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And don't be surprised to see rotations in the 2600 fleet as higher mileage/major failure units are rotated out and other 2600s are rotated around to fill the gaps from bases that get new equipment. Same goes for the 3600s, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens with the XT40/XT60 fleet in the coming years as lines are upgraded to Rapid Ride standards, with new equipment. Will the Rainier and Ballard lines get new trolley coaches or will they simply repaint the XT60s since they are already 3 door coaches? I guess Madison is a motor route so that conversion will have little impact except for expanding the fleet.

RB never operated the breda's in service as far as I know, but a good number were stored there awaiting conversion

My guess is the "Brt Ready" vehicles are going to be configured with the correct specifications for Rapid Ride, but delivered in standard Metro livery. And if/when they expand metro simply runs them through the paint shop, change them into the correct livery for that service and away they go. Ryerson used to have the oldest fleet for years, as towards the end of the MAN diesel era at Metro, they all ran out of RB.

Dear sir, What is your malfunction? It has been said multiple times that equipment is rotated based on the needs of the routes assigned, and overall capacity of the base dictates what and how many routes are assigned, which in turn again, dictates what equipment is assigned. In addition, as it has been said many times in the past fleets may get rotated from higher mileage bases to lower mileage ones to even out the mileage in-between a base that uses that fleet mostly in day base service, vs. a base that mostly uses that fleet in peak only no weekend service. As for overall capacity of the base, if you stick too many vehicles at a particular base and squeeze them in so to speak you increase the likelihood of accidents on the bus lot, the inability of maintenance to adequately service the vehicles on a nightly basis, and when other repairs are due. Not to mention other constraints such as operator parking, operator facilities, maintenance facilities, operator and maintenance training for all the various fleet types at a particular base, etc.

It actually makes perfect sense. The needs of the urban area are way different from those of the suburban area. In the suburbs the trips are longer so those 4 extra seats are much appreciated by someone who would otherwise have to stand for the long haul into the city during the rush hour. In the urban area, trips are shorter so standing isn't so much of an issue.

That makes sense with the hinged sign, or maybe some sort of removable sign. I have only seen a few pictures of this era and most of the buses I have seen had that sign displayed.

One thing to consider is that they will be setting the standard for the upcoming ST 3 projects with this litigation, so they need to be careful in how much they give because everyone else who may be impacted by light rail, no matter the benefits it may bring, will keep raising the bar from whatever mercer island got. I personally don't think they have much of a leg to stand on for this however so it looks like it will be a waste of money

A bus from 1990 really worn out in its last five years of service life, five to ten years after everyone else has retired equipment of that vintage? Hmm surprising! The fact they were able to make pull out at all with such an old fleet is amazing itself and proves that their maintenance department is a competent operation and they have enough skill and resources to keep that fleet on the road.

MCI has had a recent recall over electrical fires with the light system, I have heard of a couple of MCI's burning up that way.

I have not heard good things about Greyhound's experience with the Prevost's. However I do not know anyone in Greyhound's maintenance department.

Looks like one of SPD's buses judging by the lights on the side of the destination sign. Probably going to the county shops for maintenance.

I think MCI is a Love/Hate relationship with public sector operators. They are durable coaches able to easily exceed the FTA minimum lifespans (12 yr/500,000 mi), and many do 2-400 mile days in express service at least up where I live without fail. The passengers largely love them, although the W/C loading method is clunky and time consuming in the transit operation. They are also easily available on various government contracts and options and are a good value for the price. They are not without their own quirks though, their radiator system, although improved from the split radiator is unique with the single large fan and clutch, although I have seen EMP fans retrofitted to some, their unitized wheel hub/bearing is an unusual item in the transit application, and the older coaches with their DD3 brakes are also not the "norm", both which can lead to fires on the MCI's, which seem to happen more frequently than on conventional transit equipment. As for shop equipment, usually a responsible transit agency will spend upwards of $10,000 on diagnostic tools and software to equip their shop to handle these coaches, something a smaller operator simply cannot afford to do. From what I understand the MCI handles intercity line haul operations far better than a Prevost, which seem to require much more maintenance and TLC, and this is also why they tend to be favorites with larger line haul operators as well.

Plus you have connections to the South Lake Union Streetcar, the future Central City connector, Eastside LINK. One of the problems with the transit system today is that there are far too many spots were stuff does not connect and its only one stop away on something. Like 574 at Sea-Tac Airport. All the buses I need to connect to are at TIBS were it does not go. or, the "triangle" effect in Puyallup, Lakewood, and Sea-Tac where everything is one leg away from wherever you wind up. Or at TDS where most of the local service is on Pacific Ave, several blocks away through sketchy neighborhood and where some of the express routes (574 586 590) don't go over to pacific to connect even though its less than a mile away.

