LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transit Authority)

[HR2012TPA]

On 9/7/2023 at 11:17 PM, HR2012TPA said:

Not sure which bus caught fire. I'll probably find out in a couple of days from one of my bus operator acquaintances. 

I've been advised that 230-616 was the involved unit.

[HR2012TPA]

387-323, one of the six 2023 35' Proterras, is in service on LYMMO Lime (Link 61) this morning.

[HR2012TPA]

389-323 is also in service.

[Glennwood Road Ent.]

13 hours ago, HR2012TPA said:

I've been advised that 230-616 was the involved unit.

That's correct 

[HR2012TPA]

383-623 is now in service.

[bbvision12]

Spotted 630 today being used as a training bus. How many “retired” vehicles is Lynx using for training?

[HR2012TPA]

19 hours ago, bbvision12 said:

Spotted 630 today being used as a training bus. How many “retired” vehicles is Lynx using for training?

Not sure exactly how many, but I am aware that they kept several for training purposes.

[Big CJ]

The 2010s are very much active running around in service, with 40-410 being used on the 436S route today. I've seen 40-410 almost daily now, it was on the route back on Monday. 

[HR2012TPA]

I am hearing from my bus operator acquaintance that apparently, there's a second batch of 40' Gillig BRT Plus CNG's coming in. I am not sure exactly how many as of yet.

[HR2012TPA]

On 10/19/2023 at 1:39 PM, HR2012TPA said:

I am hearing from my bus operator acquaintance that apparently, there's a second batch of 40' Gillig BRT Plus CNG's coming in. I am not sure exactly how many as of yet.

As of today, 390-423, 391-423, 392-423, 394-423, & 395-423 are in service. 

[bbvision12]

398-423 spotted on the 42 today. Bus is solid blue.

[HR2012TPA]

I've been advised that this order of Gilligs is for 25 units.

[MVTArider]

Some random LYNX shots from about a month ago. (I still have more to upload) The oldest buses I spotted during my time roaming around were 1,2,4,5-409 doing driver training, and a few XX-410's on regular route.

Observations:

Route, I mean, Link frequency overall is sort of bad compared to some other major city systems. It seemed like many of the Links with good weekday frequency are every 30 minutes, while many are hourly. Link 8, LYMMOs, and perhaps some of the overlap Link segments such as 28/29, 48/49 seem to be the exceptions. It would be nice to see frequency improved on busier Links to every 15 or 20.

Compared to what I'm used to riding on Metro Transit in the Twin Cities, wow the LYNX buses were really clean and pleasant to ride. No eye-watering stench of weed, riders were generally respectful and not screaming obscenities into their phones or behaving like spoiled toddlers the entire trip, everyone paid their fare, etc.

LYNX needs to move into the 21st Century and update their bus stops with some proper info. At least they do post the Link numbers at each. The dead kiosk displays at the LYMMO stations should be updated as well.

I was a little surprised to see they still had printed material as many systems seem to be going away from that to cut costs. Though I see they have moved away from full printed individual timetables in favor of the consolidated system segment maps.

Overall I enjoyed my time riding around on LYNX and it certainly seems like a nice system.

[Glennwood Road Ent.]

2 hours ago, MVTArider said:

Some random LYNX shots from about a month ago. (I still have more to upload) The oldest buses I spotted during my time roaming around were 1,2,4,5-409 doing driver training, and a few XX-410's on regular route.

Observations:

Route, I mean, Link frequency overall is sort of bad compared to some other major city systems. It seemed like many of the Links with good weekday frequency are every 30 minutes, while many are hourly. Link 8, LYMMOs, and perhaps some of the overlap Link segments such as 28/29, 48/49 seem to be the exceptions. It would be nice to see frequency improved on busier Links to every 15 or 20.

Compared to what I'm used to riding on Metro Transit in the Twin Cities, wow the LYNX buses were really clean and pleasant to ride. No eye-watering stench of weed, riders were generally respectful and not screaming obscenities into their phones or behaving like spoiled toddlers the entire trip, everyone paid their fare, etc.

LYNX needs to move into the 21st Century and update their bus stops with some proper info. At least they do post the Link numbers at each. The dead kiosk displays at the LYMMO stations should be updated as well.

