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Réseau de transport de Longueuil


tristan

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To offer the same capacity with 40 footers, more buses and more drivers will be required = $$$... no dice! Transdev must be rubbing their hands with glee. They wanted to pick off this contract. Remember those fancy decalled coach buses that they bought for the occasion. The vultures are circling the prey! Farewell forever RTL lol!

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  • 2 months later...

Claude Davidson, driver at RTL, was deadly hit by an army pickup this afternoon in front of his colleagues in an accident on A-10 in Carignan. RTL employees and their family chartered vehicle 21227. They were heading towards Mégantic mountain.

Knowing there are RTL employees among fellow board users, I would like to offer you my most heartfelt condolences.

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Claude Davidson, driver at RTL, was deadly hit by an army pickup this afternoon in front of his colleagues in an accident on A-10 in Carignan. RTL employees and their family chartered vehicle 21227. They were heading towards Mégantic mountain.

Knowing there are RTL employees among fellow board users, I would like to offer you my most heartfelt condolences.

That is really awful to hear. :( My condolences are offered as well.

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Good! A huge waste of money! I hope it never sees the light of day.

Actually, the RTL is rather dump IMO in this situation. Either they left a lot of governement money on the table for this project OR they missed the boat and the cash is now elsewhere (read here hybrid bus)

They are benifits to have a SAEIV system. Know in real time where you have problem in your network, know in real time the load you have in your bus. RTC "Renforts" drivers love the system. Before, they would be given all the time points

over the radio for trips that they would fullfill in replacement of other drivers. Now, control room simply sends the schedule into the driver console.

Sadly, since the system is operated by humans and management, they are always that "Big Brother" factor that is sadly unavoidable.

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Sadly, since the system is operated by humans and management, they are always that "Big Brother" factor that is sadly unavoidable.

I rather avoid that "big brother" breathing down your neck. The system we have now is fine except that bus distribution machine at GALO is a nightmare. I hate it will a passion.

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I am for modernity and I would like to see positive changes occur in this company but let's be honest. Most RTL drivers can adhere to schedule; most of our routes are not frequent service; we don't have significant instances of gapping or run cuts. The status quo, do-nothing approach seems to have won the day. The truth appears to be that with the dismantling of AMT and creation of successor organizations ART and RTM (?), management is evaluating whether "the other guys" will pay for it. I wouldn't mind real-time detours on a screen to follow but they are effectively doing this with the on board radio system. A major system like STM deserves this sort of technology where anything can happen at anytime but we are admittedly small potatoes at RTL and clearly don't deserve this plum.

It is sad to say but it is the bean counters that run the show in transit today, and not the driver's union (as is often portrayed in the conservative news media).

I would rather see improvements to actual service delivery than gaudy marketing campaigns a la STM.

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Two RTL buses rear ended each other during AM rush Tuesday morning. The end result is 21403 with bad front end damage and 9-919 running its last shift ever, as the rear end frame is cracked and it has been retired out back as of this afternoon.

http://www.lecourrierdusud.ca/faits-divers/2016/3/1/collision-entre-deux-autobus-du-rtl.html

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Too bad! 9-919 had a one off interior and stood out from the rest of the lot. I will miss this bus.

In other news, 21227 is back at Garage Longueuil albeit not in service. This was the vehicle that ended up in the ditch of autoroute 10.

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In other news, 21227 is back at Garage Longueuil albeit not in service. This was the vehicle that ended up in the ditch of autoroute 10.

Some minor paint damage, scratches and a few broken lights. Shouldn't be too long before it gets back on the road.

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Two RTL buses rear ended each other during AM rush Tuesday morning. The end result is 21403 with bad front end damage and 9-919 running its last shift ever, as the rear end frame is cracked and it has been retired out back as of this afternoon.

http://www.lecourrierdusud.ca/faits-divers/2016/3/1/collision-entre-deux-autobus-du-rtl.html

If 9-919 was a first-gen, it probably won't be missed.

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The 99 series were fantastic and some of the best buses we have. They will surely be missed. It's that POS hybrid that rear ended it that won't be missed.

Why is the hybrid POS? Well, I would like to contribute a few reasons:

1. The driver is forced to floor it all the time and brake late just to keep it on time on the 6

2. The lousy acceleration and lack of overall speed has left me sprinting for the outbound train at St. Lambert at least twice a week.

3. The engine sounds like a troll...

4. It struggles to start in the snow, and it brakes weird (jolting and lurching) when the road is slippery, bringing the backside of any vehicle ahead ever so closer

5. Almost every bus on the !#/$!"/%#@>:( 6 is a hybrid!

Will the cost of getting a new set of batteries for the whole fleet offset the fuel savings? I doubt it. They might look at the accounting and decide to switch back to pure diesel when people complain about subsidizing the cost of new batteries through their monthly pass...

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Why is the hybrid POS? Well, I would like to contribute a few reasons:

1. The driver is forced to floor it all the time and brake late just to keep it on time on the 6

2. The lousy acceleration and lack of overall speed has left me sprinting for the outbound train at St. Lambert at least twice a week.

3. The engine sounds like a troll...

4. It struggles to start in the snow, and it brakes weird (jolting and lurching) when the road is slippery, bringing the backside of any vehicle ahead ever so closer

5. Almost every bus on the !#/$!"/%#@> :( 6 is a hybrid!

Will the cost of getting a new set of batteries for the whole fleet offset the fuel savings? I doubt it. They might look at the accounting and decide to switch back to pure diesel when people complain about subsidizing the cost of new batteries through their monthly pass...

The route 6 is a wheelchair accessible route so it will be almost 100% hybrids with the occational 2012 bus if you're lucky. I avoid driving this route at all costs! Basically I avoid any routes that could give me a good chance of driving a hybrid. The fuel savings are next to nothing if that. So having hybrids is purely for publicity to show to public the RTL is environment friendly when it really makes no difference if we still ordered diesel buses.

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  • 2 months later...

Hey guys, RTL route 100 (Chevrier - Ile des Soeurs via Terminus Panama) will be abolished shortly, so you guys have less than two weeks to get your final rides and photos.

No news yet about the fate of AMT Express Chevrier (route 90) as operated under contract by RTL. I regularly attend the union meetings so once there is news, I can post it here. No decision has been made so it is best not to engage in rumours.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 15/06/2016 at 10:25 AM, SMS said:

Hey guys, RTL route 100 (Chevrier - Ile des Soeurs via Terminus Panama) will be abolished shortly, so you guys have less than two weeks to get your final rides and photos.

No news yet about the fate of AMT Express Chevrier (route 90) as operated under contract by RTL. I regularly attend the union meetings so once there is news, I can post it here. No decision has been made so it is best not to engage in rumours.

Last buses ever for route 100: 20538 in AM rush and 2-0240 in PM rush.

A friend and I posed my bus (2-0238) on various stops for route 100 this afternoon. The stop flags are still there. It remains to be seen whether the RTL forgets to remove the 100 from destination sign programming!

Some good news for RTL though: AMT is working on extending the reserved bus lanes on Boulevard Taschereau in Brossard between Rome and Matte Boulevards. Once completed, we can expect faster service for routes 33 and 77. 

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  • 3 months later...

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