General Transit Sightings

[newflyerinvero]

Some notes from Burlington and Hamilton today:

First off, I had rode Invero 7009-03 twice today. Once when it was on a regular LF trip on the 1/10. The next time it was in downtown Hamilton, leavning just a bit after 4:10pm. This was a rush-hour add-on trip, which is usually ran by a highfloor bus...Thinking that it was late, I boarded. but it wasn't late at all. I had founed out that at around 3:15 or so, a quick bus switch had taken place with the aformentioned Invero and Classic 7010-83. Classic 7010-83 remained on the LF trip on the 1/10.

Fishie fans...7047-82 was doing the 13 during PM rush.

From the HSR:

Rode 2 DE60LFR's on the 10!!! What are the odds?

Well the first I caught at the Bell Manor Loop at 3:20pm to Eastgate, right behind 8611, which was heading towards Levi Loop, signed as a "55A: Stoney Creek". I got off the first DE60LFR, 0616 at 3:30 at Eastgate.

20 minutes later, I come back to the stop and another DE60LFR, 0610 was there so I boarded it at 3:50pm. Also on the Beeline I do believe, two other Classics and possibly, another DE60LFR, which could've on the King or Beeline, wasn't sure.

Random fleets:

0721, 9906 on the 1/1A-King.

9803, 0607, 0605, 510310, another 03xx and a 97xx on the 2-Barton.

Rode 510511 on the 11-Parkdale. Smooth ride I gotta say.

An additional note for those interested....

Unless if I mind escapes me, I may have, or haven't yet, posted about seeing a particular Orion VI for the HSR, which doesn't have the "Wheelchair Access" wording to the left of the rear door. I'm in belief that all of these VI's and possibly the other LF's in the fleet would get re-painted and have the "Low Floor" wording or the "Wheelchair Access" decals. Kevin, are you aware of this, or are there others out there in the Hammer who has seen this...well, with 9909 anyways? I had seen that bus twice last week, both doing the 3-Cannon.

[newflyerinvero]

A special sighting of sorts....

I want to make sure that I'm as clear as possible.

First off....at 3:55pm, I saw both of Oakville's Orion I's, 881 (24, rare in itself and 883 on the 17. But a half hour later, either the sight in my right eye was going quarky or the sun was making it look like something else.

First off, when boarding 4113 on the 15-Bridge from the Oakville GO Station, I saw what I thought was an Orion I, based on the front portion of the bus where the first window, closest to the front door had the bend of a diamond of sorts. That was a true Orion I look alright. But here's where ti got interseting...

Upon leaving, when making a left turn, the Orion I, which wasn't in OT livery, was white on the door side. But what made it different as that as it was turning right out of the Go Station, it had a blue colour above the windows...a true YRT scheme of sorts. It made a fast turn, too, with the blue colour even above the back window. The back window was looking like a Orion I design.

Now, either this was either a Flyer D40HF which has a blue splash wrap above its driver-side window, I'm not sure...but as far as what the rest of the descriptions which I've given, it, to me was DEFINNITELY a YRT Orion I. Jan, or someone else within Oakville Transit, can you confirm or deny this?

[Aztek985]

Same old crap in Brantford. Today, 9044 on 1, 9064 and 9023 on 2, 9063 on 4C, 9941 on 6 , 9816 on 8. That's all I can remember.

[newflyerinvero]

GM New Look 7047-82, was seen leaving Appleby GO Station doing the 1/10 on a rush-hour add on. The trip in question was one of them which would last all the way until 11:45 at night. Long live the long-lasting fishie!!!

[Orion VIII]

GM New Look 7047-82, was seen leaving Appleby GO Station doing the 1/10 on a rush-hour add on. The trip in question was one of them which would last all the way until 11:45 at night. Long live the long-lasting fishie!!!

Today? On a holiday!

[general682002]

GM New Look 7047-82, was seen leaving Appleby GO Station doing the 1/10 on a rush-hour add on. The trip in question was one of them which would last all the way until 11:45 at night. Long live the long-lasting fishie!!!

You do know this is Victoria Day, which means BT never runs Holiday service.

[newflyerinvero]

GM New Look 7047-82, was seen leaving Appleby GO Station doing the 1/10 on a rush-hour add on. The trip in question was one of them which would last all the way until 11:45 at night. Long live the long-lasting fishie!!!

I had to have specified, but this was information from Friday, May 18th

And yes, still no holiday service. I suspect it'll be proposed for changes for this upcoming September though.

