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Orion V

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55 minutes ago, Jared Kam said:

Are they going to send 1505 back to the manufacturer for retrofits then?  When will the full delivery start?

1505 has entered revenue service as of yesterday. It is assigned to MV Transportation, which will be the destiny of about 70 of these ENC’s. I suspect the other contractors will get them as well and rotate out the XN40’s, C40lf’s, & Nabi’s 

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3 hours ago, Shakey077 said:

1505 has entered revenue service as of yesterday. It is assigned to MV Transportation, which will be the destiny of about 70 of these ENC’s. I suspect the other contractors will get them as well and rotate out the XN40’s, C40lf’s, & Nabi’s 

Those remaining 2001 C40LFs are due for retirement this year along with the 2001-2003 Nabi 40LFWs and 2001 Orion VI diesels.

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On 5/8/2019 at 7:37 PM, James Cuevas Jr. said:

I'm curious about the repainted Metro Rapid 40 LFW. I got 7610 & 7846, but is there anymore?

Also I'm kind of new to cptdb, so apologies if I sound rude or snobby.

LACMTA 7610 - 770.jpg

I saw two this morning and neither were ones you numbered above (7886 was one, I think).

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The phrase "perspective owners" makes no damn sense anyway. It's respective owners...

Regardless, it's quite disrespectful to not identify the photographer. You don't have to share the image, so why share it if you cannot do it properly or respectfully. 

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22 hours ago, Chris.A said:

Did LACMTA ever tested an Orion V or Novabus RTS?

Orion V... no idea.

Novabus RTS... I can't say for sure, but I'd guess 'no'.

LACMTA and Novabus had bad blood regarding an older batch of RTS buses -- specifically, a 1992-1993 order manufactured by TMC.

Unproven alternative fuels (and engines unfit for those fuels) hobbled those buses from Day One. Problems only worsened as the fleet aged (though, in true RTS fashion, plenty of 'em did rack up 18-19 years on the road... after being converted to diesel.)

I don't recall all the details, but it went something like this: after TMC had gone out of business, MTA attempted some serious retooling of these buses. They looked to Novabus for assistance, parts, support, discounts, credits, etc.

MTA understood Novabus to be "on the hook" for its predecessor's products. Novabus didn't see it that way. In light of the ongoing dispute, the two entities didn't have much use for each other.

Plus, by the time of the hoped-for repairs, MTA had already enlisted Neoplan, New Flyer and NABI for new buses. If they had been more responsive to the RTS issue, perhaps Novabus could have been in that mix. Alas, conditions did not align that way. So... no late-model RTSes for Los Angeles, and no "serious" appearances of an LFS, either.

Still, LA's RTS legacy winks from heaven with the incoming El Dorado order: the last RTSes (the aforementioned 1992-1993 units) were numbered 1200-1502. So as to respect RTS turf, the El Do units start at 1505. Not the first time that MTA has revived a long-dormant numbering sequence...

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2 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

I don't know about the LACMTA testing any RTS buses, but the SCRTD had hundreds of RTS buses in service: 

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Southern_California_Rapid_Transit_District

Here, all this talk of RTSes in LA is making me nostalgic (especially with the recent sunset of their cousins in NYC).

Two pics of RTSes on the Westside, circa 2007. 1421 in the uninspired yellowjacket scheme, 1397 looking very sharp in the current Metro Local scheme:

MTA1397L.thumb.jpg.980e3463853c6815c5b3b8b339e6b1dd.jpgMTA1421C.thumb.jpg.f54243abf0b52881d8764235b9f6d679.jpg

Both had been converted to diesel at that point; their engines sounded sumptuous and out-of-place in SoCal even 12 years ago.

RTS in peace, boys.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Border City Transit said:

Orion V... no idea.

Novabus RTS... I can't say for sure, but I'd guess 'no'.

LACMTA and Novabus had bad blood regarding an older batch of RTS buses -- specifically, a 1992-1993 order manufactured by TMC.

Unproven alternative fuels (and engines unfit for those fuels) hobbled those buses from Day One. Problems only worsened as the fleet aged (though, in true RTS fashion, plenty of 'em did rack up 18-19 years on the road... after being converted to diesel.)

