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Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) discussion


map.man (Darrin)

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  • 1 year later...

As noted in the CNYRTA thread, TCAT is borrowing two 2005 New Flyer D40LF's from Centro due to a bus shortage - https://www.tcatbus.com/tcat-thanks-centro-for-lending-buses-to-help-it-deal-with-shortages/

A couple of questions about the TCAT fleet:

The Wiki page for TCAT lists their 2002 D40LF's as having Detroit Diesel Series 40 engines.  These busers sound very loud and not like any Series 40 bus I've heard before - does anyone know if these were repowered at some point?

Also, TCAT is operating Gillig bus #1118.  I don't see this bus on the Wiki or in any Gillig production list I've come across.  Perhaps this was renumbered?  It was equipped in 2016 with some experimental seats for input for future bus purchases but I'm not sure if that would really be a reason to renumber a bus.

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  • 3 months later...

TCAT Orion VII #1115 caught fire on Friday afternoon and sustained serious damage - https://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2018/03/23/trumansburg-ithaca-firefighters-put-out-blaze-tcat-bus/454883002/

TCAT has been living through an ongoing bus shortage and had just been putting the first batch of its new 2018 Gillig Low-Floor buses in service.  These were slated to replace the 2001 Nova LFS's and most of the 2002 New Flyer D40LF's.  I suspect that at least one of the NF's just got  a reprieve.

Despite the initial media splash, I'm not sure if the two borrowed Centro D40LF's ever saw service.  There was no further word on TCAT's social media accounts and I never spotted them on the bus tracker.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Anyone have any updates on TCAT? I've been tracking them lately and have been noticing a few mystery buses, namely 2506, 2501, and 212. Given the whole CENTRO leasing deal, I would assume those are the 2 2005 D40LF they leased from them? The numbers line up at least.

As for 1118, that thing is still tracking, but does anyone know what the heck it is? In TCAT's 2017 Annual Report, they reference purchasing and refurbishing a used 30 foot bus, which could be 1118?

And anyone know what the heck 212 is? I haven't gotten any clue or leads so far.

Anyway, I haven't tracked any of their 2002 D40LF lately so I would assume they were replaced sometime between late last June and now by the 2018 Gillig Low Floors.

Any buses on order for TCAT this year?

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1118 is a Gillig 40-footer.  Not sure why it was numbered after the Orion VII's but I believe it was purchased new.

TCAT purchased some Centro D40LF's at auction , so the 2500's on the tracker are presumably those (if you saw a bus 2506, it must have been renumbered by TCAT because Centro is still operating its original 2506).  They are still short on buses and are chartering buses and drivers from Fitzgerald Brothers to cover certain peak-period trips (those buses have a TCAT driver aboard also).  One of the news articles mentioned that nine new buses will be delivered in September.  

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jeez putting together TCAT's used fleet is such a pill!

That 30 ft gillig they purchased a while back is indeed 212. It's a 2002 gillig low floor from sioux falls.  Then there are the two leased CENTRO units (2520 and ?). Then on top of that, TCAT said that they purchased 5 used buses recently (I believe in Feb), two of which must be 2501 and 2506. Leaving 4 buses unaccounted for...

Strange how it took so long for them to put 212 in service, and how the leased centro units never entered service (unless the other one is 2501 or 2506)?

--

Perhaps they renumbered all the used Centro units down to the low 2500s? Doesn't make much sense given their numbering scheme (I guess it makes more sense if you eliminate the 2: 501, 506), but if you take the two leased CENTRO units from years ago, and the 5 used buses purchased in Feb, that's (theoretically) 2501-2507 right there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So based on my discussions with a TCAT employee and my own sightings, these are the second hand buses:

212: ex-Sioux Falls 2002 Gillig Low Floor 29' (currently OOS)

2501: ex-CENTRO 2005 New Flyer D40LF

2506: ex-CAT (Harrisburgh) 2005 Gillig Low Floor 40'

There is another CENTRO D40LF but I didn't get a number. The rest of the second hands are loaned cutaways from Fitzgerald Bus

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to follow up, I did a drive by of the garage and there are some additional buses that don't seem to be in service:

3 CENTRO D40LF (IN addition to 2501), what appears to be an ex-Rochester Gillig Low Floor (40 ft), and 212 is parked up there. The CENTRO and Rochester buses have no TCAT titles and are parked up with the fire victim 1115 so make of that what you will. 212 is also parked up by them but is of course wearing TCAT decals since it has ran in service.

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  • 4 months later...

