DCAreaTransitFan Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 http://www.kmsstv.com/news/sportran-to-rol...t-new-cng-buses 'Compressed natural gas' is a common phrase heard around the Ark-La-Tex, and the transit system for Shreveport and Bossier City is finally getting in on the act. SporTran will soon roll out new environmentally-friendly buses in the Shreveport-Bossier area.SporTran will have five new CNG buses that will start making routes in March. These first five buses are the start of the transit system switching over their whole fleet from diesel-operated to CNG-operated vehicles.The new CNG-operated buses will cost about 40% to 50% less to fill up than the old diesel-run vehicles, which will allow SporTran to see a savings in their fuel account long term. Valerie McElhose, Assistant Manager of SporTran, told us that the change to compressed natural gas will also benefit the air because it puts out hardly any emissions. "We're just excited that we have the opportunity to use our local resources, which will decrease our dependency on foreign oil," McElhose said.A few changes around the SporTran property are also being made to upgrade the maintenance facility and construct their new CNG fueling station, which will allow them to quickly fuel the buses every night. "We also needed to do some renovations to our maintenance shop, so it was in compliance and capable of working on the CNG buses," explained McElhose.Trees along the SporTran routes also need to be trimmed down to allow for the taller buses before the new buses can start running the routes.SporTran hopes to have the first five buses on the road in March and expects nine more to be delivered in July. They will eventually replace the entire diesel-operated fleet with new CNG-run buses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Those buses are finally running. They are numbered 101-105. I saw one being towed the other day. They are still running all of the Orion V but they are bouncing them around from route to route. The Gilligs are the only buses that run the same routes everyday for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 RTS6v71 said: Those buses are finally running. They are numbered 101-105. I saw one being towed the other day. They are still running all of the Orion V but they are bouncing them around from route to route. The Gilligs are the only buses that run the same routes everyday for the most part. Here are the pictures of the three buses (102, 103 and 105) I've taken on my late April trip to Shreveport. I wasn't able to spot the bus(es) with blue wraps (101 and 104?). Also, I'd like to know if the 9 further buses will be C40LFR's or XC40's (Xcelsiors)? Thanks! My SporTran gallery is available Here. Hope that you'll love my pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMETROFan Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 Unless the minds have changed of SporTran and New Flyer, that TA will be looking at getting more C40LFRs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Here are the pictures of the three buses (102, 103 and 105) I've taken on my late April trip to Shreveport. I wasn't able to spot the bus(es) with blue wraps (101 and 104?). Also, I'd like to know if the 9 further buses will be C40LFR's or XC40's (Xcelsiors)? Thanks!My SporTran gallery is available Here. Hope that you'll love my pictures. Awesome pics!!!!If I had time I would get some audio recordings on those Orions before all of them are gone. From what I can tell 281 and 402 have been retired and auctioned off already. 403, 401, and 404 are in the process. The 3 S50 Orions stay parked most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 The 9 other CNG buses are C35LFR's, as exemplified by buses 118 and 119 taken on August 2013 at/near the downtown terminal in Shreveport. Also taken during the same trip was bus 104, the only blue bus among the initial 5 C40LFR's. IMHO, it will be very interesting to see what will they replace their fleet of Gillig LF in the 430-440 series, as Gillig now offers CNG. I think the CNG Gillig LF, New Flyer XN40 and the NABI 40-LFW 3G all have a decent shot with this order. Hope you'll like these buses! Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfreak99 Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 The system Is in dire need of a livery. Plain white buses are bland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAX BRT Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Number 4 of 4 is a neat shot! Rare for me to get a glimpse of a SporTran bus--so thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 Buzz2kb, 4 of the C40LFRS have had their wraps removed and repainted blue, orange, green and lavender respectively. There is one that still has its wrap and is currently being repainted. Gillig 505 is now blue and 503 is lavender. Sportran also bought 2 secondhand 35ft and 3 40ft Gilligs numbered 131-135. One of those has already been in an accident and hasn't been seen since. The 2 35 footers are painted orange and green. There are officially no more Orions left. 410 (Butterfly Bus) & 405 (Patriotic) were auctioned off last month. Orion 411 is parked at the Police Department. It will probably replace the 1983 Flxible Metro A as the mobile command center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted March 30, 2014 Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 Buzz2kb, 4 of the C40LFRS have had their wraps removed and repainted blue, orange, green and lavender respectively. There is one that still has its wrap and is currently being repainted. Gillig 505 is now blue and 503 is lavender. Sportran also bought 2 secondhand 35ft and 3 40ft Gilligs numbered 131-135. One of those has already been in an accident and hasn't been seen since. The 2 35 footers are painted orange and green. There are officially no more Orions left. 410 (Butterfly Bus) & 405 (Patriotic) were auctioned off last month. Orion 411 is parked at the Police Department. It will probably replace the 1983 Flxible Metro A as the mobile command center. I have a few questions on those secondhand purchases: 1. What year are these buses made? 2. Which agency do they come from? 3. Are they Phantoms or Low Floor's? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfreak99 Posted April 14, 2014 Report Share Posted April 14, 2014 A SporTran Gillig Hybrid bus on fire back in 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Here comes the colored buses! On my trip to Shreveport last Saturday and Sunday, I've spotted and pictured a total of 12 colored buses. These include all 5 C40LFR's (Buses 101-105), 5 out of 9 C35LFR's (Buses 111-115) and one each of the Gillig LF's new to them and purchased 2nd-hand. They are painted in 5 basic families of colors: Green, Orange, Blue, Lavender and Plum (with/without varying shades), Now's time for the pictures: Gillig LF- Bus 441 is a blue 40ft. Gillig LF new to SporTran, while orange bus 134 is a 35ft. version bought second-hand. NFI C40LFR- Bus 101 is painted in Plum, 102 in Orange, 103 in Green, 104 in Lavender and 105 in Blue. NFI C35LFR- Bus 111 is painted in Lavender, 112 in Plum, 113 in Orange, 114 in Green and 115 in Blue. It's notable that the CNG buses wear the Blue Diamond CNG logo on all sides. Bonus pictures: SporTran has also spiced up the looks of their mostly all white 600-series of 35ft. Gillig LF's (EPA-2007 spec) a little bit. Bus 602 was spotted with a State Farm Insurance side Ad, while bus 603 was spotted in a Rising Cane's Chicken Fingers full wrap. It looks like at least the two 35ft's among the 5 second-hand buses are 1st generation Gillig LF's, My sheer guess is that these buses comes from the Southeast, likely from Florida, as agencies there have some of the first Gillig LF's built for transit use. My bet is that bus 134 was originally a member of HART (Tampa)'s 900 series or Palm Tran's 0000/0100 series. Can anyone (especially szem) confirm or refute my theory? Thanks! Finally, I'd like the thread starter to change the topic from SporTran's CNG buses to a general SporTran thread. Hope that you'll enjoy my latest pictures. Orion V nostalgia coming up next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrabs74 Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Here comes the colored buses! On my trip to Shreveport last Saturday and Sunday, I've spotted and pictured a total of 12 colored buses. These include all 5 C40LFR's (Buses 101-105), 5 out of 9 C35LFR's (Buses 111-115) and one each of the Gillig LF's new to them and purchased 2nd-hand. They are painted in 5 basic families of colors: Green, Orange, Blue, Lavender and Plum (with/without varying shades), Now's time for the pictures: Gillig LF- Bus 441 is a blue 40ft. Gillig LF new to SporTran, while orange bus 134 is a 35ft. version bought second-hand. NFI C40LFR- Bus 101 is painted in Plum, 102 in Orange, 103 in Green, 104 in Lavender and 105 in Blue. NFI C35LFR- Bus 111 is painted in Lavender, 112 in Plum, 113 in Orange, 114 in Green and 115 in Blue. It's notable that the CNG buses wear the Blue Diamond CNG logo on all sides. Bonus pictures: SporTran has also spiced up the looks of their mostly all white 600-series of 35ft. Gillig LF's (EPA-2007 spec) a little bit. Bus 602 was spotted with a State Farm Insurance side Ad, while bus 603 was spotted in a Rising Cane's Chicken Fingers full wrap. It looks like at least the two 35ft's among the 5 second-hand buses are 1st generation Gillig LF's, My sheer guess is that these buses comes from the Southeast, likely from Florida, as agencies there have some of the first Gillig LF's built for transit use. My bet is that bus 134 was originally a member of HART (Tampa)'s 900 series or Palm Tran's 0000/0100 series. Can anyone (especially szem) confirm or refute my theory? Thanks! I am not a big fan of transit agencies going "rainbow" with their bus fleet. I would've preferred that Sportran use a standard single livery rather than following Orlando and Pittsburgh into the world of multi-color liveries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVTArider Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Nice photos! I sort of like the Rainbow livery in terms of transitfanning, and I think it might make the system slightly more appealing to non-transit users. However I also agree with ctrabs that a standard single livery is a better way to go. Although a rainbow scheme is better than changing the standard livery every two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAX BRT Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Nice photos! I sort of like the Rainbow livery in terms of transitfanning, and I think it might make the system slightly more appealing to non-transit users. However I also agree with ctrabs that a standard single livery is a better way to go. Although a rainbow scheme is better than changing the standard livery every two years. I agree that a standard livery is the best--but only if its a good one, like say C-tran, DC Metro and Zum (three of my favorites) For non-transit fans, different buses in different colors is cool, like for my little girl, who votes for the pink and the purple buses! PS Thanks to Buzz for the photos and sparking the conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Here's my promised Orion V nostalgia! Back in April 2011, I've spotted seven Orion V's at the downtown terminal. By that time, they were probably restricted to weekdays, and they all wore different painted artworks in lieu of a fleet livery. 