I was a little surprised to see they still had printed material as many systems seem to be going away from that to cut costs. Though I see they have moved away from full printed individual timetables in favor of the consolidated system segment maps.

Overall I enjoyed my time riding around on LYNX and it certainly seems like a nice system.

Great pictures, are you going to post it on Wiki for Orlando Lynx Fleet roster when you have any free time? Did you ride the self driving bus by yourself with the yellow Florida county license plate on it? 

[Big CJ]

On 11/16/2023 at 6:30 PM, MVTArider said:

Some random LYNX shots from about a month ago. (I still have more to upload) The oldest buses I spotted during my time roaming around were 1,2,4,5-409 doing driver training, and a few XX-410's on regular route.

Observations:

Route, I mean, Link frequency overall is sort of bad compared to some other major city systems. It seemed like many of the Links with good weekday frequency are every 30 minutes, while many are hourly. Link 8, LYMMOs, and perhaps some of the overlap Link segments such as 28/29, 48/49 seem to be the exceptions. It would be nice to see frequency improved on busier Links to every 15 or 20.

Compared to what I'm used to riding on Metro Transit in the Twin Cities, wow the LYNX buses were really clean and pleasant to ride. No eye-watering stench of weed, riders were generally respectful and not screaming obscenities into their phones or behaving like spoiled toddlers the entire trip, everyone paid their fare, etc.

LYNX needs to move into the 21st Century and update their bus stops with some proper info. At least they do post the Link numbers at each. The dead kiosk displays at the LYMMO stations should be updated as well.

I was a little surprised to see they still had printed material as many systems seem to be going away from that to cut costs. Though I see they have moved away from full printed individual timetables in favor of the consolidated system segment maps.

Overall I enjoyed my time riding around on LYNX and it certainly seems like a nice system.

Greetings again, its nice to hear from you and yes, the Flickr group for Lynx has been abandoned lol. No one goes there anymore, I do sometimes to reminisce. LYNX has been trying to expand, but the lack of will from the voters is the reason why this agency isn't going to grow much, until something significant changes. Orange County tried to get funding for this agency last year, and it failed. There were talks of trying to get funding again for this agency this year, but those talks have pretty much died down.

Poor frequency is just a way of life for this agency now. Nothing has changed with many routes, since they increased the frequency of Link 10 many years ago. As for new Lynx routes, the last few years all I've seen is expansion to theme parks, and that's it. No new destinations Lynx is going too, just the same system its been since Tri-County Transit. 

The last time Lynx went somewhere new, they created two bus routes that ran into Lake Nona back in 2015, one of which has since been discontinued. Granted Lynx did add Links 612 and 155, but that's it really. I've made a bold claim that 20 years ago, Lynx use to go more places then it does now, and without having to call a bus to show up via the NeighborLink system, which is time consuming. Each year, I'm always reminded of that with the lack of anything new with this agency.

I've also stopped fanning Lynx all together, retired and given up due to the blandness of the fleet, and getting old lol. The Gillig BRT CNGs have at least been reliable with fewer quality issues compared to the Xcelsior artic fleet. Although the older diesel buses have been performing well, when some of the CNG Gilligs have their issues. As for the Xcelsiors, they were fun for a few years, but have infested every major route going to the theme parks and attractions.

Sure Lynx needed them to address capacity issues on key routes like Links 8, 350, etc., but I've never seen as many buses catch on fire in nearly 30 years riding with this agency. It doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Lynx has had a diverse fleet going back 30 years. Something isn't right with those New Flyers is all I'm going to say. 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Big CJ

[HR2012TPA]

11 hours ago, Big CJ said:

Greetings again, its nice to hear from you and yes, the Flickr group for Lynx has been abandoned lol. No one goes there anymore, I do sometimes to reminisce. LYNX has been trying to expand, but the lack of will from the voters is the reason why this agency isn't going to grow much, until something significant changes. Orange County tried to get funding for this agency last year, and it failed. There were talks of trying to get funding again for this agency this year, but those talks have pretty much died down.

