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MT0603

By MT0603
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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, MatthewGr said:

Does anyone know what’s going on with 9611

All 9600's are retired.

It may have been used in a fire training exercise.  There should be a reference to a 9600 series bus used that way in this thread over the past 12-18 months.

I think 9611 and 9618 were the last two, 9618 lasting the longest.

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edison

edison

Posted
Posted
On 3/6/2018 at 1:45 PM, MatthewGr said:

Gilligs are overall good buses. I hope Nfta gets another contract with them because there very good buses. 

The issue is the down time to maintain the body. The Nova's have far less down time, and hold up better to accidents, again making less down time.  

On 3/6/2018 at 2:07 PM, map.man (Darrin) said:

Does anyone know why we've never managed to get BRT Gilligs for a try in Buffalo?

Mainly because of the extra length. It made it easier to maintain similar one style vehicle as well.

11 hours ago, map.man (Darrin) said:

There's a number of routes that the NFTA runs that I think could benefit from artics.  Seeing the crush load on the 23-Fillmore/Hertel at times has me scratching my head.  Though, a lot of this is a result of cancelled trips, not just high ridership.  The 3-Grant though, it's not safe trying to meander through all the narrow West Side streets with an artic.

Although it's a better topic for the UB Stampede thread, I'll throw in my two cents and say that I agree.  If not mistaken, they chose 35' ElDorados.  Why did they not get 40's?

Also, what's with the frequent use of 2-car train service on the Metro Rail?  Seeing crush load capacity around 7:00am during school days, and it's standing room by the time it leaves Amherst Street, through to Utica.  Are we short trains?

They tested an Ottawa New Flyer back around 2010, and it seemed to be ok on the 3-Grant plus all the loops. However having to retrofit the garages to accommodate an articulated bus was a problem.They also claim that there is a higher cost to own, one example I was given was the center turn table. 

8 hours ago, I Alam said:

I think the 23 should get another service increase before articulated buses. 

As for the Stampede although I’m not sure as to why they got 35ft buses, my guess is that the 35ft buses were cheaper, and the 35ft buses have a shorter turning radius which is extremely useful when the buses go through the Ellicott tunnel and drive through mall parking lots for their Mall and Market buses. 

 

They brought a 30ft bus to demo to UB. UB was happy with the bus capacity compared with the old units, 60 with the All American and 53 with EZ-Rider. But it all comes down to contract price.

8 hours ago, RailBus63 said:

Have the 2000-series Nova's always run at the weekdays-only garages?  I don't recall ever seeing these in weekend service, which may explain their long lifespan.  There were numerous properties who had issues with their late 1990's LFS's and retired those buses a while back.  The Gillig Low-Floor may or may not be as rugged as the LFS, but it is impressive that NFTA got 15 years or more out of the 2001 and 2002 fleets.

2000's ran weekends early on. I remember seeing a picture of one on Bus Explorer running the 25-Delaware along with a 9600 on Colvin on a Sunday. That is when Cold Spring was the 7-day garage. Remember the 2100b's (2121-2141) have had the same luxury of having weekends off for the most part as they run out of Babcock.

49 minutes ago, MatthewGr said:

I thought 9611 or 9618 were being kept and saved as a historic bus. I saw one 2 weeks ago on cold springs property. Also what’s the South Park terminal used for. 

9611 is still parked behind Cold Spring. Been sitting there since August 2016. Some windows are open exposing it to the elements. I think 9618 was used for fire training. It isn't on any of the properties and don't recall it going up for auction.

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edison

edison

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, MatthewGr said:

I hope they keep and restore the nova classic for history that was the last nova classic in the USA. Also does anyone know why NFTA doesn’t offer Staduim game day shuttles.

Budget reasons. They say it is too costly. They cut the 97-Darien Lake shortly after cutting the stadium shuttles. RTS in Rochester used to run stadium service as well.

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Transit geek

Transit geek

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MatthewGr said:

Also does anyone know why NFTA doesn’t offer Staduim game day shuttles.

Not to be confused with special Metro Rail service to KeyBank Center for Sabres games. http://metro.nfta.com/Routes/HSBCService.aspx

Oddly enough, the above page makes no mention of Special Events station itself, even though it is shown on the map.

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MatthewGr

MatthewGr

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Transit geek said:

Not to be confused with special Metro Rail service to KeyBank Center for Sabres games. http://metro.nfta.com/Routes/HSBCService.aspx

Oddly enough, the above page makes no mention of Special Events station itself, even though it is shown on the map.

Thank you 

5 hours ago, edison said:

Which was a bargain especially if you lived in Niagara Falls! Or anywhere really.

Tell me about it plus the stadium is kind of a distance away from the city and Niagara Falls 

5 hours ago, edison said:

Budget reasons. They say it is too costly. They cut the 97-Darien Lake shortly after cutting the stadium shuttles. RTS in Rochester used to run stadium service as well.

