dj.surf.lfs Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Yes the new Novas will feature all side facing seats on the low floor portion, similar to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaBus123 Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Yes the new Novas will feature all side facing seats on the low floor portion, similar to this. I'll lose faith in T.B.T. if they include 2 forward-facing seats in front of the front wheel-well instead of one side-facing seat. I like that seat and wouldn't like the idea of facing the wall . But at least they're changing the seats and the layout, which is nice. Addition: I've noticed there's a lot of commotion at City hall today when I stopped there. There were many police officers and there was even one cruiser parked on Donald St where a bus should be.. I saw a person with some sort of sign, but there weren't enough people and too many police officers for it to be a protest. Does anyone know what's happening? Because im too lazy to check the news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vid Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Transit is considering updating its fare structure. If approved, fares will raise by small amounts annually instead of large amounts sporadically. Here is what the new fare structure will be if this proposal is approved: Single ride: $2.65 Family Day Pass: $10.50 10 Tickets: $24 20 Ride Pass: $40 Youth/Senior Monthly Pass (under 17, over 60): $53 Discount Monthly Pass: $63.50 Monthly Pass: $74 The monthly pass will function as a family pass on Sundays and Holidays, an annual Seniors pass may be approved for $477 dollars, and Transit will introduce the option to purchase up to three monthly bus passes at a time, on-line. Smart cards are being looked into. http://ctbpub.thunderbay.ca/ctbapps/nonlinecorprpts.nsf/dc478bb8f932d41085256afd0054df18/59ef9446f9d4c62f85257aec00699494?OpenDocument Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted February 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 New stuff on the capital budget this year: Intelligent Transportation Systems - $50,000 ($70,000 for 2014 an $1.6 million for 2015) Scheduling Software - $200,000 Smart Card Technology - $30,000 ($135,000 for 2014 and 2 million for 2015) New Centralized Transit Terminal - $425,000 Transit Shelter Improvement Special Project - $250,000 (new stop designs to meet the city's Streetscaping Guidelines and accessibility standards) P.S. Google Transit is now available (you can't see the bus stops on the map but can perform origin-destination searches). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted February 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 After playing around Google Transit, there seems to be one fatal problem with connections at the terminals. Here's what's wrong: For Google Transit to recognize a connection between two buses at the same stop, the first bus must arrive at least 1 minute before the other bus leaves. In the case of Thunder Bay, since all routes are scheduled to arrive and leave Waterfront and City Hall at exactly the same time (with no layover time), these buses are NOT treated as connections (for example, the Airport bus arriving City Hall at 10:45 is NOT treated as a connection with the Mainline leaving at 10:45). The exception to this is for routes that interline, in which case Google tells you to stay on the bus. This forces Google to suggest routes that are excessively long (45 min~1 hour) which may also involve long transfers at stops without shelters, unnecessary walking, or 30~45 minute long transfer at the terminals (Example - note the 45 minute wait at City Hall). One way to solve this is to add 1 minute of layover time at the terminals for every route (bus arrives 10:44, leaves 10:45). This way Google recognizes that connections are possible and will plan routes accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alizycaplon Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 That's 100% right thunder Bay Transit are most cheapest mean of transportation in town. Toronto Airport Limo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbaytransit Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 3 new babies arrived last night. Check out the new seating arrangement. Interesting fact: after Disney World saw our seating arrangement at Nova in Laval, they ordered the same layout for their buses. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g7wiumwocyhfq6y/POyuZNHahI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion VIII Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thanks for the photos. That sure is a lot fold-up seating. Are these buses for service expansion or fleet renewal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 That sure is a lot fold-up seating. The high number of fold up seats is designed to accommodate the high number of strollers (many of them in the oversized SUV category) that continue to clog up aisles and take up wheelchair spots during peak times, even though official policies require strollers to be folded during peak times (or wait for the next bus) and prohibit oversized ones (over 24 in wide x 48 in long) onboard. Attempts to enforce these rules have been met with ignorant and one-sided complaints from parents (in this case of the linked article, internal investigations found that the mother chose to walk when the driver said she would be let on the bus only if she folded her strollers, because the wheelchair spots were full). Nonetheless they were bad PR and TBT finally had to give in by putting folded seats, and thus adding more room for strollers. Back on topic... Only 5 front facing seats in the entire bus... That's 14 less than the original layout contained in the