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58 minutes ago, Q23 via 108 said:

Now that the RTSes are gone, what buses are you going to look forward to now? Are you going to fan the post 2000s fleet? Or call it quits as the DD50 era is over. As a whole, MTA Buses are whack now. Now granted, MTA is not purchasing buses to appeal to bus enthusiasts and their end goal is to transport people. But as a bus fan, I got to say its going to be pretty dead. As buses get quieter and bland, I can see many enthusiasts "leave the scene". 

Buses I care about now

Orion 7s (old gens)

New Flyer XN40 & XN60 (They are the best looking and Backfire)

And maybe the 4th Gen Novas (2016 - 19).

Everything else is irrelevant to me.

Buses I care about now

All Orion’s VII gens up to 2010 

2010 - 2013 & 2016 - 2019 Nova bus LFS & LFSA 

new flyer 2011 - 2013 C40L

XN60s ( their outside interior reminds me of Toronto’s TTC new street cars with wheels )

I most say I’m gonna miss the diversity in the MTA on one route like the bx36 you could choose from RTS, LFS, LFSA, Orion gen hybrid, Orion vii CNG, 1990s Orion , D60hf , new flyer c40lf  the list goes on 

 

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13 minutes ago, Melbx15 said:

I most say I’m gonna miss the diversity in the MTA 

 

I hear you man. Most depots now will have a 1 model that makes up most of the fleet and than another smaller fleet.

For example.

Casey Stengel is most Next Gen with Some Xcelsior.

JFK is mostly old gen and some Next Gen.

Kingsbridge is a mostly Nova depot with next gens.

Jackie Gleason is mostly C40 with some XN40s

And then there are some depots that just use one fleet like College Point, Ulmer Park, Far Rockaway, or Charleston.

Nowadays you don't even have to look at bus time to see what bus you are going to get.

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1 hour ago, Q23 via 108 said:

Now that the RTSes are gone, what buses are you going to look forward to now? Are you going to fan the post 2000s fleet? Or call it quits as the DD50 era is over. As a whole, MTA Buses are whack now. Now granted, MTA is not purchasing buses to appeal to bus enthusiasts and their end goal is to transport people. But as a bus fan, I got to say its going to be pretty dead. As buses get quieter and bland, I can see many enthusiasts "leave the scene". 

Buses I care about now

Orion 7s (old gens)

New Flyer XN40 & XN60 (They are the best looking and Backfire)

And maybe the 4th Gen Novas (2016 - 19).

Everything else is irrelevant to me.

Really? Old buses leave and new buses stay, it doesn’t matter what kind of bus it is, I’m fanning all buses but Gilligs

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1 hour ago, Q23 via 108 said:

Now that the RTSes are gone, what buses are you going to look forward to now? Are you going to fan the post 2000s fleet? Or call it quits as the DD50 era is over. As a whole, MTA Buses are whack now. Now granted, MTA is not purchasing buses to appeal to bus enthusiasts and their end goal is to transport people. But as a bus fan, I got to say its going to be pretty dead. As buses get quieter and bland, I can see many enthusiasts "leave the scene". 

Buses I care about now

Orion 7s (old gens)

New Flyer XN40 & XN60 (They are the best looking and Backfire)

And maybe the 4th Gen Novas (2016 - 19).

Everything else is irrelevant to me.

Them PREVOST!! I love those buses, especially when the ops are MOVING. 

I also like the 4800 Xcelsiors (but I'm not gonna lie, I liked when they had the original LBSS modifications) 

2011-2013 C40LF

Orion VII Diesels 7000-7089

XN40s/XN60s only with a fast op. 

2015-2019 LFS only with a fast op. 

When everything becomes electric I'll focus on trains and airplanes more. 

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Those C40s may not last as long as we thought. Apparently New Flyer stopped making parts for that model.

2 hours ago, Q23 via 108 said:

as the DD50 era is over.

The only remaining buses in NYC that have Series 50 engines are a few D40s running at LGA Airport for their shuttle bus routes under Port Authority. 714, 715 and 716 specifically. They sound quite similar to our older and now retired C40s, same axles and engines. 

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41 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

That's up to personal interpretation... I quite like the new stuff

Well yes, everyone is entitled to their opinions. But you can't deny that the pre 2000s fleet had way more diversity and uniqueness than the buses we got now.

Back in my day, we had RTS with their distinctive sound (don't forget the ZF units aswell). You had Orion 5s with an amazing ringing noise. You had C40LFs with the best backfire. You had the Orion 7s with the loudest roar I've ever heard out of a bus. And the 2002-03 D60 Artics with a distinctive ringing noise that it made when pulling out. And when it came to bus models, variety was there. We had almost everything but gilligs. The buses today don't really separate themselves. The only difference would be manufacturers and design. Most new buses sound the same to me, all quiet. Most new buses look good, but sound meh. Another thing I don't like are the Led destination signs that mess up your pics. Now the future of MTA buses is looking like 2 models. The Xcelsior's and Novas. Not a bad combo, but imo, not better than the RTS and Orion 5s.

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33 minutes ago, 4P3607 said:

Those C40s may not last as long as we thought. Apparently New Flyer stopped making parts for that model.

The only remaining buses in NYC that have Series 50 engines are a few D40s running at LGA Airport for their shuttle bus routes under Port Authority. 714, 715 and 716 specifically. They sound quite similar to our older and now retired C40s, same axles and engines. 

Yeah, basically over. We are now in the era of Hybrids and Electric buses.

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Even though the RTS are gone, you'll still have a chance to see one at the bus festival. Not in passenger service though. Although, TA is changing as previously with the RTS, we have loud CNGs, and Orion Vs.  There are local and limited routes with crushed load of buses that we have to wait for the next one to arrive (such as B44, Bx6). As we are in the present, we have articulated buses with 2 doors to exit, instead of one and a express from one stop to another (SBS that is) and conversion on select routes. Also, buses with wifi on-board. 

