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On 1/11/2017 at 11:28 AM, Chris H said:

I will be heading to Houston next month and would like to know the best places to spot the NABIs and Novas.

Does the TMC transit center have the NABI, Nova 40ft and artics show up there all day long?

Yes, you can try there (especially for the artics) and you can also try the Downtown Transit Center.

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1 hour ago, Border City Transit said:

Park yourself at Travis & St Joseph and you won't be sorry!

Great chance to see Nova 'tics on Route 85 (...at least the blocks from Fallbrook) and a smattering of other buses turning out from Downtown TC.

With so many Novas and Orions, you'll wonder which side of the border you're on!

 

The 85 is not the only route that runs artics.  The TMC Transit Center, just like the Downtown TC, is perfect for getting artics on routes such as the 2 and the 4 and maybe even the 68.  Both locations are perfect - regardless of where you stand - for various buses to one's liking and also if you want to get some METRORail action in.

I've been to both locations when I had to chance to take some pics and they won't disappoint.  I can't do that now due to scheduling issues.

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If the ridership is high enough on the 68, METRO will put the artics on that route.  The buses need to go where the ridership levels are.

The 25 is also another route where you'll see artics run on.

Hiram Clarke no longer have any artics but they do have their own fair share of the "new 40' NovaBus LFS" pie.

Only Fallbrook and West have artics.

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1 hour ago, Quartzquiz said:

I couldn't take a picture of it because I was driving, but Houston METRO 2016 Nova Low Floor artic 1587 was here in Buffalo, NY for some reason. Saw it being driven in front of the airport today.

The NovaBus plant in in Plattsburgh, New York, so it was probably stopping off in Buffalo on its way to Houston.

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Fleet numbers for the 100 new 4th Gen NovaBus models:

  • LFS=>1915-1994.  All are here and almost all are in revenue service.
  • LFSA=>1580-1599.  Delivery is ongoing.  Several are already here but hasn't been placed into revenue service yet.  I was told that these buses are to go on some commuter routes.  Currently awaiting photos of the new buses prior to going into service.
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On 1/21/2017 at 3:33 AM, HoustonMETROFan said:

Fleet numbers for the 100 new 4th Gen NovaBus models:

 

  • LFSA=>1580-1599.  Delivery is ongoing.  Several are already here but hasn't been placed into revenue service yet.  I was told that these buses are to go on some commuter routes.  Currently awaiting photos of the new buses prior to going into service.

Would some have suburban seating then?

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  • 1 month later...

Beautiful units! Thanks!

Of course, a few questions:

1. At which BOFs are the 40-foot Novas ending up? They seem very Kashmere for some reason...

2. Is METRO somehow unhappy with Nova? They jumped right back to New Flyer before the Nova order was even complete... Hard to imagine that the contract with Nova didn't include any options...

3. Do any of the original Nova artics have suburban seating? I was surprised to see that the new ones do. Which longer-distances routes will use these artics?

And maaaan, you're not kidding about the New Flyer D40LFs. They will be sorely missed. They are -so- Houston!

 

 

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On 3/16/2017 at 2:01 PM, Border City Transit said:

Beautiful units! Thanks!

Of course, a few questions:

1. At which BOFs are the 40-foot Novas ending up? They seem very Kashmere for some reason...

2. Is METRO somehow unhappy with Nova? They jumped right back to New Flyer before the Nova order was even complete... Hard to imagine that the contract with Nova didn't include any options...

3. Do any of the original Nova artics have suburban seating? I was surprised to see that the new ones do. Which longer-distances routes will use these artics?

And maaaan, you're not kidding about the New Flyer D40LFs. They will be sorely missed. They are -so- Houston!

 

 

Answers to your question:

  1. The 40' LFS buses are already assigned to the following garages (Northwest, Polk, Hiram Clarke).  Don't know what you mean by that but - ok.
  2. Doesn't work that way.  In order for someone to win a contract order from any transit agency to build buses for them, their bid price must be lower than the others AND they must meet certain (if not all) stringent specs that METRO has for manufacturers.  When NFI didn't have a stainless steel chassis-type Xcelsior bus as METRO specified, that was when NABI came to Houston.  Now that NFI has exactly what METRO wants, they were able to have a lover bid this time around over NovaBus.
  3. No.  Buses 1510-1579 have transit seating.  Not too concerned about that - even though all 20 of them are at Fallbrook.  They'll put them where needed.

Anyway (to all), start at page 61 and stop at page 72 to look at the results of the Proterra electric bus demonstration.  Enjoy!

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14 hours ago, HoustonMETROFan said:

Anyway (to all), start at page 61 and stop at page 72 to look at the results of the Proterra electric bus demonstration.  Enjoy!

