MTA Bus Operations: Fleet & Depots

[JeremiahC99]

8 hours ago, East New York said:

Let’s clear some stuff up. We haven’t got into the discussion yet, because I have been a bit busy, but the Hybrid order is no longer certain to be New Flyer. 

Nova actually has a chance to get in and it may end up being a split award. The only reason MTA didn’t test Nova Hybrids is because of the price point. 

9500-9509 are test buses for the Hybrid systems. Nova has always had a chance, but they have to make the offer and delivery timeline comparable to that of New Flyer as MTA needed buses faster than not. 

If Nova has a pricing point similar to New Flyer this time around, there is now a great chance that we will get hybrids from both companies. The only question will be which system. Allison or BAE. 

So for everyone who is asking, that is why Novas are over there, and also because they need buses for maintenance rotation. Let’s also not forget that they have the original hybrids which require a bit more maintenance, and are now up for retirement. 

I would also expect to see a New Flyer or two head over to MV within the next 10 months as well. 

If the award is split, they are going to have to decide what goes where. Since MV doesn’t have either Nova or New Flyer buses, they are a great candidate for Nova hybrids. 

The last point everyone keeps forgetting (and I have mentioned several times) is hybrids are being replaced by Diesels, electrics, and new hybrids down the line. In the meanwhile the ones that are up for retirement have to be replaced with diesels. There are too many hybrids and the new ones won’t be in for quite a while. Some assignments will definitely change when the hybrids and electrics come in. 

So because the 275-bus order for hybrid buses could be split order, I can expect some Nova LFS HEV buses to roam the streets of NYC in a few years. Has Nova been qualified to build alternative fuel buses for the MTA, given that the recent alternative fuels bus orders have been built by New Flyer (XN40, XN60, XDE40, XE40), and the fact that they weren't tested due to pricing issues?

Edited August 22, 2018 by JeremiahC99

[FLX9304]

7 hours ago, MHV184 said:

Im confused is it NF XD40 or NF XDE40?

Either one of them whichever Quill gets, and their Novas vs MV’s Novas. When they get them, I wanna compare the speeds on them. 

[MHV184]

3 minutes ago, FLX9304 said:

Either one of them whichever Quill gets, and their Novas vs MV’s Novas. When they get them, I wanna compare the speeds on them. 

So does that mean Manhattanville is getting 1 or 2 XD40s

[FLX9304]

1 hour ago, MHV184 said:

So does that mean Manhattanville is getting 1 or 2 XD40s

I didn’t say MV. I said Quill! 

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

11 hours ago, East New York said:

Let’s clear some stuff up. We haven’t got into the discussion yet, because I have been a bit busy, but the Hybrid order is no longer certain to be New Flyer. 

Nova actually has a chance to get in and it may end up being a split award. The only reason MTA didn’t test Nova Hybrids is because of the price point. 

9500-9509 are test buses for the Hybrid systems. Nova has always had a chance, but they have to make the offer and delivery timeline comparable to that of New Flyer as MTA needed buses faster than not. 

If Nova has a pricing point similar to New Flyer this time around, there is now a great chance that we will get hybrids from both companies. The only question will be which system. Allison or BAE. 

So for everyone who is asking, that is why Novas are over there, and also because they need buses for maintenance rotation. Let’s also not forget that they have the original hybrids which require a bit more maintenance, and are now up for retirement. 

I would also expect to see a New Flyer or two head over to MV within the next 10 months as well. 

If the award is split, they are going to have to decide what goes where. Since MV doesn’t have either Nova or New Flyer buses, they are a great candidate for Nova hybrids. 

The last point everyone keeps forgetting (and I have mentioned several times) is hybrids are being replaced by Diesels, electrics, and new hybrids down the line. In the meanwhile the ones that are up for retirement have to be replaced with diesels. There are too many hybrids and the new ones won’t be in for quite a while. Some assignments will definitely change when the hybrids and electrics come in. 

