2018 Standard 40' Bus Procurement

[GORDOOM]

1 hour ago, Large Cat said:

I think the "EXPRESS" PR code in the destination signs should serve this function very well. The problem is, the company has never mandated when it should or should not be used, so drivers turn it on and off ad hoc and to their own preference. Sometimes they forget to turn it off and so you get "Express" N17s and so on. I think that's a major reason why the express branding has lost its meaning. At the very least, I think the company should make the PR code change automatically at the same time the destination sign changes to/from an express route, while allowing for drivers to override it temporarily to add a more important PR (Bus Full, etc.). It would still take a while for passengers to start trusting that it means anything though. But it's important, because even some policies (request stop on non-express routes after 9pm, for example) depend on whether the bus is officially express or not at that time. 

Why not do one better? Get rid of the "EXPRESS" PR message, add a full-height "EXPRESS" or "B-LINE" to the route code (but keeping the route # in place, which you can't do with a PR message!), and then add a generic "EXPRESS" route code for use for unscheduled express buses?

I'd also do the same thing with the "bus full" message, and have the bus simply display "BUS FULL / DROP-OFF ONLY" rather than display route information at all.

[Brando737]

The RFP currently just says TBA for both "awarded to" and "proposals received from".  Curious why this seems to be taking so long with not much information available.

[buizelbus]

On 3/20/2017 at 4:07 PM, Brando737 said:

The RFP currently just says TBA for both "awarded to" and "proposals received from".  Curious why this seems to be taking so long with not much information available.

 

[Express691]

On 23/02/2017 at 4:43 PM, Brando737 said:

The closing date for the RFP has been extended to March 14th.  Curious if a manufacturer hasn't got back to them yet.

Been hearing from very reliable sources (Operators, procurement team, media) that this was done to help facilitate the decision whether or not the order for the initial 93 buses would include charging ports and roof fairings.

[buizelbus]

46 minutes ago, Express691 said:

Been hearing from very reliable sources (Operators, procurement team, media) that this was done to help facilitate the decision whether or not the order for the initial 93 buses would include charging ports and roof fairings.

But has the bid been won?

[Ninja Bus Fan]

12 hours ago, buizel10 said:

But has the bid been won?

[buizelbus]

12 hours ago, Ninja Bus Fan said:

-snip-

Pranked. FACEPALM.

[buizelbus]

Just a quick update:

 

[Express691]

All 2016 XN40 are in service as of April 14. 16047 BOed halfway through its shift.

https://tcomm.bustrainferry.com/mobile/bus/16047

[cleowin]

3 hours ago, Express691 said:

All 2016 XN40 are in service as of April 14. 16047 BOed halfway through its shift.

 

https://tcomm.bustrainferry.com/mobile/bus/16047

I bet 16047 will be the first 2016 xn40 to be retired lol

[Express691]

1 hour ago, cleowin said:

I bet 16047 will be the first 2016 xn40 to be retired lol

I just realized that I posted in the wrong thread. WOOPS

[Brando737]

Not 100% confirmed as I don't have this information directly from the source, but STC looks to be getting 54 XN40s by the end of the year.  Take this with a grain of salt until we have a solid confirmation.

[GORDOOM]

45 minutes ago, Brando737 said:

Not 100% confirmed as I don't have this information directly from the source, but STC looks to be getting 54 XN40s by the end of the year.  Take this with a grain of salt until we have a solid confirmation.

Will the CNG fuelling station be done by then?

[Brando737]

3 hours ago, GORDOOM said:

Will the CNG fuelling station be done by then?

They've been working on it since late last year so I would say yes.  When they built the new fuel island, they configured it to install CNG in the future so it's not a huge job to add it.  

[cleowin]

More curiously, where are these 54 cng's coming from for the end of this year? Isnt the order for 2018?

[Brando737]

3 hours ago, cleowin said:

More curiously, where are these 54 cng's coming from for the end of this year? Isnt the order for 2018?

I would assume these would be from the 2018 order.  The person I got this information from changed thier wording a bit today.  The first of these 54 buses are expected to start arriving by the end of this year so probably December with them entering service early next year similar to the 16000s at HTC.  They got thier information from a reputable source, but they can get the incorrect information at times as well.  Hence why I said grain of salt.

