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Golden Gate Transit


Nabinut

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Golden Gate Transit operates Buses & Ferries in two counties (Marin & Sonoma) as well as operate local and express bus service into and out of San Francisco, mainly during peak periods. The fleet consists of 208 buses, with the majority being Orion V Semi-suburbans which are operated mostly on local routes as well as RTSs built in 1991, 1997 & 2000. GGT also uses MCI D4500s (With roll signs) and New Flyer D60LFs for Routes 35, the heaviest in Marin County. GGT’s newest purchase is seven New Flyer DE35LFs, presumably the first such buses in the bay area.

San Rafael Transit Center, the main hub for Golden Gate Transit, Orion V #1518 in mid-route on Route 80 awaits passenger while promoting Public Transit:

WCT3522.jpg

Arriving at San Rafael is New Flyer D60LF #551, the first of 10 articulated buses owned by Golden Gate Transit and used primarily on Route 35, which is only 15 minutes in length:

WCT3524.jpg

TMC RTS #1234 arriving on Route 23 from San Anselmo Transit Center. 1234 is one of 31 active RTSs built for Golden Gate Transit in 1991. Originally these buses had Detroit Diesel 6V92 engines, later changed over to Series 50:

WCT3528.jpg

Nova RTS-08 WFD #1310 awaits departure on peak Route 36. 1310 is one of 10 RTS-08s single door suburbans built for Golden Gate Transit in 1997 and are restricted to peak service:

WCT3529.jpg

Golden Gate Transit RTS #1217 in-between runs on Route 29 at San Anselmo Transit Center. This center serves both local Marin County routes as well as express routes into Downtown San Francisco:

WCT3531.jpg

Nova RTS #1254 is one of 14 built for GGT in 2000 and the last 40 foot RTSs ordered:

WCT3530.jpg

Orion V #1501, the first of 80 is pictured at San Rafael on Route 17 fully wrapped as a passenger places his bike inside the rack:

WCT3533.jpg

Golden Gate Transit Routes 40 & 42 serve the East Bay and are the only routes to connect to BART outside of San Francisco. TMC RTS #1225 waits for its next departure at El Cerrito Del Norte:

WCT3544.jpg

Other Carriers:

Sonoma County Transit, which serves the city of Santa Rosa has rush hour service to San Rafael in the form of Route 38, which operates from the Transit Center to Kenwood via Highway 116 & 121. On this day, Orion V #322 arrives not in service to start the first run to Kenwood:

WCT3526.jpg

Western Contra Costa Transit Authority (WestCAT) operates fifteen bus lines, mostly North of the city of Oakland in the towns of Hercules & Pinole. Among these lines is Route J (Hercules & El Cerritos Del Norte) and express Route JPX (Weekdays):

Gillig Phantom #105 at El Cerrito Del Norte BART awaits passenger on local Route J which serves the town of Richmond:

WCT3537.jpg

Gillig Low Floor BRT #160, one of 11 built for WestCAT in 2007 is departing El Cerrito Del Norte on Route JPX, the express line to Hercules Transit Center:

WCT3541.jpg

Solano Express is a interesting operation that spans between San Francisco & Sacramento using various routes serving Sonoma County, Solano County & Sacramento County. Pictured is MCI D4500 #663 on Route 80 to Vallejo:

WCT3538.jpg

Videos:

Golden Gate Transit Orion V #1579: Detroit Diesel Series 50/ZF Ecomat Transmission

Golden Gate Transit TMC RTS-06 #1217: Detroit Diesel Series 50/ ZF Transmission

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  • 2 weeks later...

According to wikipedia on GGT, I was surprised to see that a picture of Golden Gate Transit New Flyer DE35LF was placed in service. That is GGT's first 35 ft hybrid it placed in service. That bus will operated on Marin Transit Route as the name Marian Transit is displayed on the bus. Also, this is the last ever DE35LF bus built with the original look. That makes a total of two operators that operates that model DE35LF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Transit#Fleet

Could it be for the replacement of BABY Novas?

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Could it be for the replacement of BABY Novas?

More than likely these D35LF's are to replace the older 30 foot Nova RTS units. That would make sense to me, read on: The 35 foot Low Floor would be similar in seating capacity to a 30 foot High Floor bus.