Poor frequency is just a way of life for this agency now. Nothing has changed with many routes, since they increased the frequency of Link 10 many years ago. As for new Lynx routes, the last few years all I've seen is expansion to theme parks, and that's it. No new destinations Lynx is going too, just the same system its been since Tri-County Transit. 

The last time Lynx went somewhere new, they created two bus routes that ran into Lake Nona back in 2015, one of which has since been discontinued. Granted Lynx did add Links 612 and 155, but that's it really. I've made a bold claim that 20 years ago, Lynx use to go more places then it does now, and without having to call a bus to show up via the NeighborLink system, which is time consuming. Each year, I'm always reminded of that with the lack of anything new with this agency.

I've also stopped fanning Lynx all together, retired and given up due to the blandness of the fleet, and getting old lol. The Gillig BRT CNGs have at least been reliable with fewer quality issues compared to the Xcelsior artic fleet. Although the older diesel buses have been performing well, when some of the CNG Gilligs have their issues. As for the Xcelsiors, they were fun for a few years, but have infested every major route going to the theme parks and attractions.

Sure Lynx needed them to address capacity issues on key routes like Links 8, 350, etc., but I've never seen as many buses catch on fire in nearly 30 years riding with this agency. It doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Lynx has had a diverse fleet going back 30 years. Something isn't right with those New Flyers is all I'm going to say. 

Same with voter referendums in Pinellas & Hillsborough.

I think the only hope now is to lobby support for an attempt to get the state legislature to restructure how sales tax referendums can be held so that cities can do their own.

[Border City Transit]

On 11/16/2023 at 3:30 PM, MVTArider said:

Observations:

Route, I mean, Link frequency overall is sort of bad compared to some other major city systems. It seemed like many of the Links with good weekday frequency are every 30 minutes, while many are hourly. Link 8, LYMMOs, and perhaps some of the overlap Link segments such as 28/29, 48/49 seem to be the exceptions. It would be nice to see frequency improved on busier Links to every 15 or 20.

Compared to what I'm used to riding on Metro Transit in the Twin Cities, wow the LYNX buses were really clean and pleasant to ride. No eye-watering stench of weed, riders were generally respectful and not screaming obscenities into their phones or behaving like spoiled toddlers the entire trip, everyone paid their fare, etc.

LYNX needs to move into the 21st Century and update their bus stops with some proper info. At least they do post the Link numbers at each. The dead kiosk displays at the LYMMO stations should be updated as well.

I was a little surprised to see they still had printed material as many systems seem to be going away from that to cut costs. Though I see they have moved away from full printed individual timetables in favor of the consolidated system segment maps.

Overall I enjoyed my time riding around on LYNX and it certainly seems like a nice system.

Great notes. Thanks for sharing observations and pics.

Yes, LYNX is spread very thin. It's an -enormous- service area with hostile operating conditions: extremely wide roads, high speeds, inconsistent sidewalks. Low investment certainly explains the lackluster service levels.

I was recently in LYNX territory, too. While transit was not the primary purpose of my trip, I managed to capture a few pics:

 

 

Considering the many factors working against transit in Central Florida, I'll actually say about LYNX... "they do the best they can with what they have". It could certainly be better -- but it could be a lot worse, too.

The fleet was in much better shape that I expected. For whatever reason, I was always led to believe that the vast, vast majority of their buses were ad wrapped. I was pleasantly surprised that most vehicles were, in fact, ad-free. It revealed buses that are clean and well-maintained. No small feat for operating heavy, high-mileage service in punishing weather. I -rarely- say anything nice about Gilligs -- but these looked and felt up to the job. I think that says more about LYNX than it does about Gillig...

I am not fond of downtown transit centers, but I found LYNX Central Station above-average. It was clean and organized. It's positioned in a way that allows quick, intuitive, relatively safe access for arriving and departing buses. It's convenient to downtown destinations.

On this trip, I crossed paths with four other sizeable agencies in Florida: JTA in Jacksonville, PSTA in St Petersburg, HART in Tampa, RTS in Gainesville. When thinking about "the full experience", I'll nominate LYNX as the best of this batch.

Gainesville actually runs a lot of service... but their fleet and facilities are in sorry condition.

Service levels are notably weak in Jax, St Petersburg and Tampa. JTA and HART maintain their buses reasonably nicely; PSTA's fleet was falling apart on the road.

