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Durham Area Transit Authority or DATA is the fixed-route transit system serving the city of Durham. Their operations are mainly local service, with buses operating at a regular frequency most of the day M-Sa, and a lighter schedule on Sundays. DATA also operates the Bull City Connector line, which is a fare free route connecting Duke University with the downtown area and the Durham Station. The DATA fleet currently consists of Gillig Low Floor units from 2003, 2005, and 2008, and BRT Hybrid units from 2009. They also have five 2012 BRT Hybrids (1201-1205 I think) assigned to the BCC line. These have perimeter seating and no fare box. DATA did operate Phantoms as recently as 2011. They might still have some on reserve as there did not seem to be any newer buses besides the BCC units. The 03xx series Gilligs seem to be in decent shape, but some of their powertrains are either poorly maintained or shot. One 03xx I rode kept stalling out when stopped at a light or stop, causing the bus to shudder violently and not go into gear when the driver would try to accelerate. Nothing like rolling slowly through an intersection for two minutes trying to make it to the other side I also heard radio chatter of another 03xx bus having transmission trouble, plus there was this back in December possibly involving one. I'm not sure what powertrains those units have though. They sounded similar enough to Cummins ISL (transmission was definitely B400R), but the buses have a cap instead of a center seat in the back bench, and the venting on the curbside is a bit different from other known ISL units I've photographed. So maybe Caterpillar or possibly ISC? At any rate I'm guessing they'll be replacing the 03xx series ASAP. Now on to the photos: Overall a pretty neat system.

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