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Chris H

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St. Louis Metro's fleet of 360 buses consists mainly of Gillig Phantoms ranging from years 1992-2004 and sizes of 30ft, 35ft, and 40ft, though there are currently 26 35ft Gillig Low Floors from 2008.

Metro intended to buy more new buses back in 2009, but budget and funding constraints made them put off their purchases. Now that proposition A passed, this means restored service and an emphasis on modernizing the fleet.

21 new Gillig Low Floors are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2011, including 7 40ft buses and 14 35ft. Approximately next September, 29 more 40ft Gillig buses will arrive. Metro has an agreement with Gillig up until 2013.

2008 Gillig LF during a layover at the CWE transit center.

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Gillig Phantoms, the backbone of Metro's fleet.

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Video of St. Louis area buses and light rail:

http://www.youtube.com/user/chnchlla88#p/u/12/PAXGsUuQY5w

Note: This video has Neoplan AN440 CNGs, Metro retired these back in March 30, 2009 when they drastically reduced service.

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  • 1 month later...

During the 1990s Bi-State/Metro's fleet was majority the Flxible Metro along with Neoplans, and GMDD New Looks. The Flxibles were retired in 2003. Many of them were sold for scrap or to other transit agencies such as WIU Go West and Rock Island Metro. Though there is one still left in St. Louis, a 1991 Flxible Metro B is now used by the St Louis Sheriff.

Here is a pic I took of the Flx at last years St. Patricks Day parade.

post-4266-1296248978_thumb.jpg

 

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During the 1990s Bi-State/Metro's fleet was majority the Flxible Metro along with Neoplans, and GMDD New Looks. The Flxibles were retired in 2003. Many of them were sold for scrap or to other transit agencies such as WIU Go West and Rock Island Metro. Though there is one still left in St. Louis, a 1991 Flxible Metro B is now used by the St Louis Sheriff.

Here is a pic I took of the Flx at last years St. Patricks Day parade.

Champaign Urbana had 6 ex 1990 metros they were eventually sent to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

River Valley Metro in Kankakee Il has 10 metros from St. Louis I do believe they are still in operation used for a college route.

One of the best buses I ever drove love the way they leaned.

James Roach

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On April 1st MODOT, Forest Park Forever, and Metro are launching a Forest Park Trolley system to have alleviate traffic problems in the park . This is much like the Downtown trolleys launched last Summer with 20 minute headways and loops around the respective areas. The trolleys will again be Gillig Phantom 30' wrapped in vinyl to replicate a trolley, but in different colors and themes.

In the past Metro ran Shuttle Bugs using 1993 Orion IIs painted to look like a lady bug.

http://www.fox2now.com/videobeta/?watchId=...62-c08d2640f8f4

IMG_4231-1024x768.jpg

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  • 3 months later...
St. Louis Metro's fleet of 360 buses consists mainly of Gillig Phantoms ranging from years 1992-2004 and sizes of 30ft, 35ft, and 40ft, though there are currently 26 35ft Gillig Low Floors from 2008.

Metro intended to buy more new buses back in 2009, but budget and funding constraints made them put off their purchases. Now that proposition A passed, this means restored service and an emphasis on modernizing the fleet.

21 new Gillig Low Floors are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2011, including 7 40ft buses and 14 35ft. Approximately next September, 29 more 40ft Gillig buses will arrive. Metro has an agreement with Gillig up until 2013.

2008 Gillig LF during a layover at the CWE transit center.

DSC09571-1.jpg

Gillig Phantoms, the backbone of Metro's fleet.

DSC09574-1.jpg

DSC01482.jpg

DSC09850.jpg

Hi! From my July 4th weekend trip, I've made the following observations:

1. It seems that the 40ft. Phantoms forms the majority of the MetroBus fleet, with the 2000 buses numbered in the 2000 series and the 2001-02 buses numbered in the 3100-3200 series.

2. Their next numerous type is the 30ft. Phantoms, numbered in the 2100 and 2300 series, with the former group being of 2000 vintage and the latter group probably a few years newer.

3. The 35ft. Phantom seems to be a rarity, as I was only able to picture one of them in the 9500 series at the Illinois side of their territory.

