Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) Durham, NC

[MVTArider]

Durham Area Transit Authority or DATA is the fixed-route transit system serving the city of Durham. Their operations are mainly local service, with buses operating at a regular frequency most of the day M-Sa, and a lighter schedule on Sundays. DATA also operates the Bull City Connector line, which is a fare free route connecting Duke University with the downtown area and the Durham Station.

The DATA fleet currently consists of Gillig Low Floor units from 2003, 2005, and 2008, and BRT Hybrid units from 2009. They also have five 2012 BRT Hybrids (1201-1205 I think) assigned to the BCC line. These have perimeter seating and no fare box. DATA did operate Phantoms as recently as 2011. They might still have some on reserve as there did not seem to be any newer buses besides the BCC units.

The 03xx series Gilligs seem to be in decent shape, but some of their powertrains are either poorly maintained or shot. One 03xx I rode kept stalling out when stopped at a light or stop, causing the bus to shudder violently and not go into gear when the driver would try to accelerate. Nothing like rolling slowly through an intersection for two minutes trying to make it to the other side I also heard radio chatter of another 03xx bus having transmission trouble, plus there was this back in December possibly involving one. I'm not sure what powertrains those units have though. They sounded similar enough to Cummins ISL (transmission was definitely B400R), but the buses have a cap instead of a center seat in the back bench, and the venting on the curbside is a bit different from other known ISL units I've photographed. So maybe Caterpillar or possibly ISC? At any rate I'm guessing they'll be replacing the 03xx series ASAP.

Now on to the photos:

Overall a pretty neat system.

[Scrabbleship]

Bringing this thread way back from the dead for a bit of an update. I was in Durham last week and have some observations.

• Only two 2003 Gilligs, 0324 and 0329, are both running, both still in their old DATA paint scheme with no sign of GoDurham markings six years after the renaming. They aren't much longer for this world, GoDurham is due to get battery electric Gilligs later this year on a joint order with Chapel Hill Transit.
• 0501, the lone 2005 Gillig, was nowhere to be seen. Most of the 08xx series were out, in the GoDurham scheme. The backbone of the fleet are the 1000/1200 BRT HEV's (now all in the main fleet after the Bull City Connector ended last year) and the 1700-1900 series. The 1700-1900's are all-longitudinal seating in the high floor section, a rarity for Gilligs and are all hard plastic seats, a rarity in the Triangle.
• Over at Duke, the LFS's are holding court even with some showing their age. They ended up buying some more 40' Hybrids in 2013 (1300 series) as well as acquiring SEPTA 7300, the old LFSA HEV demo (now DU-1323). Their 2003 Orion V's are still technically active, but seem to run on an "as-we-like-to" basis. I did see, and ride, one of their two 2008 Orion VII's, DU-1046.
• The two Duke Proterras still are nowhere to be seen, possibly in the same COVID limbo as the five GoRaleigh ordered or the additional buses ordered by RDU Airport.
  
  I'll try to share pictures at some point soon, given the work given to get them into a format for this forum. 

[Scrabbleship]

On 1/25/2021 at 6:14 PM, Scrabbleship said:

Over at Duke, the LFS's are holding court even with some showing their age. They ended up buying some more 40' Hybrids in 2013 (1300 series) as well as acquiring SEPTA 7300, the old LFSA HEV demo (now DU-1323). Their 2003 Orion V's are still technically active, but seem to run on an "as-we-like-to" basis. I did see, and ride, one of their two 2008 Orion VII's, DU-1046. The two Duke Proterras still are nowhere to be seen, possibly in the same COVID limbo as the five GoRaleigh ordered or the additional buses ordered by RDU Airport.

Duke's pair of Proterras have entered service. Their intended home is on the C1 East West and while it's very hard to make up any fleet markings on Duke buses, it looks like that these may be 1400-1401 based on activity on Transloc.

The whole fleet seems to come and go. DU-1323 has had a nice break, no doubt due to issues such as having inoperable front signs, but DU-908 (2003 Orion V) is out and about on the Swift Avenue Shuttle from the looks of Transloc.

[OhWellDavid]

The year has passed! Here are some updates based on current viewing as of now.

