MCI102A3

http://www.sunshine89.ca/news_item.php?NewsID=95248 The County approved the creation of the system according to this article, but the rollout's also been pushed back quite a ways.

Oh, yeah, for sure I'll get some shots for you. :) Probably gonna do a couple separate trips, the Friday at 10:00 AM is strictly a bus trip, and then later on I might actually attend the fair itself.

http://essaagriplex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2017_PUBLIC_Schedule_Barrie_Fair_web.pdf For the first time in I believe four years, Barrie Transit I believe is running a shuttle to the Barrie Fair out in Essa Township. Back in 2012 I rode the very first departure of this run, 60109 was the bus assigned to it, and the video's on YouTube. Wondering if maybe a few of the local fans from Barrie would like to tag along and plan a meet-up? Back in 2012 when I did my trip I was able to get photos at the fair end of the route, and video of the whole route. I find it best to take the first trip of these things, as there's no crowds and the venue isn't busy, meaning that when one wants to get pics at the venue, at those times you usually can. I can organise an event page on that new feature this board has if anybody's interested? The best time I believe would be the Friday at the first 10:00 trip.

http://www.madhunt.com/county-transit-preview-20170803.html After about 6 months of no new reports or news of tenders, something has come out regarding this file in the media.

I was there when 1704 showed up, my pic was blurry though. Was waiting for my ride home from the model railway club with a driver I know. She switched off 1204 for 68506. Managed to get pics of everything that was parked though, including 1701.

Oh, okay, so that means that these four buses that will become the permanent one for Clearview and three for Wasaga that the press wrote about are still being built then? I wonder if anybody knows what they are and when they're due to arrive? I'd imagine they'd be G5s on GM chassis.

https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/7320303-clearview-purchases-bus-to-make-public-transit-system-permanent/ This article from earlier this year talks about Clearview piggybacking on a Wasaga Beach order (one for Clearview, three for Wasaga) from Girardin Blue Bird. I wonder if they're talking about the plain-white G5 that Sinton's been using in recent months? I haven't seen any pictures of Wasaga's new units, so I also wonder whether these four buses are still being built and the white one that's been spotted recently is a leaser?

https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/7107139-collingwood-blue-mountains-transit-link-exceeds-expectations/ While we're on the topic of inter-municipal connections out of Collingwood, this article from the local newspaper back in February talks about the Blue Mountain Link exceeding its targets as well as the possibility of a route to Meaford.

https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/7384185-federal-government-funds-vehicle-for-new-bwg-transit-bus/ Bradford has apparently tendered for a new bus and plans to hold public meetings to ask what the public wants done with it. Also, while we're at it, I was THE first rider on Route 2A when it started in 2014, and did front seat video of the whole trip. Here's some pictures from my time there during the launch on May 1st, 2014. The pics were taken at either Bradford GO Station or at the SmartCentres hub in the west end. 14-4 and 14-5 were the buses I rode. Here's my video from the ride. I was also featured in a photo on the BWG Transit Facebook page before we left the GO station, Idk if I was in the newspaper though.

The route between Barrie and Collingwood that the County will be starting in a couple of years will definitely poach the traffic from the Hound between those two cities at least (especially with more frequency for the route), as well as poaching traffic from the taxi services, but I'd imagine Greyhound will still be strong at least between Meaford and Owen Sound. If not, Kunkel or somebody else locally'll end up taking it over, hopefully with a bit more frequency. I did read some articles in the Owen Sound newspaper around the time that the debacle with the terminal was happening though, that talked about Grey County possibly getting into the rural transit business. They could possibly run something on 26 between Owen Sound and Meaford at least, or even into Collingwood. I haven't heard anything for a few years at least though.

Or at least meet halfway in Meaford and connect to their bus, and then Meaford or someone else could do the rest of the trip to Collingwood? That's a very long ride to be spending on an Arboc. Although I'd admit it'd be awesome seeing a Grey County bus calling at the Collingwood terminal. I'd definitely take the trip.

Yeah, that's true. There's only two buses in the whole fleet that are really cut out for that kind of work, but their fleet is so small they need everything they have just for in-town work. They'd need more 40ft vehicles that could handle the speeds to do that, and there's no way they'll spend the money on them unless there's a firm commitment to the route, and since the County has their plan for 2019, what's the point?

I've actually brought this topic up with many of the drivers I know in Barrie. Simcoe County is currently in the process of setting up a regional transit system, with a route to Collingwood being started in 2019, which in my opinion is pretty far away. If anything, Barrie-Orillia and Barrie-Collingwood should've been the first routes set up by the County, since they would both connect Barrie to the second and third-largest transit networks. I wouldn't mind something interim coming up, but I have a feeling we'll be waiting until pigs fly for things to happen. Maybe Colltrans could send one of their XD40s to Barrie on a commuter run in the interim? *nudge/wink*

Drove past SN Diesel on Churchill tonight while out with the family and saw what appeared to be an all-white D40LF and some other buses as well. Wonder if that D40LF could be 1940 or 1937-1938? I tried to look for that Nova in there but couldn't see any. I only got a view for like 3 seconds and saw the D40LF and a couple other white transit-looking buses with black destos parked beside it. Driving past it there's tonnes of bush blocking a view of the lot from the road, I could draw my own hunches on why they never cleared it, but I think it's intentional.

Has anybody possibly heard of any Novas from Brampton or somewhere else in the 905 being recently sold to Barrie at all? I was at the model railway club tonight getting our new digs set up and one of the members claims to have spotted an older-looking Brampton unit, a Nova on the 400 heading towards Barrie when he was driving back home from the city. It apparently had markings saying ''under delivery to Barrie Transit'' or something like that he said as well. I was gonna get my friend and I to drive by the yard and SN tonight to see if they were in the yard, but we didn't have time and it's getting dark now anyways. He only had a vague idea of what it looked like, it wasn't a 3G or 4G, it had a flat rear end with classic engine placement he said. My hunch is it's probs one of the 0633-0638 series, because they're the only ZF buses from that era in Brampton and we don't like Voith up here.