My main takeaway from these other four cities (beyond Orlando) is this: transit has essentially been removed from central city areas. Jax, Gainesville, St Pete, Tampa each have some form of a "central hub", but they're all in remote, isolated, fringe locations. It's abundantly clear that these communities think of transit customers as second-class citizens.

I actually -prefer- to serve downtown areas with high-quality streetside bus stops rather than transit centers. But in these cities, regular bus stops were nearly nonexistent downtown. Tampa especially -- I liked downtown, but it felt eerie with practically NO transit.

Having seen LYNX alongside these other systems, it's worth pointing out where Orlando comes out ahead. I wouldn't mind spending more time there to learn it better!

 

 

[MVTArider]

On 11/16/2023 at 8:09 PM, Glennwood Road Ent. said:

Great pictures, are you going to post it on Wiki for Orlando Lynx Fleet roster when you have any free time? Did you ride the self driving bus by yourself with the yellow Florida county license plate on it? 

Thank you. I'll try to get some photos posted on the Wiki eventually. Unfortunately I didn't get around to riding the shuttle.

On 11/19/2023 at 12:10 AM, Big CJ said:

Greetings again, its nice to hear from you and yes, the Flickr group for Lynx has been abandoned lol. No one goes there anymore, I do sometimes to reminisce. LYNX has been trying to expand, but the lack of will from the voters is the reason why this agency isn't going to grow much, until something significant changes. Orange County tried to get funding for this agency last year, and it failed. There were talks of trying to get funding again for this agency this year, but those talks have pretty much died down.

Poor frequency is just a way of life for this agency now. Nothing has changed with many routes, since they increased the frequency of Link 10 many years ago. As for new Lynx routes, the last few years all I've seen is expansion to theme parks, and that's it. No new destinations Lynx is going too, just the same system its been since Tri-County Transit. 

The last time Lynx went somewhere new, they created two bus routes that ran into Lake Nona back in 2015, one of which has since been discontinued. Granted Lynx did add Links 612 and 155, but that's it really. I've made a bold claim that 20 years ago, Lynx use to go more places then it does now, and without having to call a bus to show up via the NeighborLink system, which is time consuming. Each year, I'm always reminded of that with the lack of anything new with this agency.

I've also stopped fanning Lynx all together, retired and given up due to the blandness of the fleet, and getting old lol. The Gillig BRT CNGs have at least been reliable with fewer quality issues compared to the Xcelsior artic fleet. Although the older diesel buses have been performing well, when some of the CNG Gilligs have their issues. As for the Xcelsiors, they were fun for a few years, but have infested every major route going to the theme parks and attractions.

Sure Lynx needed them to address capacity issues on key routes like Links 8, 350, etc., but I've never seen as many buses catch on fire in nearly 30 years riding with this agency. It doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Lynx has had a diverse fleet going back 30 years. Something isn't right with those New Flyers is all I'm going to say. 

Haha yeah that group was doing really well for a while but has definitely gone dormant. IMO Flickr could do a much better job of promoting group discussions but that's a different topic.

It's sad to see they haven't really done much for expansion over the years, but I certainly understand and agree it is difficult to do that when the service isn't really viewed as a priority by the funding sources. I totally understand giving up on fanning the system as well. For me it was nice to ride some CNG Gilligs and an XN60 as we don't have them here, and getting some photos of the colorful fleet is cool. But yeah it gets kind of blah after that. Also have they cut back on the variety of bus colors in recent years? It seemed like most of the newer fleet I saw was orange, pink, blue, green, red, and white for the LYMMO. Whereas before it seemed like they ran every color you could think of, yellow, tan, brown, grey, black, purple, teal, baby blue, etc. I imagine though it is probably easier for maintenance consolidating to 6-7 main livery colors.

I wasn't going to mention it as I figured it may have just been the operator, but the one XN60 I did ride was really jumpy compared to the Gilligs, though the Voith sounded pretty sweet I was also hoping to ride or at least spot one of the Nova artics, but I guess those are probably more sidelined for peak service or spares now. 

On 11/27/2023 at 3:32 PM, Border City Transit said:

Great notes. Thanks for sharing observations and pics.

