Hothoops9000

The 3580s are going to be retired soon. Some of the 3600 series Orions are retiring and becoming training buses.

NABI 1861 has been converted from Diesel to Diesel-Electric Hybrid

We did, there was an order for 5 of them. I’m unsure of the retire date. 

Also, in other news, one of Sunline’s XHE40 is touring various cities, and one of the stops is Houston! 

Unforuntately, what’s left of that order are being used for training. There are none in Revenue service. 

Houston is ordering 20 NOVA LFSe+.

https://www.proterra.com/press-release/capital-metro-electric-bus-procurement/

We have 14 new LRVs coming in soon. The contract was modified in august to include wifi already. 

The 30 footers Specifically. 

METRO is demoing a Proterra ZX5 Bus. 

https://www.roadsbridges.com/houston-metro-wins-grant-develop-fmvss-compliant-autonomous-bus
 

metro wins 1.5 million dollar grant from the FTA to develop an electric automated mid-sized bus. 

Blue Line Schematics from Downtown to Airport! 

To Clarify NFI has ONLY AfterMarket Part rights. They do not have name rights OR Manufacturing/Design rights. Thank you.

Does anybody still operate any of these Orions? I’m not sure who would if anybody did. I know most Orions are getting to their End of Life.

Yay! For Project Connect passing! I’m just really hoping they fix the wonky ness along the redline in terms of running time and frequency. It’s so weird to me how it runs.

Can someone explain the situation between DDOT and SMART? And why there’s two Transit Agencies instead of one?

 If METRO gets awarded the Grant, what manufacturers do we feel like they’ll go with? I know it comes down to more than just range, but on a single charge Proterra’s ZX5 40’ gets 328 miles, NFI’s 40’ Xcelsior gets 251 miles, Gillig gets 150 miles, BYD 40’ gets 160, and Nova LFSe 40’ gets 292. There are multiple Cutaways such as a Proterra powered S1LF which has a range of 125 miles. 

On 8/25/2019 at 11:25 PM, Border City Transit said:

What is the status of the 3200-3500 series New Flyer D40LFs in Houston?

They've been retiring piecemeal for a while... but it was such a big order that it's taking a few whacks to finish 'em off completely.

Any updates? I'm hoping it's more than just unloved 3400s at Northwest...

We still have some on the road, mostly out of West, on the 82. If you check govdeals.com, you’ll see they’re putting some up to auction.

Honestly, I’m kinda of surprised DART went with Xcelsiors instead of D4500s for their Suburban Routes. Does anybody know why?

Houston and Capital Metro are the only agencies with D4500s instead of Low Floor Suburban Style buses.

On 8/3/2018 at 1:13 PM, HoustonMETROFan said:

Back in my "comfort" zone now - here's a few noteworthy updates that I want to share:

• The next group of MCI D4500CTs are now coming in.  The fleet numbers are 5300-5354 and they'll all go to bus facilities that have the oldest MCIs there - specifically the Northwest and West Bus Operating Facilites.  This is to retire the 2001 MCI D4500 coaches.  Before you ask, they look exactly the same as the first group (see photos I posted from METRO of 5255).
• A "demo" New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE is here for testing.  Don't know how long this bus will be here and unlike the Proterra bus, this one will be of the plug-in type - not of the version where you charge the bus from above.
• Starting next month (will be here for a few months I was told), METRO will get their chance to try out the MCI D45 CRT LE coach.

That's all for now. 

There was an Xcelsior CHARGE here? I can’t find any record of this. Do you have anything to show? I was looking in the board meetings list and found nothing about this.