Bye Bye, MCI

[Blitz]

so i don't know if this is old new to this community but i saw this story posted on the bulletin board at my job (CXXVI Street Depot)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/volvo-order-for-180-buses-for-new-york-city-2011-04-06

 

Does this mean that MCI has run a foul of the NYCTA like Orion has with all of its fleet defects? Is the tried and true MCI done in this city?

[East New York]

We have 60 express coaches due to be ordered soon. I hear they could be MCI's. So I guess we will have to wait and see. I do however know there were some teething problems with our latest batch.

[Nova RTS 9147]

The Orion backlash really never stuck since we're getting Orion VII3Gs in the future. The article only mentions Prevost, but it doesn't exactly say anything about if it'll be a Coach bus or a regular transit bus, though from what I've been hearing, the TA has been impressed with the Nova buses (not sure about the 40 footers, but I know the 62 footers were a huge success with the MTA brass).

[Via Garibaldi 8]

so i don't know if this is old new to this community but i saw this story posted on the bulletin board at my job (CXXVI Street Depot)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/volvo-order-for-180-buses-for-new-york-city-2011-04-06

 

Does this mean that MCI has run a foul of the NYCTA like Orion has with all of its fleet defects? Is the tried and true MCI done in this city?

 

I don't think so personally. I actually love the newer MCIs and they are very comfortable and durable overall, especially when considering the beating that they take on NYC streets. However, I'll see how these Prevosts ride and look and how comfortable they are. My only beef at least with the older MCIs is that is a real pain in the @ss to get off of the express bus with my Whole Foods groceries and such because of that little rail thingy by the farebox, but this isn't an issue on the newer MCIs, particularly the ones on MTA Bus.

 

If anything, it is good that the is trying different buses (to a degree), this way they can continue to improve the fleet. My biggest concerns are improved signage (I can't wait for those older MCIs with the green signage to go), good HVAC (heat in the winter and AC in the warmer months) and chairs that recline, but don't recline like crazy. The one thing that MCI could improve on is the climate control. The buses are always like ice boxes in the winter time as there is usually no heat. I still don't understand why they can only have one option which is either heat or cold air. Why does that have to be changed one way or the other instead the B/O having the option for both???

[SevenEleven]

I don't think its necessarily an end of MCI in NYC. I did hear the same about MCI wanting to pull out yet they will try for another order with the MTA. (Could explain their Ghost Bus on the X30 a while back)

 

Prevost is an OTR coach manufacturer hence the X3-45s being built.

[traildriver]

Back in the days when the old Greyhound Corporation (pre 1987) owned Motor Coach Industries, MCI was building the best bus on the road. They inherited that position when General Motors due to government intervention, decided to exit the business.

Since the divestiture of Greyhound Lines from the old corporation, and subsequent multiple sales of MCI to other owners, its products have deteriorated considerably and the company suffered from bankruptcy.

My employer has gone from GMC to Eagle and MCI, to Prevost, back to MCI, then back to Prevost, with a small trial of Van Hool along the way in search of a decent line bus. The search goes on.....

[qjtransitmaster]

why did greyhound even get rid of that bus building business!!!!!!! They disnt have to buy their own buses and sold several to other companies I dont get that

[aemoreira81]

why did greyhound even get rid of that bus building business!!!!!!! They disnt have to buy their own buses and sold several to other companies I dont get that

 

Here's why.

 

In 1984, the Dial Corporation (as in Dial soap), which at the time was a diversified conglomerate in both transportation, food products, and consumer goods, was burned by a bitter strike at Greyhound Lines. Dial wanted no part of negotiating with ATU 1700 (the Greyhound union) ever again, and before the next round of contract negotiations in 1987, Dial sold Greyhound to indepedent interests (the remainder of the company became the Dial Corporation). This resulted in Greyhound's headquarters being in Dallas; it was in Phoenix, Arizona before that.

 

How did that happen? Greyhound bought the then Armour food company in 1970, and changed its name to Dial. It had acquired MCI in 1958.

 

Dial huneg onto the bus-building business until 1993, whenl MCI was sold to DINA, and DINA then flipped the transit bus line to Nova Bus, making Dial solely a consumer goods company as it was before 1970.