I don't recall all the details, but it went something like this: after TMC had gone out of business, MTA attempted some serious retooling of these buses. They looked to Novabus for assistance, parts, support, discounts, credits, etc.

MTA understood Novabus to be "on the hook" for its predecessor's products. Novabus didn't see it that way. In light of the ongoing dispute, the two entities didn't have much use for each other.

Plus, by the time of the hoped-for repairs, MTA had already enlisted Neoplan, New Flyer and NABI for new buses. If they had been more responsive to the RTS issue, perhaps Novabus could have been in that mix. Alas, conditions did not align that way. So... no late-model RTSes for Los Angeles, and no "serious" appearances of an LFS, either.

Still, LA's RTS legacy winks from heaven with the incoming El Dorado order: the last RTSes (the aforementioned 1992-1993 units) were numbered 1200-1502. So as to respect RTS turf, the El Do units start at 1505. Not the first time that MTA has revived a long-dormant numbering sequence...

I find it weird that LACMTA never repowered their 1988-1989 and 1992-1993 TMC RTS's with DD series 50 engines like their NY counterparts did.

4 hours ago, Border City Transit said:

Here, all this talk of RTSes in LA is making me nostalgic (especially with the recent sunset of their cousins in NYC).

Two pics of RTSes on the Westside, circa 2007. 1421 in the uninspired yellowjacket scheme, 1397 looking very sharp in the current Metro Local scheme:

MTA1397L.thumb.jpg.980e3463853c6815c5b3b8b339e6b1dd.jpgMTA1421C.thumb.jpg.f54243abf0b52881d8764235b9f6d679.jpg

Both had been converted to diesel at that point; their engines sounded sumptuous and out-of-place in SoCal even 12 years ago.

RTS in peace, boys.

 

 

LA retired their RTS'S about this time 10 years ago right, 2008-2009? I think I vaguely remember hearing these retiring around that point.

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10 hours ago, Chris.A said:

I find it weird that LACMTA never repowered their 1988-1989 and 1992-1993 TMC RTS's with DD series 50 engines like their NY counterparts did.

It just depends. Not every fleet will necessarily need repowering. The mid/late '80s diesel RTS orders (2000-2266, 2300-2402) had rock-solid 6V92TA engines -- no surprise that they made it 'til the end.

By the time they retired, the 1992-1993 units were all over the map, engine-wise. I believe some of them did receive DD Series 50 diesel engines. Some may have gone Cummins (weird for an RTS, I know). Anyone have more insight on late-life engine configs of 1200-1502 RTSes?

 

10 hours ago, Chris.A said:

LA retired their RTS'S about this time 10 years ago right, 2008-2009?

Last ~50 units were running through late 2011, maybe even crept into early 2012.

By the end, you'd only see them in a handful of places. Division 6 wasn't equipped for CNG, so it was among the last stands for the RTS. Then again, D6 was a part-time operation -- so outside of odd weekday assignments, RTS spottings became pretty rare.

 

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2 hours ago, Border City Transit said:

It just depends. Not every fleet will necessarily need repowering. The mid/late '80s diesel RTS orders (2000-2266, 2300-2402) had rock-solid 6V92TA engines -- no surprise that they made it 'til the end.

By the time they retired, the 1992-1993 units were all over the map, engine-wise. I believe some of them did receive DD Series 50 diesel engines. Some may have gone Cummins (weird for an RTS, I know)Anyone have more insight on late-life engine configs of 1200-1502 RTSes?

 

Last ~50 units were running through late 2011, maybe even crept into early 2012.

By the end, you'd only see them in a handful of places. Division 6 wasn't equipped for CNG, so it was among the last stands for the RTS. Then again, D6 was a part-time operation -- so outside of odd weekday assignments, RTS spottings became pretty rare.

 

Not really, some of our 1996 Novas had came with Cummins M11E engines. We weren't alone either, as nearby NJT had most of their RTS's equipped with Cummins rather then DD50s for some reason.

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