Sucks riders should be able to take buses to stadium to eliminate some of the traffic from the bills games

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RailBus63

RailBus63

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, map.man (Darrin) said:

As with most models, the earlier ones are usually built, needing improvement (which occurs).  Except for the old AM Generals in the 70s - 80s.  Those just sucked from the start to the end.

The later AM General buses actually were improved.  Boston's MBTA bought 90 of them in 1978 that were much better than the 1976 buses and ran in service for 12 years.

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, RailBus63 said:

The later AM General buses actually were improved.  Boston's MBTA bought 90 of them in 1978 that were much better than the 1976 buses and ran in service for 12 years.

 

Compared with other buses of the 70's, I'm kind of surprised.  A number of GMC "fishbowl" buses maintained 20+ years for a number of agencies.

Interesting discussion to ask...were the 1976 GMC Suburban buses purchased removed from service prematurely?  I'm thinking of the timeline when the Orion's came in (600-series) and they disappeared shortly afterwards.  AFAIK, I don't remember wheelchair lifts on the 600's Orions, so the ADA accesibility issue wasn't part of it, correct?

 

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Quartzquiz

Quartzquiz

Posted
Posted

Actually the AM Generals were excellent in the snow. I recall many a Buffalo winter in which the 4000 numbered Metropolitans were running frequently with the fishbowls because the 5000 and 6000 numbered RTS's kept getting stuck. For some odd reason I was rather fond of the Generals.

I do recall the 1976 suburban fishbowls being retired not too long after the 700s came in. The 700s would be used in weekend runs to Niagara Falls because they had wheelchair lifts.

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I Alam

I Alam

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, MatthewGr said:

100 million dollars is being asked for to upgrade and make over the metro rail does anyone think that money is worth a make over? 

Yes, it definitely is. The whole system is dark and depressing.

Also on a side note, I found this old video about making Nova buses and it mentions that the buses are designed to last 20 years. At this point, it seems that it's going to be true. 

 

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, MatthewGr said:

How else is a subway supposed to look underground it’s dark right? The subway line isn’t even that long in all seriousness. 

Being that it's underground has no bearing on how light (or not so light) it should be.

If the NFTA cleaned the lenses and changed expired bulbs more often on the ceiling lights, the subway would be rather bright.  As of this time too, they're changing a number of the ballasts on the track levels to LED lighting, which will be brighter, and need to be changed a lot less.  Amherst Station is a prime example of the dramatic improvement in lighting.

Originally part of a multi-line system (see https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Niagara_Frontier_Rapid_Transit_Plan),  the plan was to extend the services to outreaching areas of the Niagara Region.  Regrettably, governmental assistance in getting this to reality changed, and we were stuck with the present system.  I remember the time before the Metro Rail system opened, and remember the 8 Main running three different schedules; for the city of Buffalo, out to Transit Road, and out Niagara Falls Boulevard.  In addition, a "limited" service operated on the 44-Lockport via Main Street to the Metropolitan Transportation Center, the 9-Parkside complemented 8-Main service from Florence to the Marine Drive apartment complex, the 13-Kensington operated two different schedules from Delavan and Ferry Street to the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, as did the 10 West Utica and 12 East Utica from Utica.  The 7 Baynes bus also ran from Allen to Downtown, although ending at Franklin & Swan.  The 8-Main bus operated every few minutes from the city line into downtown during rush periods, and it was common seeing a giant thread of buses back to back from Utica to Downtown.  I can't imagine the tax on the present system if the rail line was to shut down for an extensive period due to reconstruction.  The NFTA shrunk the fleet size and number of drivers that I feel it would be impossible to recreate the past service levels to keep up with the passenger's demands.  The rail system efficiently moves the masses from University to Erie Canal Harbor, with less manpower needed.

 

I also remember the 32-Amherst "limited" from Delaware into Downtown Buffalo, and the 30-Kenmore "limited" too.  They were all geared to operate as a 25-Delaware "special" from the outer terminals in the morning (usually 2 trips) and outbound as "30F" and "32F" trips (usually around 4:45 and 5:15pm).  These trips eliminated the required transfers at Delaware Avenue to get to Downtown, and were the straightest and quickest shot into Downtown.

A much different system.

 

 

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, MatthewGr said:

Does anyone know why buffalo doesn’t have a Busway system

Dunno, but am curious when and how the BRT system is going to run here.

 

I thought the Niagara corridor would have started by now.  In addition, there's this curiousity if the Kenmore portion would be a part of it, or would it be separated, and go back to the #30 line.  It's surprising that about ten-fifteen years ago, the 30 Kenmore barely had Saturday service (>60 minute waits), and the Sunday portion was in it's infancy (with even longer waits...if it was even offered at the time).

 

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