Yes, LYNX is spread very thin. It's an -enormous- service area with hostile operating conditions: extremely wide roads, high speeds, inconsistent sidewalks. Low investment certainly explains the lackluster service levels.

I was recently in LYNX territory, too. While transit was not the primary purpose of my trip, I managed to capture a few pics:

 

 

Considering the many factors working against transit in Central Florida, I'll actually say about LYNX... "they do the best they can with what they have". It could certainly be better -- but it could be a lot worse, too.

The fleet was in much better shape that I expected. For whatever reason, I was always led to believe that the vast, vast majority of their buses were ad wrapped. I was pleasantly surprised that most vehicles were, in fact, ad-free. It revealed buses that are clean and well-maintained. No small feat for operating heavy, high-mileage service in punishing weather. I -rarely- say anything nice about Gilligs -- but these looked and felt up to the job. I think that says more about LYNX than it does about Gillig...

I am not fond of downtown transit centers, but I found LYNX Central Station above-average. It was clean and organized. It's positioned in a way that allows quick, intuitive, relatively safe access for arriving and departing buses. It's convenient to downtown destinations.

On this trip, I crossed paths with four other sizeable agencies in Florida: JTA in Jacksonville, PSTA in St Petersburg, HART in Tampa, RTS in Gainesville. When thinking about "the full experience", I'll nominate LYNX as the best of this batch.

Gainesville actually runs a lot of service... but their fleet and facilities are in sorry condition.

Service levels are notably weak in Jax, St Petersburg and Tampa. JTA and HART maintain their buses reasonably nicely; PSTA's fleet was falling apart on the road.

My main takeaway from these other four cities (beyond Orlando) is this: transit has essentially been removed from central city areas. Jax, Gainesville, St Pete, Tampa each have some form of a "central hub", but they're all in remote, isolated, fringe locations. It's abundantly clear that these communities think of transit customers as second-class citizens.

I actually -prefer- to serve downtown areas with high-quality streetside bus stops rather than transit centers. But in these cities, regular bus stops were nearly nonexistent downtown. Tampa especially -- I liked downtown, but it felt eerie with practically NO transit.

Having seen LYNX alongside these other systems, it's worth pointing out where Orlando comes out ahead. I wouldn't mind spending more time there to learn it better!

 

 

Thanks, and nice photos! Totally agree, they are doing a really good job considering what they have to work with. The operating environment is definitely not conducive to good transit operation. It felt like 10% of my time in Orlando was spent just waiting for traffic signals. Those traffic signal cycles are so long compared to the Twin Cities. And the congestion and volume of cars, ugh. I did get the sense that Orlando and/or Orange County at least seems to be promoting more transit/or at least non-car transport friendly development when possible. For example I had to mail myself a package of stuff so I went to the Post Office by Sand Lake Rd. SunRail station. There's a whole new apartment and townhouse development going in across the street and even better crosswalks and signals plus a new sidewalk being added along the east side of Orange Ave. Checking Streetview 10 years ago I could not have even gotten there because there was no pedestrian crossing or sidewalks. Additionally I noticed quite a few new higher-density mixed-use developments that have been added in recent years. Yes Orlando is still a heavily car oriented area. But at least there's a little progress.

LYNX Central is definitely one of the better downtown transit centers out there. Good location, good amenities, flow and layout, and having a convenient transfer to the adjacent SunRail line is a plus. (Though the delay for the rail crossing can be a minus too sometimes.) I was there during a very heavy downpour and was surprised how well those canopies actually shelter the platforms. They actually kept the platforms mostly dry and are not just architectural decor as is the case for some poorly laid out stations.

I would've liked to have visited a few other systems in the region, but I was doing this trip on the cheap and had no desire to rent a car and battle the toll roads and congestion this time. So thanks for sharing some comparisons. I actually had sort of planned to try to do a crazy trip via SunRail to ride Citrus Connection and visit their service hubs, but decided to just spend another leisurely day riding around in Orlando again vs. having to get up at like 5am to make that trip happen with enough time to actually get some photos on arrival.

[HR2012TPA]

Just got word from my bus operator acquaintance that the new Gillig order goes up to at least 411-423, but I do see 412-423 on TransSee, so it may be up to 416-423 if the order was for 25 buses. Most of the buses from this order are now in service.