I just updated the wiki with more accurate and new information, but I figured it was worth summarizing the news here too:

1. The 2019 order is for New Flyers not Gilligs. I assume it’ll be 9 XD40s since TCAT only purchases 40 foot buses now, but out of an abundance of caution i chose not to list the model...

2. Delivery for the Flyers will be in september (“next month”) and then it’ll take a few weeks for them to be prepared for service so most/all will likely enter service in October with the issuing of the fall round 2 schedules... These are supposed to be replacement buses

3. I realize I forgot to list them (crap....) in the update but TCAT is due 2 Proterra (BE40s?) soon. I heard sometime in late 2019 is delivery... That said after the initial announcement not much has been said so i don’t know if everything is on track

4. TCAT is launching new 11N and 11S routes (see website)

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Update/Follow-Up:

To my surprise, TCAT #212 does still run! I always assumed that it was a bit of a shop queen since it would run/track for a month, then disappear for a good while. That said today it was out and untrackable, so that could explain its absence on the tracker...

Alternatively it could just be their backup/last resort bus. Today TCAT had to put out a couple extra buses to run shuttles for cornell’s move in day and they may have added a few extra 81 or 82 trips(?), requiring 212 to run...

FWIW, 2501 has been quiet lately, while 2506 has been out very frequently. It’s on the 30 now...

————

Now onto C Tran in neighboring Elmira, NY. Their services are dominated by 1400 series gillig BRTs as mentioned by the wiki with the 1200s taking up the commuter and some local services (mall express for instance). I’m not sure what replaced the 2005 El Dorados and it looks like the pre-existing fleet of 2011 and 2014 gilligs were/are able to handle C Tran’s route demands... I assume they just got a few more cutaways? Their depot was crammed with well over a dozen cutaways when i drove by...

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I walked by their depot today. There are at least two International cutaways sitting amongst the in service buses in full TCAT colors. One is numbered 1910, I wasn't able to see the # on the other vehicle.

The two parts CENTRO D40LF parked out front are numbered 2517 and 2510.

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  • 2 weeks later...

TCAT update, 1911 is in service; it’s some international cutaway thing... I first sighted it a few days ago (on either the 81,82, or 83) but wasn’t able to get a number/confirmation what it was but it finally showed up today on the 53. Cutaway 1403 is conspicuously absent from it’s usual post on the 41, i’m not sure if that has anything to do with 1911’s presence.

As for the second hand buses, surprise surprise all three are out today... 212 was sitting in their lot missing a few parts this weekend but lo and behold it’s on the 31/13 runs right now so....... FWIW it’s still untrackable. 2501 is also back from the dead and from my understanding it’s supposed to be only used for PM runs (But we’ll see about that...). It’s trackable. 2506 is doing very well as always and is also on one of the 31/13 runs right now. That bus gets around a surprising amount, it’s been even on the 93, 11S in the past two weeks. The 11S trip was this past sunday, it also ran on the 30 on Labor Day...

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All 9 xcelsiors are delivered as of last night, some still have the plastic/tape on the front. Two should start driver training in short order. No equipment or tech has been installed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.if you walk by at the right time you might see them puttering around the back side of the garage moving to/from the maintenance bays and the storage lot lol. If anyone’s interested and/or in the area, there will be a launch event for the xcels before they enter service. We haven’t finalized the details/date, but I’ll post relevant info when we’re finished planning it...

If anyone’s interested in the second hand buses, time is running a little low... 2506 is the only one with a chance of running once the xcelsiors enter service. 2501 and 212 are both OOS having some work done (212 for quite some time though, every time I return, it’s still parked with some mysterious electrical issue). 2501 was a bit of a surprise since it’s been running pretty consistently lately, but it had an uh-oh last night but the intention is to return it to revenue service shortly. Not to mention it’s in rough shape...

Also the storage lot/boneyard extension is coming along. Buses aren’t parking there yet but the space is cleared

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2 hours ago, Orion6025 said:

All 9 xcelsiors are delivered as of last night, some still have the plastic/tape on the front. Two should start driver training in short order. No equipment or tech has been installed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.if you walk by at the right time you might see them puttering around the back side of the garage moving to/from the maintenance bays and the storage lot lol. If anyone’s interested and/or in the area, there will be a launch event for the xcels before they enter service. We haven’t finalized the details/date, but I’ll post relevant info when we’re finished planning it...

If anyone’s interested in the second hand buses, time is running a little low... 2506 is the only one with a chance of running once the xcelsiors enter service. 2501 and 212 are both OOS having some work done (212 for quite some time though, every time I return, it’s still parked with some mysterious electrical issue). 2501 was a bit of a surprise since it’s been running pretty consistently lately, but it had an uh-oh last night but the intention is to return it to revenue service shortly. Not to mention it’s in rough shape...

