Cobb Community Transit

[Buzz2kb]

Cobb Community Transit (CCT) is another significant suburban Atlanta transit agency based in the county of the same name. Its main hub is an integrated transfer center/operations facility in Marietta. On my fanning trip during the Boxing Day, I managed to picture RTS bus 0269 parked at the yard. Does anyone know if the RTS's are retired or restricted to weekday runs?

Meanwhile, for the time being, the Saturday local runs are totally in the hands of various 40ft. New Flyers, although this is set to change late 2016/early 2017 when new Gillig LF's arrive together with the new CobbLinc operating brand. The 1000-series of 2010 D40LFR's (shown by 1002 and 1006) are its newest buses for now, and they are seemed to be restricted to route 10 that connects Marietta with midtown Atlanta.

It has 3 different batches of D40LF's dating from 2004, 2005 and 2008 (appropriately numbered in the 4000, 5000 and 8000 series respectively). These are largely identical buses but for a few differences in badge details. Buses 4001 (Their very first New Flyer), 4009, 5029, 8032 and 8033 are illustrated for the respective batches. By the way, a small correction on the CPTDB Wiki entry for that agency is needed, as buses 4024-4026, at the least, are actually 5000-series buses; and so is 8029.

All the pictures are taken at/near the aforementioned hub, and my CCT gallery is available here. Hope that you'll enjoy my sightings!

[Gilligman2010]

How many Gilligs are going

To arrive to Cobb County

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Buzz2kb]

How many Gilligs are going

To arrive to Cobb County

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

At least 35 according to this story. Not sure if this include the 6 buses intended for the Cumberland Circulator Project.

[Gilligman2010]

Ah i c

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ABQ RIDE]

Another Atlanta area TA buying Gilligs in addition to Gwinnett County Transit. It is a matter of time before Gillig makes inroads into MARTA. Gillig has had some wins with some large TAs in recent years (Valley Metro/Phoenix comes to mind), and I would think they would have their sights set on MARTA for their next RFP.

[Kevin L]

By the way, a small correction on the CPTDB Wiki entry for that agency is needed, as buses 4024-4026, at the least, are actually 5000-series buses; and so is 8029.

Corrected. Thanks!

[Buzz2kb]

Another Atlanta area TA buying Gilligs in addition to Gwinnett County Transit. It is a matter of time before Gillig makes inroads into MARTA. Gillig has had some wins with some large TAs in recent years (Valley Metro/Phoenix comes to mind), and I would think they would have their sights set on MARTA for their next RFP.

Not so fast! MARTA has ordered nothing but New Flyers since 1990, save the 2002-03 Orion VII interlude. I can see it going 100% New Flyer within this year or next, and becomes all-Xcelsior by the early 2020's.

[ABQ RIDE]

Not so fast! MARTA has ordered nothing but New Flyers since 1990, save the 2002-03 Orion VII interlude. I can see it going 100% New Flyer within this year or next, and becomes all-Xcelsior by the early 2020's.

Valley Metro/Phoenix never bought Gilligs prior to the recent order; all prior Gilligs that Valley Metro operated were either contractor provided buses or were purchased used. Otherwise Valley Metro and Phoenix mostly bought either from New Flyer or NABI.

Remember that all TAs are required to follow FTA procurement rules, and cannot always order from a single manufacturer just to suit their preference. In fact, historically Gillig has a higher customer retention rate than its competitors when it comes to procurements. However, when procuring buses, manufacturers can be scored on a various combination of points for price, technical merit, and delivery timeframe. Gillig usually performs strongly on price, and if Gillig happens to score well enough to have a higher total score than New Flyer or any competitor, by FTA procurement rules the contract should be awarded to Gillig, otherwise they are legally entitled to file a formal protest to the FTA if those procurement rules are violated.

With the Valley Metro/Phoenix order Gillig only narrowly won due to their lower price, while New Flyer actually scored higher on technical merit. Another RFP is planned to be issued soon for additional buses, and it remains to be seen who will bid and get the contract.

[Buzz2kb]

Valley Metro/Phoenix never bought Gilligs prior to the recent order; all prior Gilligs that Valley Metro operated were either contractor provided buses or were purchased used. Otherwise Valley Metro and Phoenix mostly bought either from New Flyer or NABI.

Remember that all TAs are required to follow FTA procurement rules, and cannot always order from a single manufacturer just to suit their preference. In fact, historically Gillig has a higher customer retention rate than its competitors when it comes to procurements. However, when procuring buses, manufacturers can be scored on a various combination of points for price, technical merit, and delivery timeframe. Gillig usually performs strongly on price, and if Gillig happens to score well enough to have a higher total score than New Flyer or any competitor, by FTA procurement rules the contract should be awarded to Gillig, otherwise they are legally entitled to file a formal protest to the FTA if those procurement rules are violated.