[Chris W]

On 11/16/2023 at 6:30 PM, MVTArider said:

Some random LYNX shots from about a month ago. (I still have more to upload) The oldest buses I spotted during my time roaming around were 1,2,4,5-409 doing driver training, and a few XX-410's on regular route.

Observations:

Route, I mean, Link frequency overall is sort of bad compared to some other major city systems. It seemed like many of the Links with good weekday frequency are every 30 minutes, while many are hourly. Link 8, LYMMOs, and perhaps some of the overlap Link segments such as 28/29, 48/49 seem to be the exceptions. It would be nice to see frequency improved on busier Links to every 15 or 20.

Compared to what I'm used to riding on Metro Transit in the Twin Cities, wow the LYNX buses were really clean and pleasant to ride. No eye-watering stench of weed, riders were generally respectful and not screaming obscenities into their phones or behaving like spoiled toddlers the entire trip, everyone paid their fare, etc.

LYNX needs to move into the 21st Century and update their bus stops with some proper info. At least they do post the Link numbers at each. The dead kiosk displays at the LYMMO stations should be updated as well.

I was a little surprised to see they still had printed material as many systems seem to be going away from that to cut costs. Though I see they have moved away from full printed individual timetables in favor of the consolidated system segment maps.

Overall I enjoyed my time riding around on LYNX and it certainly seems like a nice system.

For those that are wondering what Beep is using for the Swan Shuttle, it is a Navya Autonom Shuttle Evo. I'm not sure how many are used for the service but I could identify the vehicle used.

[Glennwood Road Ent.]

2 hours ago, HR2012TPA said:

Just got word from my bus operator acquaintance that the new Gillig order goes up to at least 411-423, but I do see 412-423 on TransSee, so it may be up to 416-423 if the order was for 25 buses. Most of the buses from this order are now in service.

 

 

Are these Gilligs come with Voith 6-speed manual gearbox D864.6 similar to Miami-Dade Transit (piggybacked in 2019 and 2020 respectively) or ZF Ecolife-2 6AP1220B or 6AP1420B manual gearbox on the floor. 

On 11/27/2023 at 4:32 PM, Border City Transit said:

Great notes. Thanks for sharing observations and pics.

Yes, LYNX is spread very thin. It's an -enormous- service area with hostile operating conditions: extremely wide roads, high speeds, inconsistent sidewalks. Low investment certainly explains the lackluster service levels.

I was recently in LYNX territory, too. While transit was not the primary purpose of my trip, I managed to capture a few pics:

 

 

Considering the many factors working against transit in Central Florida, I'll actually say about LYNX... "they do the best they can with what they have". It could certainly be better -- but it could be a lot worse, too.

The fleet was in much better shape that I expected. For whatever reason, I was always led to believe that the vast, vast majority of their buses were ad wrapped. I was pleasantly surprised that most vehicles were, in fact, ad-free. It revealed buses that are clean and well-maintained. No small feat for operating heavy, high-mileage service in punishing weather. I -rarely- say anything nice about Gilligs -- but these looked and felt up to the job. I think that says more about LYNX than it does about Gillig...

I am not fond of downtown transit centers, but I found LYNX Central Station above-average. It was clean and organized. It's positioned in a way that allows quick, intuitive, relatively safe access for arriving and departing buses. It's convenient to downtown destinations.

On this trip, I crossed paths with four other sizeable agencies in Florida: JTA in Jacksonville, PSTA in St Petersburg, HART in Tampa, RTS in Gainesville. When thinking about "the full experience", I'll nominate LYNX as the best of this batch.

Gainesville actually runs a lot of service... but their fleet and facilities are in sorry condition.

Service levels are notably weak in Jax, St Petersburg and Tampa. JTA and HART maintain their buses reasonably nicely; PSTA's fleet was falling apart on the road.

My main takeaway from these other four cities (beyond Orlando) is this: transit has essentially been removed from central city areas. Jax, Gainesville, St Pete, Tampa each have some form of a "central hub", but they're all in remote, isolated, fringe locations. It's abundantly clear that these communities think of transit customers as second-class citizens.

