Border City Transit Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 3 hours ago, map.man (Darrin) said: These? http://www.americanseating.com/transportation/products/insight-prime Lots of complaints from passengers due to discomfort. Similar. New DDOT buses use Freedman Aries seats... same as the ones in @alisonc 's picture, only with neutral gray plastic rather than blue. Years ago, DDOT (along with many other systems) had a problem with bed bugs infesting seat fabric. Though they've cleaned up dramatically, the public still perceives the fabric seats as "dirty". The shift to plastic seats actually came from overwhelming public request. Personally, I don't feel strong one way or the other. I was hoping for padded vinyl seats -- a good middle ground. The plastic seats are a little harsh but they're bearable. I preferred the fabric -- I didn't find it dirty, it was slightly more comfortable and generally "warmer" -- but I acknowledge that the plastic seats "feel" cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
map.man (Darrin) Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 15 minutes ago, Border City Transit said: Similar. New DDOT buses use Freedman Aries seats... same as the ones in @alisonc 's picture, only with neutral gray plastic rather than blue. Years ago, DDOT (along with many other systems) had a problem with bed bugs infesting seat fabric. Though they've cleaned up dramatically, the public still perceives the fabric seats as "dirty". The shift to plastic seats actually came from overwhelming public request. Personally, I don't feel strong one way or the other. I was hoping for padded vinyl seats -- a good middle ground. The plastic seats are a little harsh but they're bearable. I preferred the fabric -- I didn't find it dirty, it was slightly more comfortable and generally "warmer" -- but I acknowledge that the plastic seats "feel" cleaner. Trust me when I say, I've heard horror stories about the fabric seats on the buses here. Can someone say....ew? The ones I had mentions are a hard resin material, and when a bus (even new ones) hit a substantial bump in the road, you feel it. Broke my tailbone over the winter, and lucked out with getting a driver that actually requested a bus with padded seats so that I could bear the one + hour ride into Buffalo on the Thruway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border City Transit Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 OK! Pleased to report that the brand new 1900-series New Flyer XD40 buses are now hitting the streets. At press time, about 6 units are on the prowl -- all currently out of Shoemaker division (Eastside routes). 25 total 40-foot units are due this year, plus 5 artics. These sport a totally different paint scheme: much less gaudy than the "starburst" wrap seen on many other Xcelsiors, yet much more up-to-date than DDOT's old olive-and-yellow. Reliable sources tell me that New Flyer missed a few little details. For example, the DDOT "paper clip" logo and the fleet number are supposed to be DARK green... not the medium green that almost disappears in the background. Hopefully they fix that. Nothing that $200 of decal work won't take care of. There's a few other minor things I'd adjust. On the front: the three-section panel immediately below the windshield... it'd be cleaner if ALL THREE sections were white. Looks kind of out-of-sync how the wiper ports are white but the middle is green. On the whole, though, these are the sharpest buses DDOT has deployed in recent times. Enjoy! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion6025 Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 How many of the 2004-2005 D40LF are expected to make it after this delivery of XD40s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border City Transit Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 13 minutes ago, Orion6025 said: How many of the 2004-2005 D40LF are expected to make it after this delivery of XD40s? Not sure yet -- as there's some minor service expansion going on. The fleet is growing slowly but steadily. I'd guess about 40-45 D40LFs will remain after this order. They are scattered 4100-4200 units; the 3900 units are all gone by now. I'll snag a few pics. The "old" New Flyers in DDOT's fleet are plenty tired, but they're pretty reliable and I rather like riding them. They're spacious, solid and still sound good. It was DDOT's first major order with Cummins engines. I'll actually miss them when they finally retire. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
140 Southshore Posted July 31, 2019 Report Share Posted July 31, 2019 https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/07/29/federal-emissions-grant-detroit/39819881/?fbclid=IwAR0bw0dS-4DuqBGyrh-llwb_J4ZVMjFo7XRDHGnUwJndTpMLw4BMg9w0x6w This explains why RPTC Bay 6 has been closed - it's most likely to install a charging station, as I read elsewhere that the 29 Linwood is to be run with electric buses in the future. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisonc Posted August 1, 2019 Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 Gilbert Terminal 1900s have entered service -- @ShadowFoxNixill and I both saw 1905 on the 2 Michigan this morning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowFoxNixill Posted September 20, 2019 Report Share Posted September 20, 2019 I saw 1914 and 1960 for the first time today, welcoming the Detroit Youth Choir back to the city. The destination signs read, in full: CONGRATULATIONS WELCOME HOME! DETROIT YOUTH CHOIR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border City Transit Posted December 28, 2019 Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 There are only 5 artics for 2019 (1960-1964), but they are out in force! At this point, it looks like they're all at Shoemaker -- they make frequent appearances on 4 Woodward, 6 Gratiot and sometimes 17 Eight Mile (which is split with Gilbert). I'm actually not sure if any artics are currently assigned to Gilbert -- though they badly need them for 3 Grand River. In any case, here are some recent field captures: 1960 on the home stretch of its southbound trip. Notice the flock of other Xcelsiors approaching in the offing: 1960 again, after finishing the layover on Third and beginning its northbound trip: 1963 on northbound Woodward after a light rainfall: A blurry encounter with 1964... but it accentuates the reflective decals that give these buses their very distinctive appearance -- even in a hurry, even in weak lighting: Finally, improved bus stop signs are slated for new/adjusted routes in 2020 and beyond. Here's a new sign, in a new location, on a new route! A 2010 New Flyer D40LF is completing its trip in the background: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
