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Orion VII NG/EPA10


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Add Sonoma County Transit to the list of California operators receiving Orion VII NG buses - they are to receive 12 40' CNG buses, some of which are currently at the Oriskany, NY plant undergoing final assembly. The START Bus system in Stanislaus County will also be receiving 10 40' Orion VII NG CNG buses in May.

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Reposting from other forum....

Just an update on the bidding of the NYCT/MTA Bus 135 (40 foot) CNG fuel bus order base contract... The winner unfortunately is Orion Bus. Whoppie, not. New Flyer still blacklisted again.

The Orion VII Next Generation CNG fuel bus assignments: 90 will go to NYCT and 45 goes to MTA Bus; subject to change.

They will be replacing the remainder of 1995, 1998 Orion V buses. The delivery of the buses probably begins towards the end of this year or 2011.

Then theres an option order... not looking forward to that.

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The MTA clearly has two preferred bus suppliers now - Orion and NovaBus (just like in the 1990’s). The fact that both have assembly plants located in New York State is likely part of the explanation, but I believe it also has to do with both suppliers being willing to work with a large and important customer like the MTA. For whatever reason, New Flyer did not have a good relationship with the authority. We don’t know the details, so it’s unfair to speculate on politics or other reasons being behind this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder how an Orion VII with an additional roof shroud is able to be designated as a "BRT" bus. The "BRT" idea should be applied to an entire system — dedicated busways, stations, etc that provide faster bus speeds than conventional systems — rather than a bus with a number of fancy items added on.

It just goes to show that the definition of "BRT" is being stretched too far these days.

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Add Sonoma County Transit to the list of California operators receiving Orion VII NG buses - they are to receive 12 40' CNG buses, some of which are currently at the Oriskany, NY plant undergoing final assembly. The START Bus system in Stanislaus County will also be receiving 10 40' Orion VII NG CNG buses in May.

Replying to my own post, I know, but Sonoma County has begun to take delivery of some of their Next Generation Orion VII CNG coaches. The rest will be delivered in October.

You can see some pics here: http://www.sctransit.com/ and watch the slideshow towards the bottom.

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Sorry if this was mentioned already.

I was watching a video by ttc2353 on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyD_Y7XiDlQ) of a 2010 Orion VII NG diesel demo, and noticed that the corners of the windows were rounded off, similar to the frameless windows found on New Flyer and Nova low floors. If anyone knows, will this be the standard for all EPA 2010 NGs, or will it be offered as an option/alternate to the existing "squared" frameless windows?

-Ryan

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Sorry if this was mentioned already.

I was watching a video by ttc2353 on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyD_Y7XiDlQ) of a 2010 Orion VII NG diesel demo, and noticed that the corners of the windows were rounded off, similar to the frameless windows found on New Flyer and Nova low floors. If anyone knows, will this be the standard for all EPA 2010 NGs, or will it be offered as an option/alternate to the existing "squared" frameless windows?

-Ryan

Your talking about the tip-in window then, I'm thinking that may be the new standard (remember, the old ones has little opening).

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Maybe it's just me, but I really don't care for the shape of the grille on the back of the Orion VII. It's so...weird. Couldn't Orion have created a more rectangular shape instead?

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Maybe it's just me, but I really don't care for the shape of the grille on the back of the Orion VII. It's so...weird. Couldn't Orion have created a more rectangular shape instead?

Yea I think it should be more rectangular too. When I first saw it on the OG I didn't like it

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Maybe it's just me, but I really don't care for the shape of the grille on the back of the Orion VII. It's so...weird. Couldn't Orion have created a more rectangular shape instead?

sure.

there's nothing underneath that forces it to be that shape.

it's just someone's concept of high style.