4. The 40ft. Low Floor's are nowhere to be seen. However, I've spotted a few of the 2011 35ft.'s, numbered in the 3800 series. They are different from similar 2008 buses in the 3500 series by having a black roof line all the way to the rear of the bus. The 3500's have white roof line from the destination sign and back.

5. The Illinois side of their operation uses exclusively Phantoms.

Now I'd like to raise a few questions on the current and future MetroBus fleet:

1. What are the fleet numbers of the 40ft. Low Floor's?

2. Has the 7 40ft. Low Floor's entered service yet, and where can they be spotted?

3. When will the other 29 40ft. Low Floor's be delivered?

4. What will the 50 Low Floor's (36x 40ft. and 14x 35ft.) replace? Probably some 2000 series Phantoms?

5. Where is the best route to spot a 35ft. Phantom?

6. What routes do the 35ft. Low Floor's serve? (I've pictured them on routes 2, 35 and 98)

7. What routes does the 30ft. Phantoms serve besides the Forrest Park and Downtown Trolley? (I've seen them on all Ballas TC routes save the 98. i.e. routes 48, 49, 58, 158 and 258)

8. What are the approximate fleet numbers of the Phantoms besides the group of buses I've mentioned?

Many thanks for helping me to learn more of the MetroBus operations!

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  • 1 year later...

http://www.metro-magazine.com/news/story/2012/12/apta-ridership-up-7-consecutive-quarters.aspx

"Nationally, bus ridership rose by 1.8% from January through September of 2012, with 28 out of 37 large bus systemsystems reporting increases. Some of the highest bus ridership increases in large cities were reported in: Saint Louis (8.6%); Arlington Heights, Ill. (5.3%); Newark, N.J. (5.2%); and Oakland, Calif. (5.0%)."

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  • 6 months later...

I'm in St Louis right visiting my father. This city has by far the ugliest fleet I've ever seen. It's hard seeing all these Gillig when as a so cal native, I'm so used to fancy NF Xcelsior/Restyled and NABI BRT/Restyled styling. Hell, even the new Gilligs in So Cal at least have their BRT styling. Argh.

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I'm in St Louis right visiting my father. This city has by far the ugliest fleet I've ever seen. It's hard seeing all these Gillig when as a so cal native, I'm so used to fancy NF Xcelsior/Restyled and NABI BRT/Restyled styling. Hell, even the new Gilligs in So Cal at least have their BRT styling. Argh.

Thanks for the report. I'm with you, Gilligs are the least exciting to look at. I almost prefer the original look to the BRT--which I think is overdone and I don't like how it adds even more weight.

Unfortunately, here in the middle of the country and in small cities, Gilligs are often all we see.

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  • 5 months later...

Yep D60LF ex Ottawa OC Transpo. They have a gallery showing one of the units still in OC Transpo livery.

Where is the gallery?

That means both Indianapolis and St Louis will be running those! Kind of interesting that those two cities are only 250 miles apart on I-70.

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  • 3 months later...

Hi! I've just made a July 4th weekend trip to St. Louis. As I sorted through the transit pictures I took during that trip and 3 years ago, I'm able to paint the operational picture at this agency after consulting various online resources, including the unexpectedly useful bus route turning directions available at http://www.metrostlouis.org/PlanYourTrip/MetroBusPDFSchedules.aspx:

  • The bus side of St Louis Metro contains 3 main garages: DeBaliviere in the Forest Park area, Brentwood in the suburb of the same name and Illinois in East St. Louis.
  • DeBaliviere garage is responsible for routes in the central and northern parts of its Missouri operating area. The routes operated by it are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 16, 18, 27, 33, 34, 35, 36, 36X, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 61, 64, 70, 74, 75, 90, 91, 94, 95, 97 and 174X.
  • Brentwood operates routes in the southern and western portions of its Missouri territory. The routes running under its roof are: 8, 10, 11(?), 17, 21, 30, 32, 40, 40X, 46, 48, 49, 56, 57, 57X, 58, 58X, 59, 66, 73, 80, 98, 99, 110, 158, 210, 258. and 410X. (Note: I was unable to obtain the turning directions of route 11, if the wikipedia entry on the route being interlined with route 21 is true, then it is a Brentwood route. Similar interlining were mentioned another pair of Brentwood routes: routes 32 and 57 and personally observed on routes 17 and 46, also Brentwood routes)
  • The 2100 and 2300 series of 30ft. Phantoms are largely removed from revenue passenger service, replaced by the 3800 and 6700 series of Gillig LF's. They were mostly Brentwood or Illinois buses (Except a few 2100's operating on the seasonal Forest Park Trolley back in 2011)..
  • The 2000 series of Phantoms (supplemented by a few 3100's?)are, however still going strong at the Brentwood garage, with some still equipped with frontal dot-matrix destination signs. Meanwhile, Illinois seems to operate some 3100's and low 3200's series of Phantoms. And DeBaliviere operates the remaining 3100's and 3200's, as well as some 3400's (2004 buses). By the way, the highest-numbered 3200 series bus I've spotted in both trip is 3273.
  • SCCTD also operates some 1st generation 40ft. Gillig LF's in the 2070 series, as I've spotted a few of them on Redbird Express duties. I wonder if they are secondhand buses.
  • I believe buses 3221 to 3223 (2002 Gillig LF 40ft.) from the CPTDB Wiki are Illinois buses, as I've spotted 3222 at the Belleville Metrolink station.
  • There are four main groups of Gillig LF's. The 3500's and 3600's are essentially identical 35ft. buses of 2008 vintage, except that the 3500's are Missouri buses (with DeBaliviere garage) and re believed to be numbered 3501 to 3526, while the 3600's are Illinois units. They are the only buses of their kind with white roof lines. I spotted a 3600 series bus in downtown St Louis on Redbird Express (The St. Louis Cardinals baseball shuttle run by the Illinois side of Metro, formally known as St. Clair County Transit District/SCCTD). I was unable to picture it due to the angle it was parked, but may try to catch one in a eventual third trip further down the road.
  • The next series of Gillig LF's is the 3800's. The 35ft. examples are Missouri (Brentwood garage) buses, while the 40ft. examples are either Brentwood (3830's and up) or Illinois (3820's) buses.
  • The series that follow is the 6600's. The low 6600's are 35ft. buses with DeBaliviere garage, with the upper 6610's now serving on the Forest Park Trolley, The upper 6600's are 40ft. buses with either DeBaliviere or Illinois garage.
  • Apparently, the newest buses are the 6700's featuring frameless windows. The 35ft. examples are Brentwood buses that probably wiped out the last 30ft. Phantoms from passenger service, with the 6740's now serving on the Downtown Trolley Line. The 40ft. 6750's are Illinois buses.
  • The ex-OC Transpo D60LF's are in the 2200 series. However, I was unable to picture any of these in service.

Hope that you'll like my analysis on Metro St Louis operations. Pictures to follow!

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Hi! I've just made a July 4th weekend trip to St. Louis. As I sorted through the transit pictures I took during that trip and 3 years ago, I'm able to paint the operational picture at this agency after consulting various online resources, including the unexpectedly useful bus route turning directions available at http://www.metrostlouis.org/PlanYourTrip/MetroBusPDFSchedules.aspx:

  • The bus side of St Louis Metro contains 3 main garages: DeBaliviere in the Forest Park area, Brentwood in the suburb of the same name and Illinois in East St. Louis.
  • DeBaliviere garage is responsible for routes in the central and northern parts of its Missouri operating area. The routes operated by it are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 16, 18, 27, 33, 34, 35, 36, 36X, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 61, 64, 70, 74, 75, 90, 91, 94, 95, 97 and 174X.
  • Brentwood operates routes in the southern and western portions of its Missouri territory. The routes running under its roof are: 8, 10, 11(?), 17, 21, 30, 32, 40, 40X, 46, 48, 49, 56, 57, 57X, 58, 58X, 59, 66, 73, 80, 98, 99, 110, 158, 210, 258. and 410X. (Note: I was unable to obtain the turning directions of route 11, if the wikipedia entry on the route being interlined with route 21 is true, then it is a Brentwood route. Similar interlining were mentioned another pair of Brentwood routes: routes 32 and 57 and personally observed on routes 17 and 46, also Brentwood routes)
  • The 2100 and 2300 series of 30ft. Phantoms are largely removed from revenue passenger service, replaced by the 3800 and 6700 series of Gillig LF's. They were mostly Brentwood or Illinois buses (Except a few 2100's operating on the seasonal Forest Park Trolley back in 2011)..
  • The 2000 series of Phantoms (supplemented by a few 3100's?)are, however still going strong at the Brentwood garage, with some still equipped with frontal dot-matrix destination signs. Meanwhile, Illinois seems to operate some 3100's and low 3200's series of Phantoms. And DeBaliviere operates the remaining 3100's and 3200's, as well as some 3400's (2004 buses). By the way, the highest-numbered 3200 series bus I've spotted in both trip is 3273.
  • SCCTD also operates some 1st generation 40ft. Gillig LF's in the 2070 series, as I've spotted a few of them on Redbird Express duties. I wonder if they are secondhand buses.
  • I believe buses 3221 to 3223 (2002 Gillig LF 40ft.) from the CPTDB Wiki are Illinois buses, as I've spotted 3222 at the Belleville Metrolink station.
  • There are four main groups of Gillig LF's. The 3500's and 3600's are essentially identical 35ft. buses of 2008 vintage, except that the 3500's are Missouri buses (with DeBaliviere garage) and re believed to be numbered 3501 to 3526, while the 3600's are Illinois units. They are the only buses of their kind with white roof lines. I spotted a 3600 series bus in downtown St Louis on Redbird Express (The St. Louis Cardinals baseball shuttle run by the Illinois side of Metro, formally known as St. Clair County Transit District/SCCTD). I was unable to picture it due to the angle it was parked, but may try to catch one in a eventual third trip further down the road.
  • The next series of Gillig LF's is the 3800's. The 35ft. examples are Missouri (Brentwood garage) buses, while the 40ft. examples are either Brentwood (3830's and up) or Illinois (3820's) buses.
  • The series that follow is the 6600's. The low 6600's are 35ft. buses with DeBaliviere garage, with the upper 6610's now serving on the Forest Park Trolley, The upper 6600's are 40ft. buses with either DeBaliviere or Illinois garage.
  • Apparently, the newest buses are the 6700's featuring frameless windows. The 35ft. examples are Brentwood buses that probably wiped out the last 30ft. Phantoms from passenger service, with the 6740's now serving on the Downtown Trolley Line. The 40ft. 6750's are Illinois buses.
  • The ex-OC Transpo D60LF's are in the 2200 series. However, I was unable to picture any of these in service.

Hope that you'll like my analysis on Metro St Louis operations. Pictures to follow!

I may be heading to St Louis on Labor Day, so I can't wait to see these buses in action. Thanks for the informative "insider" post.

Also, judging by the video link earlier in this thread, I'm guessing that Brentwood still has a CNG fueling station, since that appears to be where the Neoplan CNGs were based out of. I'm also guessing that most, if not all, of the St Louis Gilligs have a Voith transmission, which would probably make that system almost as dull at Pittsburgh's (save for their Metrorail system).

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I may be heading to St Louis on Labor Day, so I can't wait to see these buses in action. Thanks for the informative "insider" post.

Also, judging by the video link earlier in this thread, I'm guessing that Brentwood still has a CNG fueling station, since that appears to be where the Neoplan CNGs were based out of. I'm also guessing that most, if not all, of the St Louis Gilligs have a Voith transmission, which would probably make that system almost as dull at Pittsburgh's (save for their Metrorail system).

The Neoplans were retired in 2009. Metro does not use CNG buses anymore and that CNG filling facility was removed from the garage. The fleet here consists mainly of Gilligs (Phantom and LFs) and a sprinkle of New Flyer D60LFs. The New Flyers are easily found on the 70 Grand Ave route since thats where they are currently being utilized. Metro currently has 9 of them, but by Fall all 15 should be in service.