 

Difference now is that there's less seats on-board compared and made the ones with wheelchairs easier to board on front.

There's a few things I remember: soft seats on the B100 Orion VII CNG and on the B36 9300 series RTS but that was a long time ago. 

Fleet uniformity is at Ulmer Park as their fleet is all RTS and MCIs evolving to XD-40 Xcelsiors and Prevosts (like pokemon)

 

From the idea of it: the originality is gone but a memoir. Soon, the green flipdots will be a thing in the past. 

 

 

Edited by Calvin
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2 minutes ago, Calvin said:

 

From the idea of it: the originality is gone but a memoir. Soon, the green flipdots will be a thing in the past. 

 

 

Those 2004 Orion 7s are next. I'm guessing that they will be retired by the Nova LFS coming in, and the Next Gens will move into Manhattanville and Queens Village.

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5240 and 41 are the only 2 RTS registered to MQ right now. FB still has 9 registered (4964, 5038, 5048, 5126, 5139, 5147, 5171-5172, 5174). Of course none of these 11 buses are being used in service

For what it's worth, the MTA's oldest bus is now 2001 MCI D4500 #2204 (And then by extension it's (still) the oldest express bus), the MTA's oldest local bus is a 2003 Orion VII HEV (I'm not going to open the whole pandora's box on whether the current 6365 is older than 6366-6370. If someone else wants to then have fun).

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With the retirement of the RTS, our MCIs (the ones from the 2000s) are the last "old school" buses we have left. Yeah quite a few hybrids are older but I consider the hybrids modern technology lol.

 

 

Those MTA Bus MCIs aged like fine wine, I wouldn't be surprised if the TA sells them rather than scrap them if they stick to their current retirement plan. 

 

 

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I mean even though the RTS are "retired" there's still a lot of nostalgic buses left.

The buses I will focus on now are:

Short-Term

2001-2002 MCI D4500 (out of CP, YUK, ECH, BP) 

2002-2004 Orion VII Hybrids (out of MHV and QV)

Both of these will retire soon, and the 2001-02 MCIs will most likely be the first ones to be killed by the new express order given how old they are.

Long-Term

2004-2007 MCI

2004-2007 Orion VII Hybrids

2010-2019 LFSA 

2017-2019 XN60

2011-2019 LFS

Things I won't fan:

Orion VII NGs (least favorite bus)

XD40s 

XN40s

 

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17 minutes ago, Coney Island Av said:

What's with all this commotion about the RTS being displayed on Monday?

Is there a specific time it will be on display because I might wanna check it out if I have the chance? I already know it'll most likely be at 2 Broadway. 

I’d like to know what’s going on here as well with this event on Monday.

Edited by JeremiahC99
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In regards to 5249... I noticed that in the pic the farebox is still inside the bus.

 

 

As for this "event" at 2 Broadway, I will only be hype if 1201 shows up. Y'all really excited that a bus from the most recent batch of retired RTS will be put on display (Doubt they will be giving rides) a couple of days after their retirement...? 1201 hasn't been out for an event in years, and it has the 6v71 so one could get video of that bus leaving once the event ends.. Also there's no video on youtube of that bus in motion...

 

 

 

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On 4/29/2019 at 7:27 AM, Future ENY OP said:

4989. Ulmer Park. Working the B36. Any RTS fans wanna catch it before it goes to the chop shop.  It’s in Coney Island at this moment.  

Thank you as about 8:10 am, I saw it  headed toward Avenue U at Nostrand Avenue and Avenue X and about 8:30 AM, it was on its way back to Coney Island.

5108 was observed going toward Coney Island at about 1:25 PM.

It seems that Monday was the last day that these two RTS were in service as they are now in Eastchester

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5 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

5249 was spotted heading to Quill about an hour ago and it looks great!

Goddamn that looks good! Been so curious to see this bus since the paintjob. Good reminder what good physical shape this fleet was still in. Such a shame they didn't keep this paintjob all the way, completely slick and a lot better looking than even the new fleets. OCD part of me says somebody's gotta replace that turn sticker at the back though, that's the new one!

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6 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

5249 was spotted heading to Quill about an hour ago and it looks great!

59285754_319794935356505_319869166838349

59418346_319795005356498_749103061190207

THAT is an iconic "New York City" Bus.

And that's one thing that MTA does excel at -- clean, sharp (for the most part) fleet busting ass unlike any TA in the country.

MTA has plenty of faults.

But for the rest of us, that above really epitomizes "New York."

Totally brilliant shots, @Around the Horn

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If the MTA was smart, they'd preserve more than just a few RTSes to make money off film crews.

"Seinfeld" fans with box sets: Commentary on the airport episode was that some guy had his own airplane set that, if you wanted to shoot a scene, you practically HAD to rent it from him, or be SOL.

Lots of movies/TV on DVD (Netflix, for you youngsters) have NYC RTSes in them already. And with the way Hollywood has to 'remake' films toward something more "relevant", those rentals could get the MTA some extra cash.

Or just rely on the congestion pricing, and leave that money to someone else.

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1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

Goddamn that looks good! Been so curious to see this bus since the paintjob. Good reminder what good physical shape this fleet was still in. Such a shame they didn't keep this paintjob all the way, completely slick and a lot better looking than even the new fleets. OCD part of me says somebody's gotta replace that turn sticker at the back though, that's the new one!

I too was hoping they reproduced period stickers. I mean surely somewhere there's a picture of one of these as delivered that they can use to make replicas.

The "Kneeling Bus" stickers in red lettering stick out like a sore thumb compared to that classic yellow and black sticker with the arrow facing downward...

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