Big CJ Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 It's like I've said before, I've lived in this city for nearly 30 years, and I've never seen as many of the same buses catch fire. Lynx had three Neoplan articulated buses in its fleet when I moved to Orlando in 1995. They had some technical issues like getting stuck when turning, and maybe some rust issues which was a major issue that plagued early Neoplans. However despite that, no fires or spontaneous combustion. I don't know what to say at this point. Sheesh, three articulated buses retired due to fires? 129 I think was wrecked, but I'm not sure, 287 was involved in an accident where it collided with a bridge. It's kinda ironic that 281 was retired early, the original 281 was also retired early in 2005, but unlike 281-619, it was involved in a serious accident. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 At this point, maybe they should stop ordering Xcelsior XN60’s and maybe order some XDE60’s or XD60’s or maybe something different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 On 1/13/2024 at 9:19 PM, BrownD said: At this point, maybe they should stop ordering Xcelsior XN60’s and maybe order some XDE60’s or XD60’s or maybe something different. Knowing this agency for as long as I do, I don't think Lynx is mature enough to modify its CNG order for XDE60s or XD60s, as it would set a poor precedent. They already spent the money on that CNG fueling station at LOC. I don't think Lynx wants to touch hybrid buses again, after the issues they've had with the hybrid buses early last year. As for them ordering diesel, that's all up in the air, as the CNG Gillig order shows. I'm waiting for the floodgates of outside bus builders to come into the US once again, just like in the 1980s. It's only a matter of time, before agencies across the US get annoyed with long backlogs from both Gillig and New Flyer, which we know will happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 What happened with the hybrids last year? 1 hour ago, Big CJ said: Knowing this agency for as long as I do, I don't think Lynx is mature enough to modify its CNG order for XDE60s or XD60s, as it would set a poor precedent. They already spent the money on that CNG fueling station at LOC. I don't think Lynx wants to touch hybrid buses again, after the issues they've had with the hybrid buses early last year. As for them ordering diesel, that's all up in the air, as the CNG Gillig order shows. I'm waiting for the floodgates of outside bus builders to come into the US once again, just like in the 1980s. It's only a matter of time, before agencies across the US get annoyed with long backlogs from both Gillig and New Flyer, which we know will happen. What happened with the hybrids last year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 15 minutes ago, BrownD said: What happened with the hybrids last year? What happened with the hybrids last year? I forgot which board report or finance audit committee it was, but it talked about Lynx having failures with its hybrid bus fleet, and how Lynx was getting them repaired. It mentioned the entire fleet of hybrid buses, rather than specific bus models. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 2 hours ago, Big CJ said: Knowing this agency for as long as I do, I don't think Lynx is mature enough to modify its CNG order for XDE60s or XD60s, as it would set a poor precedent. They already spent the money on that CNG fueling station at LOC. I don't think Lynx wants to touch hybrid buses again, after the issues they've had with the hybrid buses early last year. As for them ordering diesel, that's all up in the air, as the CNG Gillig order shows. I'm waiting for the floodgates of outside bus builders to come into the US once again, just like in the 1980s. It's only a matter of time, before agencies across the US get annoyed with long backlogs from both Gillig and New Flyer, which we know will happen. Copy that, 10-4. 38 minutes ago, BrownD said: What happened with the hybrids last year? You saw @Big CJmentioned that few days ago including his buddies? He said that one of the hybrid buses having mechanical issues and the bus replacement parts, batteries or hybrid drive transmission repairs and maintenance costs either thousands, millions, or billions of dollars to fix at one of their bus service centers or dealerships in Central Florida. Anyway, back to the topic, In the near future, depending on grants and with no date known yet, Lynx’s fleet will settle into electric and compressed natural gas models, which emit less pollution but require more maintenance than diesel buses. The diesel buses will be pharsed out sometime in late 2020s. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/09/14/lynxs-diesel-buses/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HR2012TPA Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 HART, LYNX, and even Miami have seemed to have bad luck with hybrids - though Miami's remaining hybrids seem to mostly hold up okay these days. But I can't blame HART and LYNX for wanting hybrids to never see the light of day ever again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 5 hours ago, HR2012TPA said: HART, LYNX, and even Miami have seemed to have bad luck with hybrids - though Miami's remaining hybrids seem to mostly hold up okay these days. But I can't blame HART and LYNX for wanting hybrids to never see the light of day ever again. To be honest, Lynx never purchased enough hybrid buses to really see any benefits to them. It really doesn't help that most of the hybrids Lynx had were 35ft units that were concentrated on a BRT route in Downtown Orlando, before being pushed onto the local routes. Their performance was hit or miss, due to the wear and tear they had on the Lymmo. The NABI and Nova hybrid articulated buses were complicated, especially when you consider Lynx went 12 years before they acquired articulated buses. The 40ft hybrids (145-147) were only bought due to the fact they were Sunrail expansion buses. So Lynx's experiment with hybrid was a failure on Lynx themselves not investing into the technology enough, i.e. more buses like 145-147. As for HART, the samething, they had only three hybrid buses, and they were the early variety at that. If they had ordered the most recent hybrid buses, it might of been a different story. 