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transit boy

By transit boy
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_jrst

_jrst

Posted
Posted
On 8/16/2017 at 2:24 PM, Metro6774 said:

Yesterday, somehow I spotted 9569C on the 545. I've never seen a Community Transit owned bus on a Metro route.  Anyone know why 9569C could have possibly been on the 545? My guess is a shortage of buses, maybe not even enough East Base Metro coaches to fill in the run?

 

On 8/16/2017 at 2:44 PM, 118 Vashon via EXPRESS said:

I read somewhere (possibly in the Northwest Bus Fans group on Facebook) that some of the CT maintained ST artics were transferred to King County Metro (some new ST double deckers have gone into service recently).  I'm guessing the 'C' hasn't been changed to a 'K' yet.

Correct, the CT 9500s are being migrated to KCM as the 91700 order of double deckers comes in. A Metro employee who manages coach assignments has been posting to the Facebook group as they come in but it's also pretty easy to tell by looking at OneBusAway since CT doesn't send any data to them - looking at the vehicle status for 40_9569 it's been updated today meaning it's gone into service for Metro.

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rickycourtney

rickycourtney

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On 8/24/2017 at 10:42 PM, SounderBruce said:

Sound Transit has not yet hired the chief experience officer, but is merely in the process of hiring one. Notably, that person will report directly to CEO Rogoff, so hopefully issues can float to the top much faster.

Thanks for pointing that out. That nuance was lost on me on what was a busy news day.

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Metro6774

Metro6774

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Posted

Today as I was coming up SR-522 near Bothell, I saw something that I've never seen before. One of the Sound Transit D60LFR's was numbered 9818K. That's pretty strange if 9817K is the newest, an XD60. How did 9818 get numbered? Could this have been formerly a mid-9500 from Community Transit, now a KC Metro owned bus? 

Did 9576 and 9587 get renumbered, as well as 9569 for KC Metro? I remember that at least 3 or 4 of CT's D60LFR's were transferred over to KC Metro.

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coordinator47

coordinator47

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Posted
On 8/25/2017 at 7:03 PM, _jrst said:

 

Correct, the CT 9500s are being migrated to KCM as the 91700 order of double deckers comes in. A Metro employee who manages coach assignments has been posting to the Facebook group as they come in but it's also pretty easy to tell by looking at OneBusAway since CT doesn't send any data to them - looking at the vehicle status for 40_9569 it's been updated today meaning it's gone into service for Metro.

Metro expects to receive 9569 -9583, 9587 - 9596, and 51214 -51218.  9571 has been received.  9587 is at East Base waiting to go into service, and 51214 (now numbered 9818) is in service.

7 minutes ago, Metro6774 said:

Today as I was coming up SR-522 near Bothell, I saw something that I've never seen before. One of the Sound Transit D60LFR's was numbered 9818K. That's pretty strange if 9817K is the newest, an XD60. How did 9818 get numbered? Could this have been formerly a mid-9500 from Community Transit, now a KC Metro owned bus? 

Did 9576 and 9587 get renumbered, as well as 9569 for KC Metro? I remember that at least 3 or 4 of CT's D60LFR's were transferred over to KC Metro.

51214 was renumbered 9818 because Metro doesn't use five-digit numbers.  The 9500s are not changing numbers.

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busdude.com

busdude.com

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On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 8:07 PM, rickycourtney said:

• Sound Transit is buying more Sounder equipment, 3 passenger cars and a locomotive. The locomotive will be a used unit that will be rebuilt to the Tier 3 standard like the rest of the fleet. An additional spare locomotive is needed now that Amtrak will be using a new locomotive for the Cascades (the Siemens Charger) that is apparently incompatible with the Sounder equipment. Two of the additional passenger cars will be used to extend all North Line trains to 3-cars and one will be a spare. No word if they’ll be cab cars or trailer cars.

I wouldn't say incompatible. The Chargers are owned by WSDOT, and Sound Transit has a contract with Amtrak, not WSDOT for spare motive power. Plus WSDOT only has enough chargers for their trains, and no extra for Sound Transit. When the chargers come online, the only Amtrak trains using Amtrak power will be the long distance trains, so Amtrak will most likely reduce the amount of motive power stationed at Seattle which may not leave any extra for Sound Transit. I wonder what kind of locomotive they will be getting.

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rickycourtney

rickycourtney

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9 hours ago, busdude.com said:

I wouldn't say incompatible. The Chargers are owned by WSDOT, and Sound Transit has a contract with Amtrak, not WSDOT for spare motive power. Plus WSDOT only has enough chargers for their trains, and no extra for Sound Transit. When the chargers come online, the only Amtrak trains using Amtrak power will be the long distance trains, so Amtrak will most likely reduce the amount of motive power stationed at Seattle which may not leave any extra for Sound Transit. I wonder what kind of locomotive they will be getting.

A Sound Transit staff member was the one who used the term "incompatible" ... I'm skeptical too. I think your explanation is right on the nose. 

This is just a willd guess, but it's entirely possible that Sound Transit may end up buying one of the Amtrak-owned F59PHI units currently used on the Cascades. Once the Chargers go online, the F59PHI units will return to Amtrak's general fleet where they will be oddballs (not that Amtrak's fleet doesn't have a lot of oddball locomotives already).

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busdude.com

busdude.com

Posted
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4 hours ago, rickycourtney said:

A Sound Transit staff member was the one who used the term "incompatible" ... I'm skeptical too. I think your explanation is right on the nose. 