1996 buses 401(Shreveport Regional Arts Council), 403 and 405 (Liberty) are 35ft. examples, while buses 408, 409 (Rhythm Blues) and 410 (Butterfly) are similar 40ft. buses. The gem of the bunch, however, is bus 282 donning the promotional livery for the city of Shreveport, as it is a 1993 40ft. bus. This means it was about 18 years old when it was pictured! So which livery among those do you like the most? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Awesome pics. All but one of the C40LFRs have been repainted. 441 is actually a 2003 model. It was the only one to get repainted. 503, 504, and 505 have been repainted as well. I've also come across pictures of the 1980 GMC RTS and 1983 Flxible Metros with the original blue stripe from 1989. They were repainted to the blue and green livery in 1990. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfreak99 Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 As we speak they have XN40's being built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 I just saw an orange one parked at the garage. Never thought I'd see the day when SporTran would have New Flyers in the fleet. Any idea how many are being made? I would imagine enough to replace that first batch of secondhand Gilligs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 As we speak they have XN40's being built. So how many of them they have ordered and when will they arrive and enter service? Thanks! (This will give me another reason to fan the system for at least one more time!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfreak99 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 I am not for sure how many they have on order. Here is a photo of one by Thomas Helliwell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 There's two XN40s at the garage now. One orange and one either plum or lavender colored. Couldn't really tell in the dark. It may be the same one in the photo above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 There's a blue one there as well. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow if they haven't moved them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz2kb Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 On 2/10/2015 at 10:20 PM, RTS6v71 said: Awesome pics. All but one of the C40LFRs have been repainted. 441 is actually a 2003 model. It was the only one to get repainted. 503, 504, and 505 have been repainted as well. I've also come across pictures of the 1980 GMC RTS and 1983 Flxible Metros with the original blue stripe from 1989. They were repainted to the blue and green livery in 1990. You must mean the C35LFR's, as 116 is the last one in white. All C40LFR's have been repainted. Here attached are the pictures of buses 116 through 119, where 117 is orange like 113, 118 is lavender like 111 and 119 is green like 114. As a bonus, I've also included pictures of bus 142, a second-hand 35ft. Gillig Low Floor of 2002 style and emission specification. I strongly suspect this bus comes from Palm Tran from Palm Beach County in Southeast Florida, as they are about the only agency who's already retiring Gillig Low Floor's of this vintage. Can RTS6v71, our resident SporTran correspondent confirm the fleet no's, type and length, color and the previous owners of this and the remaining second-hand buses? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTS6v71 Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 My apologies on that mistake. I can't confirm where those secondhand 35ft Gilligs came from. I've heard PalmTran and I've heard St. Cloud, MN. They are numbered 141-143. They are blue, green, and plum from what I could tell. 506 now has full Raising Cane's wrap just like 603 but it wasn't numbered for some reason. The only way I figured it out was I've seen both 501 & 502 neither of which have been painted. The latter hasn't had a working destination sign for quite some time now. 438 has been parked in the spot usually reserved for parted-out/retired buses which wouldn't be a far stretch since they went into service in April of 2003. I did manage to get pictures of the three XN40s. They have yet to be numbered. They'll either be 151-153 or they may start the 200s again. Sorry for the horrible quality. I've also attached pics of a 1980 GMC RTS and 1983 Flxible Metro A from April 1989. My profile pic is the same bus from October 1990. If you look closely, you'll see it still had a Grumman nameplate. My guess is that Grumman still owned the company when these were ordered. Credit for these goes to mbernero on Flickr. I used to live on the Queensboro bus route which always had Flxibles and I can tell you they were loud and very fast. I miss them dearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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