I actually -prefer- to serve downtown areas with high-quality streetside bus stops rather than transit centers. But in these cities, regular bus stops were nearly nonexistent downtown. Tampa especially -- I liked downtown, but it felt eerie with practically NO transit.

Having seen LYNX alongside these other systems, it's worth pointing out where Orlando comes out ahead. I wouldn't mind spending more time there to learn it better!

 

 

And Miami-Dade Transit as well. 

[BrownD]

So these newer ones have Voith, I rode one of them on the 436S on Saturday.

They also have plastic seating aswell.

409-423

 

[Big CJ]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:37 PM, BrownD said:

So these newer ones have Voith, I rode one of them on the 436S on Saturday.

They also have plastic seating aswell.

409-423

 

Funny thing, 409 and 412 are on the 436S today, along with 55-410. Voith six speed just like Miami, interesting stuff. Thanks for posting that information, really appreciate it. 

[Big CJ]

On 11/30/2023 at 12:00 PM, MVTArider said:

Haha yeah that group was doing really well for a while but has definitely gone dormant. IMO Flickr could do a much better job of promoting group discussions but that's a different topic.

It's sad to see they haven't really done much for expansion over the years, but I certainly understand and agree it is difficult to do that when the service isn't really viewed as a priority by the funding sources. I totally understand giving up on fanning the system as well. For me it was nice to ride some CNG Gilligs and an XN60 as we don't have them here, and getting some photos of the colorful fleet is cool. But yeah it gets kind of blah after that. Also have they cut back on the variety of bus colors in recent years? It seemed like most of the newer fleet I saw was orange, pink, blue, green, red, and white for the LYMMO. Whereas before it seemed like they ran every color you could think of, yellow, tan, brown, grey, black, purple, teal, baby blue, etc. I imagine though it is probably easier for maintenance consolidating to 6-7 main livery colors.

I wasn't going to mention it as I figured it may have just been the operator, but the one XN60 I did ride was really jumpy compared to the Gilligs, though the Voith sounded pretty sweet I was also hoping to ride or at least spot one of the Nova artics, but I guess those are probably more sidelined for peak service or spares now. 

 

You know it's really awesome hearing from you again lol. It's been too long, and as for the group on Flickr, we basically moved onto a Facebook group, called Central Florida Transit Discussion. Although, only a couple of us from the Flickr group are on that Facebook group. The others who were on the Flickr group simply disappeared without much notice unfortunately. I don't know what their status is. 

As for Lynx's lack of expansion, gotta blame the voters there. Lynx is basically a pet project, that people got bored of many years ago. The board members and CEOs have tried (and failed) to take this agency serious, and it shows year after year. The drivers, supervisors, and maintenance folks I feel bad for, cause they're the ones who get thrown under the bus. Not the board members or the many CEOs that have come after Skoutelas and Leo Auger, who come and go, and have beaten this cat nearly to death.

At least Skoutelas and Auger either tried to do something or did something impactful that left the agency in a better position then it was before. When Auger resigned and Byron Brooks allowed the incident in Las Vegas to happen, that was the beginning of Lynx's downward spiral. Lynx looks okay now, but a lot of people said the samething about Greyhound, it looked okay, but there were obvious problems going on. 

As for the colors. Lynx started going with less colors starting with the 2012 diesel order. Granted they still have buses that are purple and some that are teal. They don't use color on the interior of these buses no more. They must of had Gillig use a lot of gallons of paint when those Phantoms were brand new lol.

As for the XN60s, they were okay when new, but now that they've been battered by the roads of Central Florida, that's when the quality of the bus really shows. The buses are not my type to say the least, and New Flyer's quality in my opinion has gone downhill since the LFR line up. As for the Novas, there was a period earlier this year many of them and all the other hybrid buses in Lynx's fleet were out of service, awaiting parts. It also doesn't help Nova is leaving the United States again, leaving us with just two bus builders. Proterra leaving also caused a lot of problems for Lynx and everyone else who planned to buy more of them. 

 

[Big CJ]

I forgot to mention, 26-610 was out yesterday. It was spotted on the highway. Also, I've added 390 through 415 on the Wiki, since the order is for 25 buses.