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Here come the pictures! (All taken in July 2014 except otherwise stated):

Among the below-40ft. Gillig Phantoms, Missouri bus 2101 was a 30ft. Phantom new in 2000 wrapped for the seasonal Forest Park Trolley and was taken at the same park in July 2011, while non-wrapped Missouri sister bus 2117 was equipped with a dot-matrix destination sign and pictured near the Ballas MetroBus Center in Town and Country (Western St. Louis County).  Similar Illinois 2158 was similar to 2117 and was taken near the 5th & Missouri MetroLink station in East St. Louis, Illinois in July 2011.  2001 Missouri bus 2304 was equipped with a LED destination sign and was taken at the same location as 2117.  Finally, Illinois bus 9524 was a 35ft. unit pictured at Madison County Transit's Collinsville Station in Collinsville, Illinois in July 2011.

post-4589-0-41086800-1405185177_thumb.jpg MSTL-MO049- 2117.JPG MSTL-IL02-2158.JPG MSTL-MO048- 2304-1.JPG MSTL-IL16-9524-4.JPG 

40ft. Gillig Phantom's were the agency's mainstay during my visits (Although Gillig Low Floor's were ascendent in 2014).  2000 Missouri bus 2018 is a equipped with a dot-matrix destination sign and was taken at the Civic Center MetroBus Center at downtown St. Louis, while sister bus 2036 was equipped with a LED destination sign and pictured at the Maplewood MetroLink station.  2001 Illinois bus 3142 was pictured at the Emerson Park MetroLink Station in East St. Louis, while Missouri sister bus 3192 was pictured at the Rock Road MetroLink station in July 2011.  2002 Missouri bus 3273 was pictured at downtown St. Louis.  Finally, 2004 Missouri bus 3402 was pictured at the North Hanley MetroLink Station.

MSTL-MO073-2018-2.JPG MSTL-MO057-2036.JPG MSTL-IL09-3142-2.JPG MSTL-MO032- 3192-2.JPG MSTL-MO074-3273.JPG MSTL-MO044-3402.JPG 

Its Gillig Low Floor 35ft. fleet is exemplified by the following (All are Missouri buses):

2008  bus 3502 was among the first low-floor buses for the Missouri operation and was taken near the Delmar Loop MetroLink Station.  Unusually, it was equipped with a silver LED headsign.  Meanwhile 2011 bus 3807 was pictured near the Shrewsbury MetroLink station, and 2012 bus 6605 was pictured near the Central West End MetroLink station.  Sister bus bus 6617 was the then-current order on the Forest Park Trolley in 2014 and pictured near the Forest Park DeBaliviere MetroLink station.  For the 2013 buses with frameless windows, bus 6736 was pictured near the Shrewsbury MetroLink station, and bus 6743 was wrapped for the now-defunct Downtown Trolley service and pictured at the Civic Center MetroBus Center. It is the agency's final 35ft. bus for now.

MSTL-MO002-3502.JPG MSTL-MO056-3807-1.JPG MSTL-MO018-6605.JPG MSTL-MO003-6617-2.JPG MSTL-MO046-6736.JPG MSTL-MO099-6743-3.JPG

The final part of the agency's fleet consists of various Gillig Low Floor 40ft. buses. Illinois bus 2077 was new to County Connection (Central Contra Costa County, California)  and pictured at downtown St. Louis on Redbird Express duty, while 2002 Illinois bus 3222 was 1 of only 3 of its kind pictured at the Belleville MetroLink station.  2011 Missouri bus 3857 was from the same batch as 35ft. bus 3807.and was pictured near the Shrewsbury MetroLink station as well, and identical Illinois bus 3827 was pictured at downtown St. Louis on Redbird Express duty.  In the meantime, 2012 Missouri bus 6639 was pictured at the Civic Center MetroBus Center and identical Illinois bus 6654 was pictured at the Belleville MetroLink station.  Finally, bus 6752 is a 40ft. bus from the same batch assigned to Illinois. It was taken at Madison County Transit's Collinsville Station in Collinsville, Illinois.

MSTL-RBX-2077-3.JPG MSTL-IL01-3222-2.JPG MSTL-MO030-3857-1.JPG MSTL-RBX-3827-2.JPG MSTL-MO094-6639.JPG MSTL-IL15-6654-3.JPG MSTL-IL16-6752-1.JPG 

Hope that the above pictures will give a clearer operational picture on this agency and wish you enjoy the photos!

Here is my Metro St. Louis gallery: 

Metro St. Louis

Edited by Buzz2kb
To reformat my fleet narrative and update link to my online gallery.
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  • 2 months later...

Some of the 3500s have brighter destination signs and a few have been repainted with the black tops. Back in June bus 3503 was painted during Pride Fest. It will be like that for a year before it will be repainted back to original Metro colors. The 3800s, 6600s, and the 6700s all have the black tops.

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