With the Valley Metro/Phoenix order Gillig only narrowly won due to their lower price, while New Flyer actually scored higher on technical merit. Another RFP is planned to be issued soon for additional buses, and it remains to be seen who will bid and get the contract.

Then I have Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) as a counter-point, as it has become a 100% New Flyer agency after retiring the Ozaukee County Express Gillig LF commuter buses. Yet another example of an unbreakable transit agency-manufacturer relationship!

[MiExpress]

Then I have Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) as a counter-point, as it has become a 100% New Flyer agency after retiring the Ozaukee County Express Gillig LF commuter buses. Yet another example of an unbreakable transit agency-manufacturer relationship!

Yes, because Milwaukee put out RFPs for procuring buses, and each time New Flyer happened to be the most responsive bidder when considering factors like price, warranty, technical specs, etc. Hardly an example of a "unbreakable relationship".

[ABQ RIDE]

Yes, because Milwaukee put out RFPs for procuring buses, and each time New Flyer happened to be the most responsive bidder when considering factors like price, warranty, technical specs, etc. Hardly an example of a "unbreakable relationship".

Plus, when a TA puts out an RFP, not all manufacturers will actually bid every time. Nova Bus was not present at all in the most recent Valley Metro/Phoenix RFP; bids were received from Gillig, New Flyer, and ElDorado National. RFPs where only one manufacturer submits a bid are not unusual. Gillig I know does not bid on NYC MTA contracts due to the large quantities of buses that the NYC MTA often requires in a single year, plus the NYC MTA has a unique "shaker test" requirement, which Gillig buses have never been through before. Not sure if Gillig bids on MARTA contracts or not.

[Transit man2015]

[LDCY]

The fixed routes service (excluding Commuter 100-series bus service) now have been pretty much been dominated by Gillig BRT 40' series since about 2 years ago. I (occasionally) spot NFI D40LFR a couple times last year at Route 50, but I don't think it still happen in a daily basis at least on the routes around Cumberland Area.

Today was a busy day with World Series Game 4 at Truist Park and Anime Weekend at Cobb Galleria Center happening on the same day. The parking of Cumberland Mall and surrounding business have become the overflow parking of those events. Before things got a little too busy, I sat in my car parked across from the transfer center and hoped I could luckily capture all three types of Gillig fleet (BRTPlus 40', regular 40', and CNG 40'), which did not happen. Anyway, I was able to take a good photo of every CobbLinc Route (excluding circulators) passing by Cumberland Transfer Center.

Because the transfer center is located on the south curbside of Cumberland Blvd, which is the other side of Cumberland Mall. MARTA Route 12 and CobbLinc Route 50 will enter the mall (at Akers Mill Rd or Cumberland Blvd) to circulate back before stopping at transfer center. CobbLinc Routes 15, 20, and 25 will enter the mall to circulate back after leaving Cumberland Transfer Center. For Routes like R10 and 10, Art Center bound is fine but Marietta/Kennesaw bound need to enter the mall to turn around both before and after stopping at the transfer center. This was a bad operation for buses but it gave me a chance to take some photos by sitting in the mall's parking lot. Since SEARS quit Cumberland Mall a few years ago, there was a discussion about redeveloping the poorly used east side of the mall and turning it into the future Cumberland Transfer Center, which is probably a better location than current one. I heard this rumor from two years ago before Dick's opened, so I am not sure if it is still the plan.

Rapid 10 (or R10 or Rapid whatever you call it) | Gillig BRTPlus 40' 

Route 10/15/20/25/50 | Gillig BRT 40' (most common)

This is a Route 20. The LED refreshed the moment I shot this photo.

 

Originally I thought I could see MARTA Route 12 as well at this spot. It turned out most of the MARTA's operator now enter the Mall at Akers Mill Rd probably because they found out it is actually faster by doing that, but I am sure it is a personal preference thing because I did see one MARTA Route 12 bus entered at this driveway.

 

If the CPTDB wiki's information about CobbLinc fleet is accurate, CobbLinc only has two BRT 40' CNG buses. So maybe it was on Route 40 or 45 or it was not even out today.

[HR2012TPA]

The roster was updated some time ago to include the twelve 2023 40' Gillig BRT Plus CNG units (2300 - 2311).

I saw on Facebook this morning that they're getting another batch of these, 2500 series. Does anyone know how many?