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I think it's time to design an Orion Viii. Just one rule, don't let anyone that designed the Vii, design the Viii. The Vii design leaves so much to be desired both from a driver and a passenger perspective, I can't speak to maintenance to the perspective but I'm sure any mechanic employed at a TA would be glad to see some Vii in the fleet, they're great job security for them, especially hybrids. :rolleyes:

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I think it's time to design an Orion Viii. Just one rule, don't let anyone that designed the Vii, design the Viii. The Vii design leaves so much to be desired both from a driver and a passenger perspective, I can't speak to maintenance to the perspective but I'm sure any mechanic employed at a TA would be glad to see some Vii in the fleet, they're great job security for them, especially hybrids. :rolleyes:

all i'm gonna say is all that fibreglass and glue make for a shitty interior.

they squeak and rattle more than the V's with 700 000 km on the clock.

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all i'm gonna say is all that fibreglass and glue make for a shitty interior.

they squeak and rattle more than the V's with 700 000 km on the clock.

I've never been on an Orion VII. Is it common for them to rattle and squeak or does it depend on the TA's specs and maintenance?

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I've never been on an Orion VII. Is it common for them to rattle and squeak or does it depend on the TA's specs and maintenance?

The stuff that seems to cause the most noise are the fibreglass panels above the driver's head, above the front doors,

the overhead fusebox and the dashboard itself- all of which are a standard configuration.

I'd reckon other properties' 7s are just as bad.

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I think it's time to design an Orion Viii. Just one rule, don't let anyone that designed the Vii, design the Viii. The Vii design leaves so much to be desired both from a driver and a passenger perspective, I can't speak to maintenance to the perspective but I'm sure any mechanic employed at a TA would be glad to see some Vii in the fleet, they're great job security for them, especially hybrids. :)

So, you're saying that the TTC, MTA and WMATA shouldn't be involved?

You're cutting out well over 50% of your target market right there...

Dan

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The stuff that seems to cause the most noise are the fibreglass panels above the driver's head, above the front doors,

the overhead fusebox and the dashboard itself- all of which are a standard configuration.

I'd reckon other properties' 7s are just as bad.

Agree, esp. the older generation where that grey plastic interior wall is very cheap!

Other properties are bad as well.

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So, you're saying that the TTC, MTA and WMATA shouldn't be involved?

You're cutting out well over 50% of your target market right there...

Dan

From what I understand the committee of TA's that compiled that report didn't have any input in the design of the Orion Vii design but rather Orion built the Vii to be compliant with the desired spects of that report. That's very different to having the TTC or any other TA help engineer an individual bus design, either way the best option is just to look at the competition and see what they are doing and try to do the same or better.

Don't forget the exterior pannels that rattle loudly when the NG's are idling, and who could forget all the small side panel doors, like the Fuel door, that chafe and fall off with little use, or the rear tail lights that fall out, etc, etc...

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From what I understand the committee of TA's that compiled that report didn't have any input in the design of the Orion Vii design but rather Orion built the Vii to be compliant with the desired spects of that report. That's very different to having the TTC or any other TA help engineer an individual bus design, either way the best option is just to look at the competition and see what they are doing and try to do the same or better.

Don't forget the exterior pannels that rattle loudly when the NG's are idling, and who could forget all the small side panel doors, like the Fuel door, that chafe and fall off with little use, or the rear tail lights that fall out, etc, etc...

All of which were initially secured with that same damned resin glue.

when they get more plentiful, have a look at the 8100s rear turn signals.

It's well hidden, but they're now held by screws and bolts.

In time, I think all of them will eventually be bolted when the glue inevitably lets go.

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All of which were initially secured with that same damned resin glue.

when they get more plentiful, have a look at the 8100s rear turn signals.

It's well hidden, but they're now held by screws and bolts.

In time, I think all of them will eventually be bolted when the glue inevitably lets go.

Ya I did notice that when I got close to one the other day. It's so typical of Orion these days, they design a part or parts, they come loose so they simply start adding screws rather than a 'true' fix. This has been happening since 2003 when the interior panel right aft of the front door started to become loose. To fix that problem all of the 74-7800's got four screws drilled into that panel. So I figured when we got the 7900's they would have come up with a better solution but they hadn't and even the NG's all have the same four screws. There are other examples of stuff like this and all I can say is I'm tired of this crap!

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