Buzz2kb Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Last week, I had a chance to make a swing through much of Kansas east of Wichita to verify the predictions I've made in an earlier thread, and sadly I have confirmed that the days of Kansas-built Optima Opus in regular transit service in its home state are indeed numbered, with those 2006 35ft. buses at KU on Wheels (the campus shuttle for University of Kansas) and the 2001 and 2005 30ft. buses at Wichita Transit already retired. The only Opus I've spotted in all of Kansas is a 2006 35ft. bus with Topeka Metro, which I will cover in a later thread. Back to Lawrence, Kansas (where University of Kansas is located), Lawrence Transit System has been running a coordinated service with KU on Wheels for the last few years and actually has the more interesting fleet of the two, as it runs an assortment of Eldorado National buses, Ford cutaways and Gillig LF's . Bus 729 is one of the pioneering Eldorado National XHF's for that agency new in 2000, and the only one I've spotted in service. Bus 903 is 1 of 2 Eldorado National EZ-Rider II BRT 30ft. buses. Bus 906 is a 2015 Gillig 29ft. LF, and bus 908 is identical to 906 except that it is a hybrid like the flagship 40ft. buses 900-902 (of which 901 and 902 are attached here). Buses 805, 806 are both Ford cutaways, except that the former carries the Eldorado National Aerotech body ubiquitous in Kansas, and the latter carries the Advantage body from the same manufacturer. All pictures are taken at either downtown Lawrence, the 31st St./Iowa St. transfer point or at the University of Kansas Campus. On the other hand, the regular passenger fleet of KU on Wheels has become 100% Gillig LF following to the influx of 15 EPA-2010 Gillig LF 40ft. buses numbered 352-366, and the retirement of Opus 301-305 and Gillig Phantoms 306-338 according to the archived KU on Wheels fleet information at https://web.archive.org/web/20130511001212/http://www.kuonwheels.ku.edu/~kuwheels/k/vehicle_fleet.shtml. Buses 339 (2008 Gillig LF 40ft.) now belongs to the oldest group of buses in regular use. Buses 344 is one of the only 4 Gillig LF 35ft. buses. Remarkably, buses 339-347 are the only buses in the current fleet that are not built to EPA-2010 specifications. They apparently have at least 2 second-hand Gillig Phantom 40ft. used for driver training or special shuttle duty, as depicted by buses 350 and 351. Buses 352 and 366 are, fittingly, the first and final buses among the latest batch of 15 Gillig LF's. Remarkably buses 366 is 1 of the 3 buses (364 and 365 are the others) donning a revised KU on Wheels livery featuring more red and elements of the Jayhawk mascot of University of Kansas. A really interesting feature for both Lawrence Transit System and KU on Wheels is their adherence to the dedicated buses system (from my observation on the "MV Transit Where's My Bus?" app), not unlike Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong but must be a rarity in US agencies. For example, the 40ft. Gillig hybrid buses are always used on route 11, while the EZ-Riders are always used on route 6, the 29ft. Gillig hybrid on route 1 and its diesel brethren buses on routes 5 and 7 (bus 906 always on route 5 and bus 907 on route 7). On the KU on Wheels side, the 35ft. buses 344, 346 and 347 are always on route 36, and the red buses (364-366) always on route 43 (Matching its designation as the Red route?) The links to my Lawrence Transit System and KU on Wheels galleries are as below: Lawrence Transit System KU On Wheels Hope that you'll enjoy my spotting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVTArider Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Great photos Buzz! They have a cool looking fleet. I wish I could've visited them a few years ago though when they were running some of the old Phantoms with 6V92TA. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit Diesel 6V92TA Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 On 9/13/2015 at 12:23 PM, Buzz2kb said: Last week, I had a chance to make a swing through much of Kansas east of Wichita to verify the predictions I've made in an earlier thread, and sadly I have confirmed that the days of Kansas-built Optima Opus in regular transit service in its home state are indeed numbered, with those 2006 35ft. buses at KU on Wheels (the campus shuttle for University of Kansas) and the 2001 and 2005 30ft. buses at Wichita Transit already retired. The only Opus I've spotted in all of Kansas is a 2006 35ft. bus with Topeka Metro, which I will cover in a later thread. Back to Lawrence, Kansas (where University of Kansas is located), Lawrence Transit System has been running a coordinated service with KU on Wheels for the last few years and actually has the more interesting fleet of the two, as it runs an assortment of Eldorado National buses, Ford cutaways and Gillig LF's . Bus 729 is one of the pioneering Eldorado National XHF's for that agency new in 2000, and the only one I've spotted in service. Bus 903 is 1 of 2 Eldorado National EZ-Rider II BRT 30ft. buses. Bus 906 is a 2015 Gillig 29ft. LF, and bus 908 is identical to 906 except that it is a hybrid like the flagship 40ft. buses 900-902 (of which 901 and 902 are attached here). Buses 805, 806 are both Ford cutaways, except that the former carries the Eldorado National Aerotech body ubiquitous in Kansas, and the latter carries the Advantage body from the same manufacturer. All pictures are taken at either downtown Lawrence, the 31st St./Iowa St. transfer point or at the University of Kansas Campus. On the other hand, the regular passenger fleet of KU on Wheels has become 100% Gillig LF following to the influx of 15 EPA-2010 Gillig LF 40ft. buses numbered 352-366, and the retirement of Opus 301-305 and Gillig Phantoms 306-338 according to the archived KU on Wheels fleet information at https://web.archive.org/web/20130511001212/http://www.kuonwheels.ku.edu/~kuwheels/k/vehicle_fleet.shtml. Buses 339 (2008 Gillig LF 40ft.) now belongs to the oldest group of buses in regular use. Buses 344 is one of the only 4 Gillig LF 35ft. buses. Remarkably, buses 339-347 are the only buses in the current fleet that are not built to EPA-2010 specifications. They apparently have at least 2 second-hand Gillig Phantom 40ft. used for driver training or special shuttle duty, as depicted by buses 350 and 351. Buses 352 and 366 are, fittingly, the first and final buses among the latest batch of 15 Gillig LF's. Remarkably buses 366 is 1 of the 3 buses (364 and 365 are the others) donning a revised KU on Wheels livery featuring more red and elements of the Jayhawk mascot of University of Kansas. A really interesting feature for both Lawrence Transit System and KU on Wheels is their adherence to the dedicated buses system (from my observation on the "MV Transit Where's My Bus?" app), not unlike Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong but must be a rarity in US agencies. For example, the 40ft. Gillig hybrid buses are always used on route 11, while the EZ-Riders are always used on route 6, the 29ft. Gillig hybrid on route 1 and its diesel brethren buses on routes 5 and 7 (bus 906 always on route 5 and bus 907 on route 7). On the KU on Wheels side, the 35ft. buses 344, 346 and 347 are always on route 36, and the red buses (364-366) always on route 43 (Matching its designation as the Red route?) The links to my Lawrence Transit System and KU on Wheels galleries are as below: Lawrence Transit System KU On Wheels Hope that you'll enjoy my spotting! I definitely enjoyed looking at your photos and reading about your sightings at KU on Wheels. Your spotting also helped me update the fleet roster at first. Yesterday I found a bunch of documents from 2018 with a list of just about every bus in the current KU on Wheels & Lawrence fleet. Believe it or not they still have two 6V92 1990 Phantoms (317 & 320), one Series 50 1994 Phantom (332) and all of their Series 50 1996 Phantoms (348-351), likely all for reserve/special use. Could I use some of your photos for the KU on Wheels wiki page? I can watermark them if you need me to. Check out the roster now: https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/University_of_Kansas On 9/15/2015 at 10:08 AM, MVTArider said: Great photos Buzz! They have a cool looking fleet. I wish I could've visited them a few years ago though when they were running some of the old Phantoms with 6V92TA. Looks like Lawrence has 2 left with 6V92TA's & KU on Wheels also has 2 left, likely on reserve status though. Ctrl+F Gillig on here https://assets.lawrenceks.org/assets/agendas/cc/2018/11-06-18/pt-rfp.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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