this one then?

I guess it means the LFS order is kicking in now.

that straight stripe on the front looks stupid...

According to Trevor and this post on BusChat, ( http://www.subchat.com/buschat/readflat.asp?Id=306211 ) the remaining 2000 D60HF will be renumbered to the 4800 series.

trevor only posts in subchat now?

Why don't the prevost get painted in the new MTA livery?

I have a question, not trying to start anything or wish upon anything, but, how come the LFS don't have the front roof part like the LFSAs? I noticed CTAs new LFS have it.

from what i heard, the roof cap was added to the LFSA's for aerodynamic reasons. It guides the air over HVAC unit on the roof in the center of the bus. Without it, the center of the bus would wiggle excessively at highway speeds because of the lack of weight. The rigid LFS did not need the cap.

The left side is only a blind spot if the operator isn't properly moving their head and shuffling in their seat, as they are trained to do.

100% true. being a mechanic, i don't drive as much as an operator, but I've never been in a situation where i couldn't see something in my roadside mirror because i lean into them like i was taught.

I might be a bit behind the times here, but how long ago did the MetroCard bus get renumbered from 8319 to 0007?

that might be the "new" metro card bus that was painted at the beggining of the year

Has any of the MCI's from Bus been rehabbed yet and if so which ones? I've been seeing quite a few break downs of late (lots of Eastchester buses in particular).

they have been getting overhauled on the same schedule as the NYCT MCI's and prevosts. They just get done at East New York CMF

I noticed that West Farms rts's has been on Gun Hill's routes for a week

thats because Gunhill never makes service, so they have to borrow buses from several depots every day

What's up with the little vent circles popping up on the engine covers of the 1st gen OGs? First saw them on QV's buses, now some from Manhattanville.

upgrade, extra air intake for the Traction Generator.

Was a replacement for 8017 ever sent because I have never seen that bus at all? It is still listed at Queens Village as active.

...what are you talking about? 8017 is listed at QV as "Out Of Service" and at vender.