tender. I personally think it's an overkill for a system the size of TBT, but we'll see how it goes. It would be a godsend during peak hours on the Mainline or Memorial, that's for sure. And the fold-up seats have more paddings, so that's good. One immediate issue I see is the lack of stanchions for the sideway seats - there is nothing for the sitting passengers to grab onto if the bus makes a sudden stop or a quick turn. The challenges now would be to encourage people to actually sit beside one another as well as to not leave belongings on the seats beside them. I also wonder how seniors/disabled passengers would find a seat when all the low-floor seats are folded and taken up by parents and their SUV strollers (which seem to be the only real winners of this layout change). Glad to see the tradition of red-colored seats for priority seating, I hope the wheelchair riders won't complain too much for riding facing backwards though. The fleet number of the pictured unit seems to be 20174 (from the paper sign on the front windshield). So they're skipping fleet numbers again... Are these buses for service expansion or fleet renewal? They should replace 3 of the 4 '99 Orion VI's, or 117 and 2 VI's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vid Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 117 is already off the road. y this time next year, we won't have any Orion VIs running either. They've been using the VIIs a fair bit lately, since 117 isn't in service anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted March 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 http://cfapps.thunderbay.ca/TenderDocs/9201/14-2013%20Image%20Route%20and%20Transit%20Shelter%20Enhancement.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted March 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 117 is already off the road. y this time next year, we won't have any Orion VIs running either. Looks like 117 may still be alive, just found a YouTube video of it on the 3 Airport that was uploaded last Wednesday (Mar 20). Not sure when exactly it was filmed, though. Can anyone confirm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaBus123 Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Looks like 117 may still be alive, just found a YouTube video of it on the 3 Airport that was uploaded last Wednesday (Mar 20). Not sure when exactly it was filmed, though. Can anyone confirm? Hmmm, I saw 117 on the 4 Neebing on Friday coming home from school. I thought it was gone as well, but apparently I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayer Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 Hi guys, I'm new to the chat. I love checking out transit, especially in TBay and Toronto. Just wanted to say that I saw 117 in action today around 3:30. It was heading south bound on golf links and turned into the college. Not sure what route it was running, traffic was heavy and I couldn't catch it. I figured it was long retired, any idea why its still in service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayer Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I know I'm probably going to date myself, but does anyone on here remember the stickers on the back of the old GM Fishbowl buses? WHEN I STOP.....CAN YOU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vid Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 I vaguely remember those. Might have been on a different vehicle though. 172 is in service now, so I would assume 117 is out of service. I haven't seen it for weeks but other people have, so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayer Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Hi Vid, I saw 117 in service on March 23, so I guess she's still kicking... hopefully they retire all those ugly orions 1st, never been on one but they are not nice to look at. I was in Minni this past weekend and their transit system is expanding and seems to work really well. They are using a number of hybrid-electric buses that look really cool and their LRT line is nice. It runs from downtown all the way out to Bloomington. We also spent some time in St. Paul and it appears that they are building a connection to LRT service to access the heart of downtown St.Paul. Does anyone agree with me that if the rail line through the city is abandonded, that this would be a perfect location for a Thunder Bay LRT line. The line could run from the north end of the city (Port Arthur) from around the Boulevard area, past the Marina and Waterfront district, through Intercity with stops at/near the Transit building, Wal-Mart complex, Greyhound station, Intercity Shopping Centre, McIntyre Mall and then continue into the south end (Fort William) and have stops at some of the major intersections like Northern, Victoria, Arthur, Waterloo and into Westfort and even link up with a stop at the Airport as its southern terminal. Anyone have an opinion, please let me. I know its a dream, but I think it would be pretty cool and well-used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armorand Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Hi Vid, I saw 117 in service on March 23, so I guess she's still kicking... hopefully they retire all those ugly orions 1st, never been on one but they are not nice to look at. I was in Minni this past weekend and their transit system is expanding and seems to work really well. They are using a number of hybrid-electric buses that look really cool and their LRT line is nice. It runs from downtown all the way out to Bloomington. We also spent some time in St. Paul and it appears that they are building a connection to LRT service to access the heart of downtown St.Paul. Does anyone agree with me that if the rail line through the city is