Now that link is a little more "mature" some of these ideas have some merit and could be open for further discussion. One can estimate a run through downtown at 15-20 minutes, and over the course of a day this adds up to a lot of service hours that could be used elsewhere. However, it brings up the question, can LINK handle the added loads from 20+ bus routes a day being "hung" off of it in the downtown core, with many of those at peak times when capacity is already getting stretched, and will the service reliability of LINK be enough to adequately handle the additional demand? For example, it has been a regular event for the past couple of months where several times a week there are service interruptions due to incidents of various natures. Having 20 bus routes more feeding into link just makes the operational reliability that much more important. The stops are also an important consideration, at peak times you'd need zones that are capable of staging 3 buses at the same time in order to make operations flow better. Is there enough curb space to handle that? And one final thought. CT's layover facilities are in SoDo, yet many of their routes will be originating in the north of downtown. This would still require a coach to deadhead through downtown to start at Westlake, defeating the purpose of moving the terminal, at least until Lynnwood link opens.

The Breda's had two separate propulsion systems, unlike today's hybrids. The rear axle was powered by a 350 H.P. 6V92TA with ZF 4HP590 transmission in a V drive configuration. The ZF trans is a T drive transmission, but had a special adapter to make it work as a V drive. the Middle axle, had a Westinghouse chopper controller and a Fuji traction motor. It also had a separate electric air compressor for this mode. since the vehicle had two completely separate propulsion systems, it had an electronic throttle and other electronics to control the vehicle in each mode. I believe its these electronics is what made the coaches less than reliable, as most of the problem seem to stem from switching modes, not operating in the mode. With a modern PLC system they may have been a very reliable albeit slow vehicle. I was told once that the engines were worn down to scrap after 350,000 miles because they were simply so heavy.

I wonder why the mobile lifts. You can get in-ground lifts that will adjust to lift anything from a 30-45' coach.

numerous manufacturers make several different types in ground lifts for coaches, trucks, etc. http://www.hoffmanservices.com/heavy-duty-lifts/inground-lifts/ These are good if you need to pull the tires off http://www.hoffmanservices.com/heavy-duty-lifts/drive-on-lifts/ http://www.hoffmanservices.com/heavy-duty-lifts/mobile-column-lifts/ for both of these types you leave the tires on, and drive the vehicle on or off, or in the case of the mobile, you park the vehicle and place the lifts on the tires and up they go.

The 226/226 Express became ST 550 in 1999 correct? I cant remember if It rolled out with the first ST shakeup in Sept 99 though, but I seem to think it did along with the 570, 574, and absorbed 59x series. Didn't some of the 510/511/512s start at this time as well? 175 was the one that was the 903 tail tacked onto a service to seattle? Was 187 the other one that went down towards Twin lakes? my old copies of the book are packed up right now otherwise i'd go look.

That is an awesome shot of the old mercer base. I have seen shots of the different levels, but I don't think I have seen one that shows how they were arranged like that, or atleast not in a long time. #646 is a 1944 Pullman 44CX, original to Seattle Transit as 996. It was renumbered to #646 in 1971, and It was later scrapped. The 173 is now gone as well. It's just the 124 and 154 that serve Boeing Industrial.

Its interesting that the destination sign dump reads "Sound Transit" When it's actually a King County program. Its also interesting to note that KCM has Sounder stations programmed into the head signs for bus bridges, although they seem to seldom work ones down south. I can only think of a couple of times I know of where KCM came south on unscheduled ST service. I heard once, that they ran a missed 594 trip to Tacoma, with a 2300 even I think, and for the opening of the Tacoma Dome Sounder station in 2003, ST/KCM Gillig 9000 plus a couple of other Gillis who escaped before my camera could catch them went down to TDS with a return of dignitaries from the Sounder Special trip.

They used to have quite a bit of service out of there on Marginal way, They had the 175 at one point in time heading South to federal way as well. I think that was my first 1400 ride after coming home from the Museum of Flight and taking at 175 instead of a 174. I don't think nearly as many routes go through or from there. Boeing used to have a lot of covered walkways for their employees of all the plants as well.

The 416xx series entered full service sometime this week I think. one or two did get used on a bus bridge for sounder in November. The CNG MCI's have not entered service yet.

Were these coaches there when those runs pulled out? are you sure they have not just returned and need to be serviced before going back out? are you sure they are not parked waiting for maintenance or parts?

That is a good point, how do other operators like NYCT who has enclosed facilities handle the situation? Perhaps they use a different DPF configuration, I know the 8000 series Gilligs at PT have an aftermarket DPF that was added by ST/CT/KCM (the original PT units never got this treatment) that needs to be removed from the vehicle and sent out for cleaning/rebuild on a semi-regular basis. I'm not sure if the DEF equipped units have that kind of regen on them or not, but in order to handle the DEF you need to make modifications to your fueling facilities as it requires a separate pump, nozzle, stainless steel piping, etc. as the urea corrodes things quickly. Which may also be a reason as to why the Xcelsior family of coaches are assigned to where they are, as only those facilities have DEF handling equipment installed.