2427 for HART was bought by Maingate, and I presume they still have it? I haven't heard much from Maingate, other then they're still around. I don't know what buses they roster now, but I feel hybrid buses weren't given a real chance in Orlando. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVTArider Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 I'd argue even if they had invested more into hybrid buses they just wouldn't have worked well anyways. Aside from the LYMMO and perhaps a couple of Links the majority of service is running at consistently higher speeds. From what I'm aware diesel-electric parallel hybrids seem to be best suited for low speed routes running primarily in stop and go city traffic. The diesel engine runs a constant speed generating power for the electric unit to propel the bus which results in fuel savings. Otherwise at constant high speeds the bus is just working a smaller engine harder to haul both the passengers and batteries and is probably not saving any fuel. With even more artics sidelined/retired due to hybrid issues/fires/etc. I wonder if LYNX will consider picking up a few used refurbished diesel artic units again. I'm not sure how needed they are on their higher ridership services though, or if they can usually 'squeeze' by with subbing in 40 footers instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 12 hours ago, MVTArider said: I'd argue even if they had invested more into hybrid buses they just wouldn't have worked well anyways. Aside from the LYMMO and perhaps a couple of Links the majority of service is running at consistently higher speeds. From what I'm aware diesel-electric parallel hybrids seem to be best suited for low speed routes running primarily in stop and go city traffic. The diesel engine runs a constant speed generating power for the electric unit to propel the bus which results in fuel savings. Otherwise at constant high speeds the bus is just working a smaller engine harder to haul both the passengers and batteries and is probably not saving any fuel. With even more artics sidelined/retired due to hybrid issues/fires/etc. I wonder if LYNX will consider picking up a few used refurbished diesel artic units again. I'm not sure how needed they are on their higher ridership services though, or if they can usually 'squeeze' by with subbing in 40 footers instead. That's the one thing against hybrid technology, is that it's better suited for slower speeds with constant stops. It's also a bit expensive, although buses in general these days are expensive anyway. As for the articulated bus fleet, I have no clue what Lynx is planning with the hybrid articulated bus fleet. The XN60 fires, sooner or later Lynx is going to have to address that elephant in the room. Speaking of hybrid buses, Lynx just cancelled the meeting today, where the board would've authorized those buses scheduled to be auctioned. Now the buses will be in the reserve fleet until March. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 Some throwbacks of Lynx, via these old commercials. I apologize for the huge videos, I can't code this any smaller. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 I seen 54-410 at the depot, it has 2 papers in it. Not sure what that means but I hope it ain’t retirement… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbvision12 Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 A number of buses were wrapped for the Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando this last weekend, and used as barricades along the course. A non-exhaustive list of these include the 1-409, 4-409, and the 42-410. At least one 600-series 40' BRT was also being used for this purpose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 I seen 630 and 647 with the wrap 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 So round two anyone on a sales tax? https://www.wesh.com/article/orange-county-sales-tax-transportation/46663053 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, Big CJ said: So round two anyone on a sales tax? https://www.wesh.com/article/orange-county-sales-tax-transportation/46663053 I’m hoping this one works lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, BrownD said: 5 hours ago, Big CJ said: So round two anyone on a sales tax? https://www.wesh.com/article/orange-county-sales-tax-transportation/46663053 I’m hoping this one works lol I've lived here going on 29 years, and I've heard these same promises proposed time and time again. Dennings just happens to be very stubborn and unwilling to admit defeat over the city's transportation, which I praise him for not throwing in the towel and giving up. Using a sales tax to fund transit in addition to road improvements in Orlando, believe it or not predates Lynx. They've also been trying to relieve traffic on I-Drive, which was being proposed as far back as the mid 1980s too. Sunrail could be the solution to that, whenever the Sunshine Corridor gets built, hopefully by the end of this decade it's under construction. My personal opinion on trying this again, let's see what happens as I'm not really confident it may pass. The same group that opposed the sales tax in 2022, is also looking to rally against it again, so it'll be a tough battle. It doesn't help the price of goods are going up too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HR2012TPA Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 18 hours ago, Big CJ said: I've lived here going on 29 years, and I've heard these same promises proposed time and time again. Dennings just happens to be very stubborn and unwilling to admit defeat