140 Southshore Posted October 2, 2020 Report Share Posted October 2, 2020 Service has stopped due to a labor dispute. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/10/02/ddot-bus-service-stops-due-to-driver-labor-dispute/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border City Transit Posted October 2, 2020 Report Share Posted October 2, 2020 1 hour ago, 160 Downriver said: Service has stopped due to a labor dispute Hard to tell if there's any specific issue beyond COVID. I try to take a fair, levelheaded approach with labor disputes. In this case, being somewhat familiar with DDOT, I am inclined to side with the drivers 110%. Their pay is the lowest in the industry (starting rate of $12/hour, top rate under $19/hr?! Wtf?) and their working conditions are awful. Beyond that, the mayor actively treats the bus system like a joke. He is overtly disdainful toward those who run it. He'd rather chase capital dollars to build big shiny projects so he can attend more ribbon-cuttings. Get your head out of your a$$, Mikey. Time to treat your transit team like the essential professionals that they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
140 Southshore Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 An agreement has been reached, and service resumes tomorrow. https://www.wxyz.com/news/ddot-reaches-agreement-following-walkout-drivers-to-return-to-work-monday 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
140 Southshore Posted November 20, 2021 Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 As of November 15th, DDOT has modified service due to driver shortages. The 11, 26 and 47 have been suspended, along with parts of the 38 and 43. Other routes are operating on reduced schedules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrimeTio Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 2205 should have arrived by now from Alabama 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrimeTio Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 Apologies for the late response but the trip which the driver was slated to do got canceled on Tuesday, so I’m not sure if 2205 has arrived from a different driver. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border City Transit Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 36 minutes ago, PrimeTio said: Apologies for the late response but the trip which the driver was slated to do got canceled on Tuesday, so I’m not sure if 2205 has arrived from a different driver. Omg did they seriously mess up the color of the decals again? By design, the paint scheme involves three shades of green. The darkest green was always intended for the DDOT "paper clip" logo and the vehicle number. The 1900s missed it completely. They use "middle" green for all decals and they're all very hard to see. Inadequate contrast. The 2000s got it right -- dark green in both places. They used the right font for the numerals, too. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo -- but it looks like 2205 is wearing proper fleet number decals, but they somehow reverted to the middle green paper clip. Ugggggggh. I know the 1000-series D40LFs are due for retirement -- but I am hoping the end is near for the miserable, soul-crushing Gilligs. Mercifully, the one and only order that DDOT had (well, a set of diesels and a set of hybrids in the same year...) Thanks for the intel. I wasn't even sure there would -be- 2200s. Any idea how many? Any more artics on deck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrimeTio Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 On 2/11/2022 at 1:41 PM, Border City Transit said: Omg did they seriously mess up the color of the decals again? By design, the paint scheme involves three shades of green. The darkest green was always intended for the DDOT "paper clip" logo and the vehicle number. The 1900s missed it completely. They use "middle" green for all decals and they're all very hard to see. Inadequate contrast. The 2000s got it right -- dark green in both places. They used the right font for the numerals, too. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo -- but it looks like 2205 is wearing proper fleet number decals, but they somehow reverted to the middle green paper clip. Ugggggggh. I know the 1000-series D40LFs are due for retirement -- but I am hoping the end is near for the miserable, soul-crushing Gilligs. Mercifully, the one and only order that DDOT had (well, a set of diesels and a set of hybrids in the same year...) Thanks for the intel. I wasn't even sure there would -be- 2200s. Any idea how many? Any more artics on deck? They’ve been messing up orders of different agencies as well. Ever since COVID hit everything has been slow at new flyer. When our 2021 XDE60s arrived 2-3 months ago, they were fitted with so many issues and already had coolant leaks when they first arrived. The livery on our new buses are also kind of off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrimeTio Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 2201 should arrive within 1-2 hours from now. Delivery drivers I know snapped us these photos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrimeTio Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 2201 arrived yesterday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 Several of the 4100-series New Flyers have been flat-bedded out in recent weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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