• ex-DATA 0325 and 0329 were retired on December 30th, making their last trips on routes 1, and 9B respectfully. I managed to catch 0325 on its last day, which was stripped of it's old DATA scheme and only had the logo splat on the body. NO recoloring. Nothing. I couldn't catch 0329, but most likely it was the same.
• GoDurham acquired new 2021 units, ten of them, two are Gillig Low Floor Plus (2101-2102), the rest are standard Gillig Low Floor buses (2103-2110). 2101-2102 began service on Earth Day 2021. 2103-2110 seem to appear around Fall 2021.
• ex-DATA 0501 is retired. Since the last post, I wasn't able to track 0501. 
• ex-DATA 801-806 are still going strong, usually operating on the 5K route, but these buses are not seeing service frequently anymore due to the discontinuation of the 5K route on October 29th. All buses are in the GoDurham scheme.

Here are photos of 0325 operating on routes 1 and 9B on December 21st and December 27th. And photos of both the new Gillig Low Floor Plus Electrics and Standard Gillig Low Floors. I have yet to start filming Duke Transit. I will start soon and do updates on the fleet. Here's also all 2008 models caught during August-October.

[OhWellDavid]

Hey again. Here are a couple of updates for the possible future.

- GoDurham is expected to receive the remaining six electric buses by this quarter. These buses will put an end to the 2008 Gilligs. I'll need to film them before they start becoming a rarity.

- The 2017 units are expected to begin receiving their mid-life improvements, beginning with repowering.

- Buses have changed their GPS system. Transloc is replaced with the myStop app for GoDurham.

- The Durham Transit Plan is finalizing, which is planned to vastly improve service over the next 5-10 years. The plan will be voted on this year.

- GoDurham is slowly restoring service with the 7 route returning to 30-minute day time service

I'll update on more. Here's some photos of GoDurham buses right now.

[OhWellDavid]

Back for another update!
- GoDurham received their brand new electric buses, now confirmed to be 2023 Gillig Low Floor Plus EVs, numbered 2301-2308. These units are planning to replace some units and to expand service. These are planned to start running very soon. They are wrapped in the standard GoDurham scheme.

- On June 24th, GoDurham restored service on the 2, 8, and 11/11B routes. They plan to restore pre-COVID service by 2024 to start expanding service. Planned in November 11th, routes 1, 4, 5, and 10/10B will be restored to pre-COVID routes

- The Short-Range Transit Plan is in progress, in collaboration with GoTriangle, providing a massive network redesign with route improvements, new routes, and frequency improvements.

- GoDurham is free for another year!!! GoDurham is free until summer 2024.

- GoDurham will restore the State Fair shuttle in Fall 2024.

That's all for GoDurham updates. Here's some photos taken from August to now, including the new units.
*The new buses were taken outside of the garage*

[RailBus63]

On 10/25/2023 at 3:49 PM, OhWellDavid said:

Back for another update!
- GoDurham received their brand new electric buses, now confirmed to be 2023 Gillig Low Floor Plus EVs, numbered 2301-2308. These units are planning to replace some units and to expand service. These are planned to start running very soon. They are wrapped in the standard GoDurham scheme.

 

Looks like it's six new electric buses, not eight. At least one bus (#2303) can be seen wrapped in the video accompanying this news story. Plans are to have them on the road by Thanksgiving. I assume that the 0800's will be taken off the road at that time. 

GoDurham adds 6 new electric buses to fleet with plans for more in the future

[OhWellDavid]

On 11/5/2023 at 9:32 AM, RailBus63 said:

Looks like it's six new electric buses, not eight. At least one bus (#2303) can be seen wrapped in the video accompanying this news story. Plans are to have them on the road by Thanksgiving. I assume that the 0800's will be taken off the road at that time. 

GoDurham adds 6 new electric buses to fleet with plans for more in the future

My bad for the error but they started service a few days ago now. 2301, 2302, and 2303 made their debuts this week on various routes. As it turns out all of the buses are wrapped with the electric scheme as 2101 and 2102.

Edited November 9, 2023 by OhWellDavid
minor tweaks

[RailBus63]

Nice catches. Strange that they wrapped them right over the standard scheme 

[OhWellDavid]

On 11/10/2023 at 2:01 PM, RailBus63 said:

Nice catches. Strange that they wrapped them right over the standard scheme 

Thanks. I find it weird since I thought they were gonna use the standard scheme. Last Saturday, GoDurham continued to restore service to the 1, 4, 5, and 10/10B routes routes. 

Routes 1 and 4 have restored overnight service.

Route 5 has 15 min service on Saturdays

Route 10 has an earlier trip and Route 10B is increased to 30 minutes