[newflyerinvero]

After a couple of false reports of seeing thsi bus in service, which it wasn't, or believing that it may have come close to retirement, the re-entering of service to GM Classic 7012-83, which was first spotted in service on Tuesday on Route 62-Headon GO Special. :angry:

I was on Classic 7002-85 at the time on the 15 and I could tell that 12-83 was running really well. She sounded very good. Excellent acceleration.

I've added a thumbnail below of that bus, which was taken by TTC_7084 on January 3rd, 2007.

[newflyerinvero]

A weird day for Saturday service:

Out of all the buses that I've seen today, you'd think that it was a weekday. Classics everywhere!

Here are the ones which were in service today and which routes they were on:

7015-83 and 7004-85 <---(LF) (15/11)

7005-85 <-- (LF) (11/15)

Note: D40LF 7033-06 was doing the highfloor trips for those routes...

7013-83, 7003-85 --> (LF) <-- 7016-83 (1/10)

Note: Invero 7019-03 was on a highfloor assignment for the 1/10

7010-83 (LF) <-- (3/2)

A very Classical Saturday in Burlington!

[Aztek985]

9911 was seen performing an accessibility violation today, replacing 9051 which obviously had vehicle troubles, on the 4A!

Otherwise, 9022 on 1 with 9818 tripper, 9054 on 2, 9061 on 4C, 9043 on 5, 9063 on 6, 9044 on 7, 9843 on 8, and 9901 on 9.

[BT Invero]

Buses I rode from yesterday:

GRT:

2301, 2306, 2307, 2310, 2603, 9417

When is 9417 getting a rebuild? It rides like its about to fall apart.

HSR:

0610, 0612, 0716 (3 times), 0719 (twice), 0722 (twice), 9808

The 25/26 had an artic heading northbound on the 25 around 2pm. The eastbound 41 around 3pm was a DE40LF.

[newflyerinvero]

9911 was seen performing an accessibility violation today, replacing 9051 which obviously had vehicle troubles, on the 4A!

Otherwise, 9022 on 1 with 9818 tripper, 9054 on 2, 9061 on 4C, 9043 on 5, 9063 on 6, 9044 on 7, 9843 on 8, and 9901 on 9.

Kyle, I'm not sure how it can be called an "Accessibility Violation" when really, the schedules don't specifiy that those trips are 'GUARENTEED ACCESSIBLE. Only in my mind if they are, then they'll be known as violations.

As far as Burlington goes, only a couple of 'violations':

First off, Orion V 7061-90 was on the 11/15's LF trips where as Invero 7025-03 was doing the HF runs for the 11/15. Opps...perhaps the drivers that morning didn't think about that.

Classic 7012-83 was a LF wann-be on the 1/10. Didn't see any other LF trips occupied by HFs on the 1/10.

There were 3 other Classics which were in service yesterday. Perhaps there could've been more.

7002-85 on the 12

7006-86 on the 3/2

7008-84 on the 2/3

(The 2/3 and the 3/2's trips that the Classics were on were both scheduled HF runs)

[TC60102N]

Kyle, I'm not sure how it can be called an "Accessibility Violation" when really, the schedules don't specifiy that those trips are 'GUARENTEED ACCESSIBLE. Only in my mind if they are, then they'll be known as violations.

Does it matter ? if The Scheduling Manager says its an Accessible Run, therefore it is an accessible run.

Brantford also hasnt had a new Ride Guide (or should I say Advertising Pamflet) since 2005.

[ORION]

Oakville Transit 1990 Orion V #901 suffered an engine fire during afternoon rush hour today. It was minor, but from the looks of it, is enough to put the bus out of service for a few months. Not sure if this one will get repaired quick, or if they'll wait for its rebuild time (which could quite possible happen because of the incident today).

It appears the fire was very minor, because I saw #901 in maintenance this morning, with some mechanics looking at it, and when I came back from lunch, it was parked in Lane 2, in the bus garage, ready for service. Looks like they had to just replace a few parts, and were able to save the engine. Quick and Cheap Fire Job might I add!

Edited June 12, 2007 by J. Boic
901 Update

[38 Highland Creek]

My first non-GTA sighting while I was away on a trip to Quebec City:

Kingston Transit:

0313,0519 (Both On Route 1 To Cataraqui Woods)

[newflyerinvero]

A note from Oakville:

Spotted 901 about to depart on Route 20 at 3:55pm at Oakville GO. I guess that fire may have been not really as recent as earlier reported.