Look at Calgary Transit's old GM Fishbowls from the 1970's to the 1982's of which many are still in operation. The power steering versions seat 50 passengers and our 60 foot Articulated Low Floors buses seat 57. Only 7 more seats with 20 more feet.

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From this point and beyond, are they going to order buses from New Flyer now. It appears that since 2007 and 2010 with the order of D60LF and DE35LF, they have been going to New Flyer buses recently. It appears that most RTS buses are 12 or so years old and they're likely to be replaced soon. Are they going to order mores buses from New Flyer again?

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  • 2 years later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Golden Gate Transit operates Buses & Ferries in two counties (Marin & Sonoma) as well as operate local and express bus service into and out of San Francisco, mainly during peak periods. The fleet consists of 208 buses, with the majority being Orion V Semi-suburbans which are operated mostly on local routes as well as RTSs built in 1991, 1997 & 2000. GGT also uses MCI D4500s (With roll signs) and New Flyer D60LFs for Routes 35, the heaviest in Marin County. GGT's newest purchase is seven New Flyer DE35LFs, presumably the first such buses in the bay area.

San Rafael Transit Center, the main hub for Golden Gate Transit, Orion V #1518 in mid-route on Route 80 awaits passenger while promoting Public Transit:

WCT3522.jpg

Arriving at San Rafael is New Flyer D60LF #551, the first of 10 articulated buses owned by Golden Gate Transit and used primarily on Route 35, which is only 15 minutes in length:

WCT3524.jpg

TMC RTS #1234 arriving on Route 23 from San Anselmo Transit Center. 1234 is one of 31 active RTSs built for Golden Gate Transit in 1991. Originally these buses had Detroit Diesel 6V92 engines, later changed over to Series 50:

WCT3528.jpg

Nova RTS-08 WFD #1310 awaits departure on peak Route 36. 1310 is one of 10 RTS-08s single door suburbans built for Golden Gate Transit in 1997 and are restricted to peak service:

WCT3529.jpg

Golden Gate Transit RTS #1217 in-between runs on Route 29 at San Anselmo Transit Center. This center serves both local Marin County routes as well as express routes into Downtown San Francisco:

WCT3531.jpg

Nova RTS #1254 is one of 14 built for GGT in 2000 and the last 40 foot RTSs ordered:

WCT3530.jpg

Orion V #1501, the first of 80 is pictured at San Rafael on Route 17 fully wrapped as a passenger places his bike inside the rack:

WCT3533.jpg

Golden Gate Transit Routes 40 & 42 serve the East Bay and are the only routes to connect to BART outside of San Francisco. TMC RTS #1225 waits for its next departure at El Cerrito Del Norte:

WCT3544.jpg

Other Carriers:

Sonoma County Transit, which serves the city of Santa Rosa has rush hour service to San Rafael in the form of Route 38, which operates from the Transit Center to Kenwood via Highway 116 & 121. On this day, Orion V #322 arrives not in service to start the first run to Kenwood:

WCT3526.jpg

Western Contra Costa Transit Authority (WestCAT) operates fifteen bus lines, mostly North of the city of Oakland in the towns of Hercules & Pinole. Among these lines is Route J (Hercules & El Cerritos Del Norte) and express Route JPX (Weekdays):

Gillig Phantom #105 at El Cerrito Del Norte BART awaits passenger on local Route J which serves the town of Richmond:

WCT3537.jpg

Gillig Low Floor BRT #160, one of 11 built for WestCAT in 2007 is departing El Cerrito Del Norte on Route JPX, the express line to Hercules Transit Center:

WCT3541.jpg

Solano Express is a interesting operation that spans between San Francisco & Sacramento using various routes serving Sonoma County, Solano County & Sacramento County. Pictured is MCI D4500 #663 on Route 80 to Vallejo:

WCT3538.jpg

Videos:

Golden Gate Transit Orion V #1579: Detroit Diesel Series 50/ZF Ecomat Transmission

Golden Gate Transit TMC RTS-06 #1217: Detroit Diesel Series 50/ ZF Transmission

More pics of the GGT buses:

Here's a photo of 1527 which is a 2003 Orion V Suburban running on route 80 which goes through the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza.

