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Nice! Will have to check it out next time I'm in the area. Would of gone today had I've known prior, most likely Monday now... What do you mean by a nasty camper? I've likely ridden the darn thing when I was 10. When did Winnipeg retire them? Same time as the fishbowls I presume, ~1999.

Jan 30 2008 394 on an Extra 60

Nasty Camper noun

  1. 1. An aging, slapped-together motorhome. Often have an interior with questionable hygiene, and out of date or tasteless decor.

    2. One who drives the above vehicle.

:rolleyes: No offense to anyone who drives a bus conversion. I dunno, I just made that up in order to convey the sight of this weird and half-assed conversion job on that bus. Maybe it was abandoned or being scraped. It could have been a scrapyard, and not a bodyshop.

I remember riding an old Calgary Transit Orion I back in the 80s. Being a little nerd who liked buses, I was amazed at the sliding plug doors at the back and the gigantic "uni-door" at the front. Very interesting in comparison to Edmonton's mono-fleet of Jimmies. Now I'm a big nerd who likes buses, and I was able to recognize that Orion as an Orion, and ex-Winnipeg (yellow with big orange checkmark).

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madsad, I think I know which bus you're talking about. It's been sititng there since at least August 2nd, 2006, when I came to the city.

Speaking of old busses, I recall seing 5 old trolleys at Winnipeg's Transcona Public works yard back in '03, across the street from an old CN steam engine on display.

Jan 30 2008 826 on an Extra 60

PS. Who views this thread 3800 times? That's crazy, there must be more Saskatoon are bus fans...

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madsad, I think I know which bus you're talking about. It's been sititng there since at least August 2nd, 2006, when I came to the city.

Speaking of old busses, I recall seing 5 old trolleys at Winnipeg's Transcona Public works yard back in '03, across the street from an old CN steam engine on display.

Jan 30 2008 826 on an Extra 60

PS. Who views this thread 3800 times? That's crazy, there must be more Saskatoon are bus fans...

These buses?

47770017.JPG

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That's them alright! You gys sure are good at spotting things. I always thought they were old trolleys though, odd to see white/green ones in there - not Winnipeg colours. Do you have more pictures by any chance? As I haven't seen then on barp.ca

Jan 31 2008 380 on Route # 5

Jan 31 2008 403 on Route # 6

Feb 1 2008 380 on an Extra

Feb 1 2008 377 on Route # 13

Feb 1 2008 824 on Route # 13

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I saw ETS 951 in service on Feb. 1st on Route 6 at about 4:45 pm at the downtown terminal. It had "Charter" on the sign, and a card in the corner of the window that said "6 Broadway."

Rode on a fishbowl myself on Route 11 that day, I had just got off of it when I saw 951. (Can't remember the number -- maybe 381??)

By the way, off topic, but does anyone know what type of engine and tranny the Classics and the fishbowls in Saskatoon have? I'm from Vancouver, and I think the fishbowls sound just like the D40s in Vancouver, but the Classics sound different from the Classics in Vancouver.

Just curious if someone knows.

The fishbowls are mostly 6V71N engine and V-730 transmission. The 8XX GM's might have the VS2-6 transmission. I don't remember what year they are right now.

Early Classic's are the same as the fishbowls. Newer ones might be 6V92TA and V-731.

Me or Peter probably have more info on our websites, www.barp.ca and www.busdrawings.com

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I saw ETS 951 in service on Feb. 1st on Route 6 at about 4:45 pm at the downtown terminal. It had "Charter" on the sign, and a card in the corner of the window that said "6 Broadway."

That sounds like the one I saw S/B on Idlewyld ~1pm. I was in another bus going West on 20th, but couldn't get its # since he was just approaching the intersection. Those electric display signs sure look nice, we only get them on the newer NFI's here.

PS. Fishbowls are rare on Route 11 for some reason, maybe because its a fancy Airport run. I've only seen a fishbowl on it once.

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madsad, I think I know which bus you're talking about. It's been sititng there since at least August 2nd, 2006, when I came to the city.

