LI Bus vs NYC/MTA Bus -Steel hubcaps

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I remember when some of the first 9000s came out they had steel hubcaps on them. For some reason they went back to the white ones on the MTA Bus buses and NYC Transit buses but kept them on the LI buses. Anybody know why? I thought the steel hubcaps looked cooler and would be easier to maintain and keep cleaner than the white ones.

[Joel Up Front]

The white hubcaps look cooler, but the ones they have on the NGs and 3Gs (when they come) are ugly.

 

I always thought it had to do with the bus specs - suburban buses had certain aspects while urban ones had different ones.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The white hubcaps look cooler, but the ones they have on the NGs and 3Gs (when they come) are ugly.

 

I always thought it had to do with the bus specs - suburban buses had certain aspects while urban ones had different ones.

 

Also look cleaner too than they were in the past. I have to say also that I think that MTA Bus overall does a pretty good job of keeping their buses washed and clean, particularly the express bus. Some of the express buses out of Eastchester look practically brand new and some of those are almost 7 years old.

[Joel Up Front]

They don't clean the steel caps at LIB too often. The ones on the NG CNGs look nice when they're nice and shiny.

[East New York]

The white rims are cast iron, and the chrome ones are Alcoa brand aluminium wheels. IIRC cast iron lasts longer, and It's less corrosive.

[Joel Up Front]

So why do all of LI's Orions have the Alcoa rims?

[Fresh Pond]

Also the cast iron ones last longer and are stronger (don't quote me on the latter) than the chrome ones

[SoSpectacular]

There was something I heard about the Alcoa rims and why they were replaced with the cast iron rims. The Alcoas that Long Island Bus has on their Orions were pretty much similar (if not the same) to the ones put stock on the RTSs and Orion Vs we got years ago, BUT due to the stop 'n' go behavior of New York City's transit bus system the rims were prone to heat-build up from the friction and possibly blowing out the tires, which is a major safety risk (ever watched that 1000 Ways To Die episode?). Long Island Bus doesn't really have this problem as the buses do run for prolonged periods of time with minimal stops out in Nassau County so the Alcoa rims stayed put. 6425 out of Queens Village does have a "test" set of specifically built Alcoa rims which means we may see them again one day?

 

I remember when Long Island's 2003 order of V CNGs came in brand-new, those Alcoas were looking POLISHED and the deep bass from the exhaust was an instant sure-fire winner with me. Hot damn I'll never forget that afternoon out on my block.

[Ty24]

I remember when Long Island's 2003 order of V CNGs came in brand-new, those Alcoas were looking POLISHED and the deep bass from the exhaust was an instant sure-fire winner with me. Hot damn I'll never forget that afternoon out on my block.

 

Yess talk about it I remember 1646 Ex 409 In my mind nice shiny rims deep bass. Believe or not 1633 Ex 396 the first bus of that order I rode on the N6:)

[SoSpectacular]

Yess talk about it I remember 1646 Ex 409 In my mind nice shiny rims deep bass. Believe or not 1633 Ex 396 the first bus of that order I rode on the N6:)

 

Ah yes, I saw 1646 not too long ago on Hillside Avenue, she is quite the goodie

[East New York]

I used to love seeing them on the RTS', Orion V's, and New Flyer artics when they were brand new. I hope and pray they make a comeback on the New Flyers.

 

BTW, which RTS' had them? I know it was 8600-9xxx, but I don't remember exactly.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I used to love seeing them on the RTS', Orion V's, and New Flyer artics when they were brand new. I hope and pray they make a comeback on the New Flyers.

 

BTW, which RTS' had them? I know it was 8600-9xxx, but I don't remember exactly.

 

 

Ulmer Park had some of the new 9000s and back then they had them. I agree that they looked cool.

[Fresh Pond]

I used to love seeing them on the RTS', Orion V's, and New Flyer artics when they were brand new. I hope and pray they make a comeback on the New Flyers.

 

BTW, which RTS' had them? I know it was 8600-9xxx, but I don't remember exactly.

 

The 8600s definitely had them and some of the 8700s, mainly the '94 order of the RTS (the ones with the weird shaped lights). I'm not sure about the others though

[East New York]

The 8600s definitely had them and some of the 8700s, mainly the '94 order of the RTS (the ones with the weird shaped lights). I'm not sure about the others though

 

The weird shaped lights???:confused:

[Fresh Pond]

The weird shaped lights???:confused:

 

Remember when the 8600s were here, the interior lights were shaped differently. I didn't know the official name so I call them the "weirs shaped lights" lol

[East New York]

Remember when the 8600s were here, the interior lights were shaped differently. I didn't know the official name so I call them the "weirs shaped lights" lol

 

Oh, the interior run lights. Those were the TMC's.

[Eric B]

Remember when the 8600s were here, the interior lights were shaped differently. I didn't know the official name so I call them the "weirs shaped lights" lol

I used to call them the imitation R1-38 lights.

They appeared on both the MTA and PBL '94 TMC's, along with them being the first full order with the DD50 replacing the 6V-92, and the exhaust pipe moving to the top, the red seats with gray trim on the PBL's; and I remembered people on the boards reporting the aluminum hubs appearing at the same time (I never noticed those much myself).

[Infamous85]

I've always wondered that, before I even knew about buses I remembered one day the Q85 rolled up and it was sitting on chrome, it looked like a newer bus and I thought it was dope since everything was a stupid RTS back then lol, it was cool to have some variation, just like I liked JBL's RTS's with the vertical tail lights as opposed to the all too common horizontal tail lights.

 

But then after a short while everything went back to boring ole white & blue.

[Joel Up Front]

I think they just recently cleaned the Alcoas on the Orions here. Most of the buses I've seen are running on great looking chrome.

[DOB2RTO]

NJT, WCDOT (Bee-Line), CTTransit, Seattle Metro, Septa, etc all use the Alcoa Aluminum rims. They all have used convex mirrors, along with their rear view flat mirrors also. MTA thinks they know it all, and does things their way. Their has to be stronger aluminum rims out there, instead of TA having to keep repainting rims constantly. Wheel paint ain't cheap.......