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LA Transit - Lethbridge, Alberta


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Spent a day in Lethbridge yesterday photographing buses and trains and stopped by the LA Transit Garage. I noticed that 1985 GM Classic #128 and 1988 MCI Classic #130 were parked and stored outside with the retired Fishbowls. I was informed that these two Classics were retired from service, but apparently the shop now has to get them ready and return them to service for the September route changes. I believe there is some expansion with this as well as they may even be returning 4 Fishbowls to service as well. 1976 T6H-5307N #'s 101, 119, 1980 T6H-5307N #'s 124 & 125 are the candidates apparently.

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  • 1 year later...
I believe there is some expansion with this as well as they may even be returning 4 Fishbowls to service as well. 1976 T6H-5307N #'s 101, 119, 1980 T6H-5307N #'s 124 & 125 are the candidates apparently.

Lethbridge Transit 125 (Fishbowl) was returned to service in September. It is the only active fishbowl. The other three are still at the back of the garage and have not re-entered service. The friendly garage staff pulled out 125 for me and a friend during a visit this week and I will post the photos when I return.

Five Nova LFS buses are on order for September (yes Novas, not New Flyers).

Kevin

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Lethbridge Transit 125 (Fishbowl) was returned to service in September. It is the only active fishbowl. The other three are still at the back of the garage and have not re-entered service. The friendly garage staff pulled out 125 for me and a friend during a visit this week and I will post the photos when I return.

Five Nova LFS buses are on order for September (yes Novas, not New Flyers).

Kevin

Interesting! Thanks for the update Kevin! Did you by chance find Classic #'s 128, 130 in service at all? I am wondering if they did in fact return to service.
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Did you by chance find Classic #'s 128, 130 in service at all? I am wondering if they did in fact return to service.

Classic 128 was definitely in service as I got a shot of it inside the garage. Classic 131 is out back with a "do not move" sign on it, so I would assume that it is done.

I did not get the numbers of the other active Classics but am working on obtaining a roster. The Classics are used strictly on school specials which all pulled out of the garage while I was out back getting pictures of the fishbowl !!

None of the Classics then came downtown so I could not obtain any other numbers of the active units.

Kevin

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  • 2 weeks later...
Here is the shot of Lethbridge Transit # 125, taken at the garage on May 12th. This bus will probably be retired in September when the Nova LFS buses arrive.

Kevin

Hi Kevin! Great shots as usual! Did you know those bumpers are from Ex-Winnipeg Transit 1960 GMC TDH-5301 #271 ? Not originally of course. But WT put those bumpers on 271 during rebuild in early 1980's. 271 was sold in 2000 to a private owner in Red Deer and then since sold it to owners in Calgary. Who then traded with LA Transit for some steel bumpers.
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  • 4 months later...
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New buses ready to roll

Written by Dave Mabell

Thursday, 26 November 2009

They don’t run faster, but they look sleeker. So it will be easy to identify the city’s newest transit buses.

Five low-floor NovaBus vehicles were unveiled Thursday as the newest in the LA Transit fleet, allowing several aging General Motors coaches to be retired — for a second time — while providing extra capacity for planned route improvements.

“Getting them will make a significant difference for us,” says Wade Coombs, manager of transit planning and schedules.

With ridership and route frequency increasing, he says, LA Transit had to place a high-floor “Classic” coach back on the Indian Battle Heights route this fall — in addition to the normal low-floor service on Route 32. Two of the “new-look” GM coaches, actually older than the GM-design Classics, were also taken out of retirement to cover school runs.

They’ll be mothballed again now that the NovaBus additions have been made. The European-style coaches are the city’s first from NovaBus, a Volvo subsidiary based in Saint-Eustache, a northern suburb of Montreal.

Along with a new aerodynamic design and paint scheme, the buses feature air conditioning, high-back padded seats, a wider front entrance and brighter destination signs.

City council approved their purchase earlier this year when the NovaBus tender came in lower than New Flyer, builder of all the other full-sized, low-floor buses plying Lethbridge routes.

LA Transit increased peak-time service on the well-used Indian Battle Heights route to four trips an hour this fall, Coombs said. The new coaches were expected earlier this fall, just after Lethbridge routes began their fall and winter frequencies.

Coombs says two of the coaches are needed to replace two of the city’s oldest buses — now in use, but usually held in reserve — while two will cover recent route upgrades and one is needed for more Westside route improvements next fall. With new homes being completed in many western neighborhoods, LA Transit needs to provide service to SunRidge, Copperwood and the newest areas of West Highlands.

Bus service will also be required to the new Crossings community when two new high schools open there next fall.

http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/content/view/119619/110/

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No. I can't remember what I did yesterday let alone remember something posted 6 months ago. :P

Nova is backed up about 3 months then? ... not too bad considering all the production they have on the go.

(I guess they could have been delivered on time but Lethbridge took a bit to put them into service too)

"brighter destination signs"... they probably have Axion signs then as the last batch of New Flyers had Luminator Horizons.

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I plan on going down there in the spring at some point. Someone else might beat me to getting down there more than likelyWhen ya comin? I still have yet to meet you!

Next time I come to Alberta will probably be for a farewell to Calgary New Look charter IF there is one organized by the locals :rolleyes:

I will be at the MBS weekend in Vancouver in April. If you're going to that as well, I may see you there.

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Next time I come to Alberta will probably be for a farewell to Calgary New Look charter IF there is one organized by the locals :P

I will be at the MBS weekend in Vancouver in April. If you're going to that as well, I may see you there.

Ditto. Won't be back for another few years once it settle.

Enjoy! You'll like it there!

I wonder how well it will stand out on the LFS with the current livery. IIRC also, they've stop putting the side sign on the bottom section rather top.

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  • 1 month later...

Well I finally spotted one of the Nova's in service this weekend in west Lethbridge, haven't checked if the shots I got turned out yet though. The livery is different from the older buses, still the blue and yellow but instead of flat lines along the body they now curve and twist

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