However, Translink seems to be wanting to replace deisel with CNG and trolleys with fully electronic buses such as XE40s.  I'm only getting this information through conversation and not from anyone official at this point.

[Express691]

Technically the Pilot bus for that order isnt expected until March 2018, with the rest arriving in August 2018 according to the RFP document highlights on page 1. I guess whoever won the contract may have been pushed to start production a bit earlier

[cleowin]

My guess is this order will 1=1 retire all the near death d40lf's?

[GORDOOM]

1 hour ago, Brando737 said:

However, Translink seems to be wanting to replace deisel with CNG and trolleys with fully electronic buses such as XE40s.

Isn't that completely backwards, though? Shouldn't they be using battery-powered buses to replace diesels/hybrids and leaving the trolleybus network intact for now?

[Dane]

Given the trolleys are not due for replacing for like a decade I wouldn't get too concerned about comparing an evolving essentialled untested technology with a capital project that's ten years away. 

 

While certainly not impossible it also seems seems far fetched to believe that a 54 bus Translink order could get bumped up in time; manufacturers are doing quite well with order volume so deliveries have been basically as soon as there's available capacity to build. 

[cleowin]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QATxfcSBCNxTo69ScBB5o1OXoG2Vt43TKmfDn0N5h_4/edit#gid=0

Updated end of 2017 projections (XN40's will not all arrive by end of 2017, but included them for simplicity sake).

[Brando737]

From the minutes of the board meeting today.  The RFP's for this order, I'm guessing, for 94 40' and 52 60' are in the final stages of being awarded.

Also funding has been approved for an additional 105 buses (94 40' and 11 60') to be with the RFP.  These are expansion buses and will all be hybrid.  I would assume that these expansion buses will replace the "retired" buses being put back into service in September on top of adding more to the system.

On a somewhat related note, CNG expansion at STC will be completed for September so we could see some CNG buses out of STC by then, nothing confirmed, just a reasonable guess.

[buizelbus]

4 hours ago, Brando737 said:

From the minutes of the board meeting today.  The RFP's for this order, I'm guessing, for 94 40' and 52 60' are in the final stages of being awarded.

Also funding has been approved for an additional 105 buses (94 40' and 11 60') to be with the RFP.  These are expansion buses and will all be hybrid.  I would assume that these expansion buses will replace the "retired" buses being put back into service in September on top of adding more to the system.

On a somewhat related note, CNG expansion at STC will be completed for September so we could see some CNG buses out of STC by then, nothing confirmed, just a reasonable guess.

I thought this closed in March?

 

Anyways, hope Nova win, I really am getting sick of Xcelsiors even though I love them. Hope Richmond's gets something other than Xcelsiors, D40LFs and 3rd gen LFS HEVs.

[Millennium2002]

These bids are not decided instantly and on a whim of personal preference... Remember that the loser will want a valid reason as to why theirs was rejected - otherwise the agency will be subject to a lawsuit for bias and will seem out of touch in public with respect to transparency, budget, and accountability. It's much better to spend the time and go through each bid thoroughly rather than to rush it and regret the costly mistake later.

[Large Cat]

Things I want to see in these buses:

-no more straight diesels, except for PTC-bound Burnaby Mountain artics if those are included. The XD40's have really bad reviews from drivers on top of being worse for the environment and louder than the XDE and XN's. Did they just buy the Richmond XD40's to try them out? If so, they have their answer for future orders.

-fast kneeler/ramp switches (no delays before lowering, etc)

-air conditioning, although it seems like a given at this point. 

-rapid mode controls for all of the 40 footers (and retrofit all the others! we need all door boarding ffs!)

-keep using push bar rear doors

-more control for the driver over the electric front door's involuntary 'reset' motions (a safety problem introduced with the Xcelsiors)

Other than that, I actually couldn't care less which company wins the bids. It would be cool in a way to still have a diversified fleet, although on the other hand I do sort of like the idea of a full set of different Xcelsior variants doing everything, but in the end it's not that important. The paint scheme we have is good enough to make the fleet look uniform and attractive once the older paint scheme buses are retired. (sorry, the Orions' paint scheme just looks hideous to me. And I won't cry when buses like B8010 are retired ).