over the city's transportation, which I praise him for not throwing in the towel and giving up. Using a sales tax to fund transit in addition to road improvements in Orlando, believe it or not predates Lynx. They've also been trying to relieve traffic on I-Drive, which was being proposed as far back as the mid 1980s too. Sunrail could be the solution to that, whenever the Sunshine Corridor gets built, hopefully by the end of this decade it's under construction. My personal opinion on trying this again, let's see what happens as I'm not really confident it may pass. The same group that opposed the sales tax in 2022, is also looking to rally against it again, so it'll be a tough battle. It doesn't help the price of goods are going up too. I think the only hope for the Orlando & Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater regions is to lobby the Legislature to pass a bill that would allow for municipal only referendums. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 Okay folks, we have gotta talk about the upcoming changes on April 21st. When I saw these, it woke me up lol. Links 21, 37, 42, 436S are getting Sunday frequencies increased to every 30 minutes. 436S will only get the frequency increase between Orlando International Airport and University Blvd. Link 111 is being discontinued and replaced by Link 311, which is probably the biggest show stealer of these changes. Link 311 will be the Orlando International Airport to Disney Springs express route, with intermediate stops at the Destination Parkway stop, the Convention Center, Florida Mall, and Sand Lake Road Sunrail station. This routing duplicates the original Link 111 route. https://www.golynx.com/news-events/208239-lynx-to-hold-information-sessions-and-public-workshop-and-hearing-for-april-2024-service-proposal.stml Just to point this out, many bus companies in the Orlando area, such as Mears and others, have balked for many years at Lynx running an express route from Disney to the airport. Now this route could very well be a reality in a mere two months. This a big deal unlike anything else that has happened in Lynx's entire existence, and we're not even in Summer yet. Who wants to place bets that the 311 will be Lynx's busiest route before Summer? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 3 hours ago, Big CJ said: Okay folks, we have gotta talk about the upcoming changes on April 21st. When I saw these, it woke me up lol. Links 21, 37, 42, 436S are getting Sunday frequencies increased to every 30 minutes. 436S will only get the frequency increase between Orlando International Airport and University Blvd. Link 111 is being discontinued and replaced by Link 311, which is probably the biggest show stealer of these changes. Link 311 will be the Orlando International Airport to Disney Springs express route, with intermediate stops at the Destination Parkway stop, the Convention Center, Florida Mall, and Sand Lake Road Sunrail station. This routing duplicates the original Link 111 route. https://www.golynx.com/news-events/208239-lynx-to-hold-information-sessions-and-public-workshop-and-hearing-for-april-2024-service-proposal.stml Just to point this out, many bus companies in the Orlando area, such as Mears and others, have balked for many years at Lynx running an express route from Disney to the airport. Now this route could very well be a reality in a mere two months. This a big deal unlike anything else that has happened in Lynx's entire existence, and we're not even in Summer yet. Who wants to place bets that the 311 will be Lynx's busiest route before Summer? I bet it will too lol, more than the 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 On 1/18/2024 at 5:19 AM, MVTArider said: I'd argue even if they had invested more into hybrid buses they just wouldn't have worked well anyways. Aside from the LYMMO and perhaps a couple of Links the majority of service is running at consistently higher speeds. From what I'm aware diesel-electric parallel hybrids seem to be best suited for low speed routes running primarily in stop and go city traffic. The diesel engine runs a constant speed generating power for the electric unit to propel the bus which results in fuel savings. Otherwise at constant high speeds the bus is just working a smaller engine harder to haul both the passengers and batteries and is probably not saving any fuel. With even more artics sidelined/retired due to hybrid issues/fires/etc. I wonder if LYNX will consider picking up a few used refurbished diesel artic units again. I'm not sure how needed they are on their higher ridership services though, or if they can usually 'squeeze' by with subbing in 40 footers instead. I'd rather recommend diesel buses for longer runs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 22 hours ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said: I'd rather recommend diesel buses for longer runs. I wonder how hybrid coaches would on longer runs? I never asked about those, especially since Lynx has used its hybrid transit buses on routes that do travel on I-4 (doesn't mean I'm suggesting Lynx get motorcoaches yet). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 Some interesting things are going to be happening with Links 37 and 40. Lynx also hinted something in December could be happening, no clue what it is. https://www.golynx.com/core/fileparse.php/97315/urlt/2-15-2024-Finance-Audit-Committee-Pkg.pdf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownD Posted March 10 Report Share Posted March 10 I’m on 289-419 and I thought it had voith, but I’m just now finding out it has ZF… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big CJ Posted March 10 Report Share Posted March 10 3 hours ago, BrownD said: I’m on 289-419 and I thought it had voith, but I’m just now finding out it has ZF… Well that's interesting. I guess I'll change it then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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