From Burlington...not too much unusual around here except that every so often, HF's have been covering quite a few LF trips today. I did see one of them today, though:

Classic 7003-85 doing the 11/15's LF trips.

[ORION]

A note from Oakville:

Spotted 901 about to depart on Route 20 at 3:55pm at Oakville GO. I guess that fire may have been not really as recent as earlier reported.

The fire happened this past monday. It was just an electrical fire aparently, so minor parts were replaced, along with the battery. The bus seems to be running ok now...

[BT Invero]

anyone know what 51050x HSR D40LF they've recently wrapped? It's a blue-grey wrap and the fleet number above the front door is covered up by the wrap. Also noticed 510404 has a new ad on the driver's side that comes up above the windows in a few places.

[newflyerinvero]

I had noticed today at 3:55pm at Oakville GO Station, Oakville Transit D40HF #897 appeared to have a really time trying to start back up to leave. The engine, with not a normal sound of a regular running engine at all tried about 5 or 6 times to start up....and the sixth time was the charm as it got started. The driver pushed on the gas while the bus was in park to try and warm up the engine to keep it running.

I'm not sure if it did breakdown again while on the 24 (its assignment at the time) but if it did, it's destined for the maintaience area at the garage.

[buschic]

anyone know what 51050x HSR D40LF they've recently wrapped? It's a blue-grey wrap and the fleet number above the front door is covered up by the wrap. Also noticed 510404 has a new ad on the driver's side that comes up above the windows in a few places.

Could be 510503, which has been wrapped for Mapleview Mall for a while now used to be a Rolling Grape.

[newflyerinvero]

An update on how the Burlington fishbowls are doing...

yesterday, 1982 GM New Look 7047-82 was assigned to the 3-Guelph North/2-Brant South. Kind of unusual for it. Not only that but it was on one of the trips which starts in the early morning and lasts throughout the day, ending at the downtown terminal for 9:30pm yesterday evening.

Additionally, the 78 fishbowl returned to doing service on the 12, a horrible decision I think considering the 12's schedule. It started at 6:45am yesterday morning and would last until 10:15pm last night. I caught it at 5pm leaving Burlinggon GO and yes, it was terribly late...not really because of the schedule, but due to the fact that it was terrible slow, too.

In short, not a good conbination.

[general682002]

Went to the convention and visited a couple of systems that I've not visited for few years.

St. Catharines and Guelph have installed all of their security cameras on their buses. Guelph was reason to added because of the late night assult onto the driver about 2 years ago, which end up last 2 service shutdown immediately. St. Catharines would be the same reason.

[newflyerinvero]

Yesterday was considered as "holiday" across this country. Now, whether it applied to Burlington is anyone's guess. Therefore, the weekday service schedule was in effect, with the majority of the trips which were running were quite early, even the 12 for that matter.

So a special 'holiday' sighting. The 82 fishbowl was doing the 3/2 during the rush hour yesterday afternoon. That's probably the only time where a fishie's in service on a holiday.

An additional note. The Rolling Flower Pot, D40LF 7034-06, never got into second gear. The driver told me that the 'Check Engine and Check Transmission" kept on coming on the screen at his drivers' area. We got to as far as Harvester Road...well, just a bit north of there when mysteriously, the D40LF boomed to life going intio 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear, seemingly a few times. Once it passed Harvester though, the power just....well, died out.

Being conveniently close to the garage, a mechanic came along and tried the figure out what the problem was. No power, as it was determined. So, it was changed-off for Classic 7012-83. A much better time of it when it comes to a smooth transition from 1st to 2nd gear and so on.

[newflyerinvero]

Fishbowl update:

Back on Thursday, 47-82 was doing the 12 and it maanged to keep itself on time as far as the trip that I was on it for.

Today, being Saturday, one Classic in service from what I've seen. 14-83 was doing the 2/3's HF trips.

Meantime, 68-91 was on the LF trips for the 11/15 while 62-90 and 28-06 were both on the 15/11.

I gotta say....62-90...I rode it today and my god...I may as well consider that V as part of the "worst bus" category. It's really been taking a beating very recently, not really from the outside but the inside....during ride, EXTREMELY bumpy.

[38 Highland Creek]

When I went to Stratford to see Oklahoma!, I saw 0553 on #2 Downie.