abandonded, that this would be a perfect location for a Thunder Bay LRT line. The line could run from the north end of the city (Port Arthur) from around the Boulevard area, past the Marina and Waterfront district, through Intercity with stops at/near the Transit building, Wal-Mart complex, Greyhound station, Intercity Shopping Centre, McIntyre Mall and then continue into the south end (Fort William) and have stops at some of the major intersections like Northern, Victoria, Arthur, Waterloo and into Westfort and even link up with a stop at the Airport as its southern terminal. Anyone have an opinion, please let me. I know its a dream, but I think it would be pretty cool and well-used. Although thats an amazing dream, sadly Thunder Bay wouldn't have the cash access to fund it, nor the population density. A Northern Ontario extension of the GO system would probably be a good alternative though. Kenora - Dryden - Fort Frances - Thunder Bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion VIII Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Although thats an amazing dream, sadly Thunder Bay wouldn't have the cash access to fund it, nor the population density. A Northern Ontario extension of the GO system would probably be a good alternative though. Kenora - Dryden - Fort Frances - Thunder Bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vid Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 I actually made a map just like this (it's in this thread but I'll re-post it), and it was seen by people at both Transit and Genivar (the people doing our transit overhaul) and Bombardier, which suggested Thunder Bay could be the location of an LRT prooving ground; an experimental line through the city to test out new Bombardier LRT technology. So it is more possible than you think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAverageJoe Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Vid, I saw 117 in service on March 23, so I guess she's still kicking... hopefully they retire all those ugly orions 1st, never been on one but they are not nice to look at. I was in Minni this past weekend and their transit system is expanding and seems to work really well. They are using a number of hybrid-electric buses that look really cool and their LRT line is nice. It runs from downtown all the way out to Bloomington. We also spent some time in St. Paul and it appears that they are building a connection to LRT service to access the heart of downtown St.Paul. Does anyone agree with me that if the rail line through the city is abandonded, that this would be a perfect location for a Thunder Bay LRT line. The line could run from the north end of the city (Port Arthur) from around the Boulevard area, past the Marina and Waterfront district, through Intercity with stops at/near the Transit building, Wal-Mart complex, Greyhound station, Intercity Shopping Centre, McIntyre Mall and then continue into the south end (Fort William) and have stops at some of the major intersections like Northern, Victoria, Arthur, Waterloo and into Westfort and even link up with a stop at the Airport as its southern terminal. Anyone have an opinion, please let me. I know its a dream, but I think it would be pretty cool and well-used. BRT at best would work for Thunder Bay with limit stop service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayer Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 Those maps are really cool, that would be an amazing system for TBay... lol we can dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted April 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/04/03/tby-new-transit-bus-design-thunder-bay.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
902 Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 Although thats an amazing dream, sadly Thunder Bay wouldn't have the cash access to fund it, nor the population density. A Northern Ontario extension of the GO system would probably be a good alternative though. Kenora - Dryden - Fort Frances - Thunder Bay. What? Do you even realize how far Thunder Bay is from Toronto? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaBus123 Posted April 7, 2013 Report Share Posted April 7, 2013 So I had the opportunity to ride the British House of Commons on wheels (172), and I have to say I was a bit intimidated by the experience. To start off, the seats on the lower part are shaped differently (these seats curve outwards as opposed to the old seats which curve inwards), so I can only imagine how I would react if the bus suddenly stopped (or accelerated). Every time the bus slew down, sped up, or turned, I would be in fear of falling off. Since there was no one sitting beside me on either side, I felt intimidated because I could fall off at anytime. If that wasn't enough, there were also no bars to grab onto on the drivers side. So if I wanted to move to another seat or alight, and the bus suddenly stopped, you could bet I would go flying. There are accessibility issues as well. I observed the handicap areas, and they had the bar in between the two ends. A handicap person wanting to settle in those areas, would be difficult to achieve because of this. Overall, this was a bad move for Thunder Bay Transit. Not to say that the bus is bad, as the look of it is sexy! With the nice blue lights inside and all. I just find that the seating arrangement was perhaps not planned that well. I mean, they did an incomplete job as they still had some of the old styles of seats alongside the new ones. This is uneven. I honestly think that Thunder Bay Transit should perhaps reconsider amending this seating arrangement, and look into it a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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