This is just a willd guess, but it's entirely possible that Sound Transit may end up buying one of the Amtrak-owned F59PHI units currently used on the Cascades. Once the Chargers go online, the F59PHI units will return to Amtrak's general fleet where they will be oddballs (not that Amtrak's fleet doesn't have a lot of oddball locomotives already).

Quite possibly. Amtrak California already uses F59s so its possible "ours" could be reassigned down there. I'm thinking however the F59s assigned to the cascades service may get used to replace the cabbages which are even older. That is if they don't get sold to Sound Transit. 

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rickycourtney

rickycourtney

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2 hours ago, busdude.com said:

Quite possibly. Amtrak California already uses F59s so its possible "ours" could be reassigned down there. I'm thinking however the F59s assigned to the cascades service may get used to replace the cabbages which are even older. That is if they don't get sold to Sound Transit. 

I've heard that rumor... but I really don't see Amtrak using the F59PHI units instead of the cabbages.

The cabbages are "old" when you consider the original build dates but when they were "un-powered" they were also somewhat refurbished. Without an engine to maintain and no passengers being on board, the cabbages could go for a lot longer.

But we're getting off topic...

The other possible source for used locomotives would be GO Transit and Metrolink. GO Transit has sold several of the much-older F59PH units to North Carolina... but between the different HEP voltage and the age of the units... it's been a lot of work getting them ready for service. Metrolink is also getting new F125 locomotives... which likely means they are looking to sell their older F59PH units.

Either way, the huge downside is that the F59PH adds another locomotive type to the fleet, that although similar, would still need different parts.

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busdude.com

busdude.com

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19 minutes ago, rickycourtney said:

I've heard that rumor... but I really don't see Amtrak using the F59PHI units instead of the cabbages.

The cabbages are "old" when you consider the original build dates but when they were "un-powered" they were also somewhat refurbished. Without an engine to maintain and no passengers being on board, the cabbages could go for a lot longer.

But we're getting off topic...

The other possible source for used locomotives would be GO Transit and Metrolink. GO Transit has sold several of the much-older F59PH units to North Carolina... but between the different HEP voltage and the age of the units... it's been a lot of work getting them ready for service. Metrolink is also getting new F125 locomotives... which likely means they are looking to sell their older F59PH units.

Either way, the huge downside is that the F59PH adds another locomotive type to the fleet, that although similar, would still need different parts.

A rebuild would probably bring everything except the car body up to PHI standards, as the "guts" are more or less the same, especially after upgrading to EPA tier III standards like the rest of the units. Engine/Traction motor rebuild, swap the HEP package out for the same Cat or Cummins the PHI's have, install a hotstart the same as the PHI's. I had forgotten about the GO and Metrolink PH's that are floating around.

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rickycourtney

rickycourtney

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4 hours ago, Atomic Taco said:

The 2018 draft SIP is here.  Check page 242 for all your fleet changes.

2017-2018 will see the retirement of 9200, the original (2004) DE60LFs, and the 2005 Gilligs.

 

2018 will also see the purchase of 25 60-foot coaches... after that Sound Transit doesn't plan to buy another coach until 2021.

It's strange to see Sound Transit go three years between coach purchases.

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roamer

roamer

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9 hours ago, anonymous guy said:

Apologies if this has been brought up before: are any other ST coaches using 560's destination sign scheme? I have seen route 560 coaches signed on as "560E" and "560W" based on the direction of travel for the coach. 

My hunch for something like that being done is perhaps confusion at bus stops that might be used where the route uses the same zone in both directions.  For instance (and I'm not sure as I no longer am familiar with bus zones) is the SeaTac airport bay.  Does the 560 use the same bay going in both directions?  If so, passengers would get confused and they probably had a lot of people getting on the bus in the wrong direction than they intended to go.  

For a variety of reasons, many don't or can't read the actual written signage and rely only on the number they visually observe on the bus signage display. 

I remember years ago when the 240 stopped at the one and only zone inside the Southcenter Mall (there was actually one bus stop in front of one of the entrances to the mall that all routes used) and people would get on the bus thinking it was going to Burien when they wanted to go to Bellevue or vice versa  ...and that was even when signage was simple and not electronic so you'd think that they'd be able to recognize what the signage spelled out but they still got on going in the wrong direction they intended to go.  Or perhaps "Bellevue" and "Burien" at first glance looked the same to them as the both started with "B" ...?   To help with that problem, they had us use a dash sign that read "Seatac Airport but many of us would at times forget to take the dash sign down and so it only compounded the problem, lol.  

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Atomic Taco

Atomic Taco

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11 minutes ago, busdude.com said:

Yes there is only one stop shared by the 560 and 574. Where does the 124 stop at on the airport drive?

560 and 574 stop at Bay 2 and 124 stops at Bay 1.

560's stop at 176th serves the route in both directions.  I can attest to the confusion. 

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Trans

Trans

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, buizelbus said:

Ah. Sound Transits website doesn't say where I could buy one, just at a "walk in centre". Thanks a lot.

Maybe call orca card at 888-988-6722

17 hours ago, buizelbus said:

Where do I buy an youth ORCA card? I'm going to Seattle and have found out stations only have adult cards, but still have no idea where to get a youth card. Where do I get one?

Or go to this website: http://kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/fares-orca/orca-cards/youth.aspx

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