Also the storage lot/boneyard extension is coming along. Buses aren’t parking there yet but the space is cleared

Thanks for the update.  Will any of the older TCAT buses (not second-hand) be retired when the Xcelsiors enter service? 

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2 hours ago, RailBus63 said:

Thanks for the update.  Will any of the older TCAT buses (not second-hand) be retired when the Xcelsiors enter service? 

It’s possible but slightly unlikely. The 2006 gillig diesels are here to stay (In fact 601 had its engine rebuilt just two weeks ago). If anything goes it’ll be a hybrid. One of them has a prohibitively expensive repair job related to the battery that maintenance doesn’t don’t want to follow through on so we’ll see what happens.

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  • 2 weeks later...

1905 is in service (trackable). It probably entered service on columbus day but i wasn't in town to check. It;'s possible more have entered service since there have been a bunch of untrackable buses the past few days, but I can't be 100% sure on that since 901, 1116, and the champions are still running around untrackable (And I'm not into counting runs)...

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I spent a few hours in Ithaca yesterday to check out the new buses.  1901 was on the 32 all day (not trackable) and 1905 was on the 82 (trackable).  1906 (trackable) came off a morning rush hour run around 10:00 a.m. and returned later in the day to do a trip on the 43.  I didn't get to ride any of them unfortunately but they look nice - I like Xcelsiors with the back window!  They look good in the TCAT colors. 

All three of the Champion Defender buses were out at various times on routes to the outlying areas but as noted above none of these are trackable.  Interesting low-cost solution to TCAT's bus shortage problems.

2506 was out on the 82 and now has advertisements covering all of the side windows - it's almost as if they are trying to make its dark-blue CAT scheme seem like it's part of a wrap!  I drove past the garage and spotted both 2501 and 212 parked in the side yard.  

It was disappointing to see some TCAT buses exhibiting various dents and dings - even one of the 1800's had right-rear damage and it's bumper partially pulled away.  In the past, I don't recall seeing buses on TCAT looking ragged like that, even when they were running the old Orion I's in their final years. 

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29 minutes ago, RailBus63 said:

2506 was out on the 82 and now has advertisements covering all of the side windows - it's almost as if they are trying to make its dark-blue CAT scheme seem like it's part of a wrap! 

Yeah that was part of the idea; integrating the blue with the (different shade of) bluish cayuga medical center “wrap”. Seeing it on the 82 is a small surprise, usually they have it cycling on the 30, the 11/51, or doing some random rural runs.

29 minutes ago, RailBus63 said:

I drove past the garage and spotted both 2501 and 212 parked in the side yard.  

 

They’re both likely retired, or to-be-retired since 212 hasn’t ran since september and 2501 has been parked for going on a week now (it ran the 20 enfield last thurs IIRC and i never tracked it since). Now that 1905 is in service and there’s probably another xcelsior or 2 waiting to be put in service, i’d be surprised if they choose to repair it. By side yard, did you observe it in the mass of buses opposite the garage doors? If so, that’s the boneyard and any bus on that side is either an xcelsior, awaiting/pending scrap, or requiring heavy maintenance (which 2501 won’t be receiving if it needs that).

29 minutes ago, RailBus63 said:

It was disappointing to see some TCAT buses exhibiting various dents and dings - even one of the 1800's had right-rear damage and it's bumper partially pulled away.  In the past, I don't recall seeing buses on TCAT looking ragged like that, even when they were running the old Orion I's in their final years. 

They’re running really low on maintenance staff and floor space so if given the choice to return say 603 with a transmission issue or 1602 with a dinged bumper, they’ll go with 603. Lately they’ve been just *barely* making service with the buses they have so if it runs, it goes essentially.

it doesn’t really help though how often the drivers will contact the curb though. It’s happened a few times on buses i rode where the driver will go in too steep to the bus stop... also the narrow roads might have something to do with ot? This is a problem with the 81/82/83 where they have that turn onto east avenue off tower road heading north. The drivers have so little space to work with in that turn when cars are stopped on east avenue that they will often end up scraping or mounting the curb to make it through (but i don’t know if that causes the scratches, i’m not a driver...)

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1 hour ago, Orion6025 said:

By side yard, did you observe it in the mass of buses opposite the garage doors? If so, that’s the boneyard and any bus on that side is either an xcelsior, awaiting/pending scrap, or requiring heavy maintenance (which 2501 won’t be receiving if it needs that).

Yes, that's the yard I was referring to.  There were several Xcelsiors parked closest to the street including 1909 with no license plates yet. 

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