1527resized.jpg

Also 1540 though I took a picture of it through a double decker tour bus window which made it come out bad:

1540resized.jpg

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

If you guys want to ride the 2000 Nova Bus RTS's often, try route 22 at around 2:50PM at Marin City. I got 1257, 1258, and 1259 almost everytime between 2013-2014. 1254 has also be brought back to service and is used on many routes now. To get a ride on the baby Nova's, take "the wave" bus a.k.a route 25, a.k.a the Larkspur Ferry Shuttle. You can see them at Ross (Sir Francis Drake) during the evening.


I was at San Rafael Transit Center back in March and found a Novabus 82NV, unit 1259 sitting there. Took some pics, but didn't get a ride on it.

attachicon.gifIMG_0310.JPG

attachicon.gifIMG_0311.JPG

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I hear almost all of them are parked at Santa Rosa, along with 10 1991 TMC RTS's. I got 1259 a ton of times this year and last year.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ex-Golden Gate Transit #1108 operating as a shuttle during the 2006 Seattle Boat Show.

14742002763_980bd64fd9_b.jpg

Great pictures! Do you know if this bus still exists? I heard that the 1989 TMC RTS's did not get repowered unlike the 1991 TMC RTS's.

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  • 1 year later...

I'm very, very sorry for the major bump, but does the 2010 MCI D4500CT's 901-923 have automatic stop announcements? As I've seen a video of a ride in these 45-foot coaches from 2012, I heard automated stop announcements, but I can't find the video of the ride in these 5-year-old MCI's.

Ah don't be sorry. I've been waiting for someone to post on this page again. Anyway, 901-923 do have the announcements. It really depends on when the video was filmed (since the announcements were added last year) and if the annoucements were working or not. I have an audio recording of a 1200 with the announcements going.

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Is Golden Gate still running their Nova RTS? I am planning a trip to SF next May, hopefully, i can see and ride them.

They sure are. I have been riding them to school every other day. Right now only 1253, 1257, 1258, 1260, 1261 and 1263 are running. All of the baby RTS's (505-508) are still running as well. At Marin Transit Ex-GGT 1251 and 1262 are still running. The GGT ones mostly run on local routes like the 22, 17 and 36. However every once in a while one can pop up in SF.

They are going to be retiring fairly soon (except for 505-508 and 1261), so I'm not sure if they will still be running by May 2016.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Sorry for the double post, but here it is.

Bad news:

1. Golden Gate Transit fans will be sad to see Route 10 being killed by unreliability.

2. Route 45/45K will also die, being replaced by Routes 35, 245, and 257.

Good news:

1. A new Route 30 will be joining the Golden Gate Transit family! Its south end of the line is downtown San Rafael.

2. Route 29 will be welcomed to the Marin Transit family!

3. Route 2 will now operate daily and may no longer be a Commute Route.

Medium news:

1. The new 30 and the old 70 each have a 60 minute frequency, so it's a 50-50 chance of catching either bus route.

2. Bye bye, Route 259; hello Route 245!

3. Route 70 will now run via Highway 101 all service.

Confusing news:

As Route 19 will be added too to operate only on weekends and holidays, what type of route is it because of this? Basic? Recreational? I don't know, because there is no routes that can only operate on weekends and holidays. :/

Edited by thegoodguy3221
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  • 1 month later...

They sure are. I have been riding them to school every other day. Right now only 1253, 1257, 1258, 1260, 1261 and 1263 are running. All of the baby RTS's (505-508) are still running as well. At Marin Transit Ex-GGT 1251 and 1262 are still running. The GGT ones mostly run on local routes like the 22, 17 and 36. However every once in a while one can pop up in SF.

They are going to be retiring fairly soon (except for 505-508 and 1261), so I'm not sure if they will still be running by May 2016.

I have to bring back my question from a couple months ago since my trip to SF is a month away. I am wondering if Marin Transit and GGT are still running the Novas? If so, where would the best places to spot them and the times they run? Are they used all day or only just during rush hours? Which transit center would be best to spot them?

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/2/2016 at 8:26 AM, Chris H said:

I have to bring back my question from a couple months ago since my trip to SF is a month away. I am wondering if Marin Transit and GGT are still running the Novas? If so, where would the best places to spot them and the times they run? Are they used all day or only just during rush hours? Which transit center would be best to spot them?

Yes they are still running those same units, however I hear they won't be running much after June. San Rafael Transit Center is the best place to spot one. They only run during the week. They usually run all day depending on the route. Right now there is usually one RTS that runs on the 10 and leaves the SF Transbay Terminal at about 4:20PM. I caught it recently.

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