I understand what you are saying completely, however, why wouldn't my logic work? 

[East New York]

On 8/10/2018 at 3:47 PM, MysteriousBtrain said:

 Quotinga certain section on mobile with this big post was annoying, but what happened to the 10 (diesel electric?) artic buses for the M14 SBS?

For now that is on hold in favor of the 15 electric artics. I’m not sure what happened to them getting both. Either way, I don’t see either of them being available for M14SBS by launch date.

19 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Why is Manhattanville getting the new Nova LFS? I thought the MTA was trying to uniform the fleet. Would’ve been better to give Yukon and Castleton the new Novas to get all the Orions off the island, and give Manhattanville whatever 4000s/7000s they need since they already have Orions...

That would’ve been smart since whatever they’re getting now I would assume is temporary until the next batch of hybrids come in. 

Edit: Same thing for QV...there’s enough Orions on Staten Island to replace both QV and Manhattanvilles batches of the first gen hybrids. 

Edit 2: I just checked the roster, Staten Island has exactly 71 MCI express buses, and UP has 71 Prevost. Why not just give UP all the MCIs and let Staten Island be all Prevost? Fleet would balance out better since UP would have 2013 models as well. They can easily uniform the fleet if they wanted to. 

This isn’t what MTA wants to do. You all ask a lot of why questions that can’t be answered here. MTA places buses where they see the need based on logistics, and maintenance. Not only that, there are 251 buses on this order and the assignments aren’t complete. I’ve also said before a couple times that when uniformity comes into play location and logistics do as well. I also said to expect the fleet to cross over into other boroughs now several times. This shouldn’t really be a surprise. MV needs new buses now and they aren’t on the XD list. We don’t have hybrids, and won’t have any until  so this should be a no-brainer

Since Manhattan already has LFS at Quill, and LFSA’s everywhere in the borough this already is a uniform fleet. Manhattan has no Xcelsior standards yet. 

As far as moving all the MCI’s to UP, that is just ridiculous actually. For one, the mileage comes into factor, for 2 you are replacing newer buses with older buses which customers will protest about on those routes. How is that fair to customers? How does that do anything other than increase maintenance costs, and decrease the reliability of the routes out of UP? The MCI’s are on their way out the door. 

So no, your logic would not work.

14 hours ago, FLX9304 said:

It’s gonna be interesting when Novas come to MV, be a direct competition between who’s Novas or NFs are faster between MV & MQ

 

14 hours ago, MHV184 said:

Im confused is it NF XD40 or NF XDE40?

Why are you confused? We don’t have any XDE40’s pending delivery.....

8 hours ago, JeremiahC99 said:

So because the 275-bus order for hybrid buses could be split order, I can expect some Nova LFS HEV buses to roam the streets of NYC in a few years. Has Nova been qualified to build alternative fuel buses for the MTA, given that the recent alternative fuels bus orders have been built by New Flyer (XN40, XN60, XDE40, XE40), and the fact that they weren't tested due to pricing issues?

No you can not expect anything. Please stop assuming and speculating. We don’t know which that that order will go and frankly we are still more than a year away from a hybrid award and won’t know assignments until 2020.  Just wait, and let’s deal with what we have on the table right now.

Nova has been qualified, along with New Flyer to build any standard bust after the 90 Test Bus Program was complete nearly a decade ago. It’s not based on the fuel, systems or components. It’s based on the bus platform itself. That made Nova automatically qualified to build CNG, Hybrid, and electric buses for MTA.

All buses still have to be evaluated and tested no matter what system they have, and no matter what manufacture it is. Also note that just because it’s qualified, does not mean it will past an evaluation. In the case of the above, Nova did not meet MTA’s requirements for each model at the time. Pricing was basically the only factor for the hybrids and electrics. MTA felt the CNG model didn’t have a large enough presence for MTA to evaluate effectively.