Seems like electric buses in Houston is a dead end.  It didn't lead to anything here in San Antonio.  As for the D40LF's, about when do you think the last of them will be phased out?  I want to plan a trip soon to catch them before they're gone for good.

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18 hours ago, transit addict 327 said:

Seems like electric buses in Houston is a dead end.  It didn't lead to anything here in San Antonio.  As for the D40LF's, about when do you think the last of them will be phased out?  I want to plan a trip soon to catch them before they're gone for good.

According to one of those last group of slide pages, it did say somewhere that they'll deal with other manufacturers and see how their electric buses hold up here before making any final decisions as to whether or not to even pursue having electric buses as a part of the fleet.

Speaking of y'alls Proterras, what will happen to them?

You have until at least next year (if not longer) to try and catch as many D40LFs as you can before the first of the XD40s arrive.  As far as when the last of them will be phased out, don't know BUT they may keep a few or so for training purposes.

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6 hours ago, HoustonMETROFan said:

Speaking of y'alls Proterras, what will happen to them?

So far they have been sitting in the yard collecting dust for several months now.  I did see one of them do a school run 2 weeks ago, but it was only in active service for an hour tops.  They used to run on the downtown circulator routes before the June 2016 service changes eliminated one of the routes it ran on.  As for the future of the buses, I don't have the slightest clue.

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/22/2017 at 0:27 PM, HoustonMETROFan said:

Answers to your question:

  1. The 40' LFS buses are already assigned to the following garages (Northwest, Polk, Hiram Clarke).  Don't know what you mean by that but - ok.
  2. Doesn't work that way.  In order for someone to win a contract order from any transit agency to build buses for them, their bid price must be lower than the others AND they must meet certain (if not all) stringent specs that METRO has for manufacturers.  When NFI didn't have a stainless steel chassis-type Xcelsior bus as METRO specified, that was when NABI came to Houston.  Now that NFI has exactly what METRO wants, they were able to have a lover bid this time around over NovaBus.
  3. No.  Buses 1510-1579 have transit seating.  Not too concerned about that - even though all 20 of them are at Fallbrook.  They'll put them where needed.

Anyway (to all), start at page 61 and stop at page 72 to look at the results of the Proterra electric bus demonstration.  Enjoy!

1. Ha. How about that. I couldn't have been more wrong -- between the 40-footers and artics, Novas are everywhere -except- Kashmere. Kind of surprised any went to Northwest...

2. Right. In many instances, a base contract includes options. So, with the proper funding, a transit operator could buy more from an existing vendor without going back out to bid. I've seen options last for up to 5 years from the initial RFP. I don't know if the Nova contract included options; if it did, that's why I'm curious why METRO went back to New Flyer.

3. Any chance that Fallbrook's suburban artics would end up on Park & Ride routes? I'm thinking back to the old suburban Neoplan artics... which were frequent collaborators on 202 Kuykendahl and 204 Spring. Or, with a robust fleet of MCI coaches, has the expectation been set that you'll never see a "transit-ish" vehicle on a P&R route?

Can't help but notice the Nova tics' wink at the Neoplans. What, those were numbered 1450-1503 or so? Novas picked up at 1510! Nice touch, METRO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 4/29/2017 at 6:06 PM, Border City Transit said:

1. Ha. How about that. I couldn't have been more wrong -- between the 40-footers and artics, Novas are everywhere -except- Kashmere. Kind of surprised any went to Northwest...

2. Right. In many instances, a base contract includes options. So, with the proper funding, a transit operator could buy more from an existing vendor without going back out to bid. I've seen options last for up to 5 years from the initial RFP. I don't know if the Nova contract included options; if it did, that's why I'm curious why METRO went back to New Flyer.

3. Any chance that Fallbrook's suburban artics would end up on Park & Ride routes? I'm thinking back to the old suburban Neoplan artics... which were frequent collaborators on 202 Kuykendahl and 204 Spring. Or, with a robust fleet of MCI coaches, has the expectation been set that you'll never see a "transit-ish" vehicle on a P&R route?

Can't help but notice the Nova tics' wink at the Neoplans. What, those were numbered 1450-1503 or so? Novas picked up at 1510! Nice touch, METRO!

  1. Not too concerned about where the buses are assigned to.  They go where METRO puts them - either so the BOFs can have more buses than needed or to replace the oldest buses that each garage has.
  2. The Nova contract did not include any options.  Now that NFI is able to build a bus METRO wants, they won out because their bid price was lower than NovaBus.
  3. Again, not too concerned about where the buses go.  They'll go where they are needed.
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