[MHV184]

Sorry to be a bit of bother so what you said yesterday about Manhattanville getting 1 or 2 NF withing the next 10 months do you mean XD40?

[East New York]

 

47 minutes ago, MHV184 said:

Sorry to be a bit of bother so what you said yesterday about Manhattanville getting 1 or 2 NF withing the next 10 months do you mean XD40?

They could get either for the purpose of familiarization and or evaluation at the depot. Since we already own 10 (6 pending delivery) XDE40’s, it could be one of those as well. Once the hybrids come in 2020 you can almost bet MV will get some. Whatever they are. 

[limitednyc]

does anyone know how meny artics will be needed from the bx 6 conversion?

[East New York]

10 hours ago, limitednyc said:

does anyone know how meny artics will be needed from the bx 6 conversion?

The 16 that they have had for a while now.

[Brillant93]

1 hour ago, East New York said:

The 16 that they have had for a while now.

The local is being converted next January. The last monthly meeting pdf said that it was. 

[WestFarms36]

5 hours ago, Brillant93 said:

The local is being converted next January. The last monthly meeting pdf said that it was. 

Yes it has been approved.

[NewFlyerFan]

Saw a few XN60s FINALLY running on the B35 a couple hours ago. I saw #1073, #1075, and #1078. There might be more, not too sure though.

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

3 minutes ago, NewFlyerFan said:

Saw a few XN60s FINALLY running on the B35 a couple hours ago. I saw #1073, #1075, and #1078. There might be more, not too sure though.

#1074 was out for driver training earlier today as well. As West Farms is sending some XN60s to Jackie Gleason, expect more to go onto the B35 in the coming days

[East New York]

I thought he was referring to the SBS. That was my misunderstanding. I would have to check the number. 

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

Quick question about the update on the first page: is 1072 staying at West Farms or will it eventually be moving to Jackie Gleason? The assignments on the first page say that 1000-1071 are to WF and 1072-1109 are to JG.

Edited August 24, 2018 by LegoBrickBreaker101
Typo

[MysteriousBtrain]

1 hour ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

Quick question about the update on the first page: is 1072 staying at West Farms or will it eventually be moving to Jackie Gleason? The assignments on the first page say that 1000-1071 are to WF and 1072-1109 are to JG.

I feel 1072 will stay at WF until 1000 comes in then move to JG. But things are constantly changing so who knows.

[B22viaAtlanticAv]

Is 1073 the only one to feature different seating compared to the rest of the XN60 order?

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

4 hours ago, B22viaAtlanticAv said:

Is 1073 the only one to feature different seating compared to the rest of the XN60 order?

I think so, also I'm not sure why this was downvoted since it DOES have different seats, which you can see here (pics by Reggie Davis) 

It's kinda similar to the seats on #7110-7139 at ENY.

[WestFarms36]

34 minutes ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

I think so, also I'm not sure why this was downvoted since it DOES have different seats, which you can see here (pics by Reggie Davis) 

It's kinda similar to the seats on #7110-7139 at ENY.

Where are the USB Ports?

[MysteriousBtrain]

Just now, WestFarms36 said:

Where are the USB Ports?

Near the window on single seats and still in back. Same place in other spots.

[B22viaAtlanticAv]

no offense to FLX9304  but he gets irritable when I  mention anything XN60s 😒 but never mind him, I saw some videoS of #1073 and decide to ask cause no one said anything  about a seating change on the XN60s. But thanks... 

[WestFarms36]

5 minutes ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Near the window on single seats and still in back. Same place in other spots.

Found it, its lower and it was kinda hidden at first. The seats look very nice btw...

[MTA Bus]

2 hours ago, WestFarms36 said:

Where are the USB Ports?

They're under the next forward facing seat.

[trainfan22]

Fresh Pond gave away all those hybrids to JFK with nothing in return... I wonder if FP will get some extra buses to make service for the fall pick? Perhaps bring back some RTS's back from the dead?