Speaking of old busses, I recall seing 5 old trolleys at Winnipeg's Transcona Public works yard back in '03, across the street from an old CN steam engine on display.

Jan 30 2008 826 on an Extra 60

PS. Who views this thread 3800 times? That's crazy, there must be more Saskatoon are bus fans...

Well there PNG, I've spent a LOT of time in Toon town over the years, so it's a gimme for me to want to keep up to date on things, memories eh?

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A link would be nice...

When I left in July of '05 Winnipeg was just getting INVERO's (new NFI's). I remember riding one of the first ones on Route 60, the interior was cramped and rear doors wouldn't open do to some failure. It was quite a mess compared to the good old reliable bus. Oddly I ride them all the time in Saskatoon now and don't have a problem at all!

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A link would be nice...

When I left in July of '05 Winnipeg was just getting INVERO's (new NFI's). I remember riding one of the first ones on Route 60, the interior was cramped and rear doors wouldn't open do to some failure. It was quite a mess compared to the good old reliable bus. Oddly I ride them all the time in Saskatoon now and don't have a problem at all!

It's in the same forum as this thread! But OK... here it is, you will see the Saskaoon thread and the Winnipeg thread pretty close to each other in the list right now... http://www.cptdb.ca/index.php?showforum=2

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Thanks for the link.

Feb 5 2008 386 on Route # 5

Feb 5 2008 392 on Route # 12

Feb 5 2008 384 on Route # 13

Feb 5 2008 394 on Route # 6

Feb 6 2008 391 on Route # 6

Feb 6 2008 377 on an Extra

Feb 7 2008 377 on Route # 13

Feb 7 2008 386 on Route # 21

Feb 7 2008 394 on Route # 13

Feb 12 2008 394 on an Extra 60

Feb 12 2008 392 on Route # 3

Feb 12 2008 733 on an Extra 5

I've been looking at the all-time roster lately... Anyone know why we had two Orion's? Were they for some kind of low-traffic route that has since been cut? Downtown shuttle? Can't do very much with a fleet of two...

I think I'll keep track of D40's as well now, so weird since they're so common in Winnipeg. Rarer then the ex-ETS Jimmy's on Saskatoon streers...

Perhaps this page can somehow be integrated with the wiki page? All it says is "Still in service?" for the fishbowls, yet I've seen 28 running over the last couple of months with 371 being the oldest unit. Same thing for the purchased ETS busses, there's at least three running!

Also... is there a reason we don't have a historic collection like they do in Winnipeg & Edmonton?

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I rode on coach 0801 today on route 11 Exhibition -- left the airport around 4:35 pm, and it smelled new inside. It was in the blue livery. Oddly enough, I saw an '02 DART bus the other day (Friday I think) on route 2. Maybe some of these new '08 buses will be DARTs as well. Can someone confirm this??

I think that the capital budget for this year had, as approved, a Transit utility request for 6 buses. I'm guessing that 02 DART bus will be repainted blue, sometime in the (probably distant) future.

They shouldn't be running DART buses on regular routes, though...it confuses the whole brand identity of DART as a value added service.

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I'm pretty sure I've seen DART busses with reglar route numbers a couple times as well, when they're running as extras during rush hour. Just like the fishbowls, i.e. you'd see Route 14 in Sutherland, #60 Extra often class himself Route #6 etc. etc.

Feb 12 2008 402 on Route # 13

I haven't seen the 800's yet, NFI 40's I presume...

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I'm pretty sure I've seen DART busses with reglar route numbers a couple times as well, when they're running as extras during rush hour. Just like the fishbowls, i.e. you'd see Route 14 in Sutherland, #60 Extra often class himself Route #6 etc. etc.

Feb 12 2008 402 on Route # 13

I haven't seen the 800's yet, NFI 40's I presume...

I assume they are D40LFR's or DE40LFR's? Interesting!

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I assume they are D40LFR's or DE40LFR's? Interesting!

I checked the capital budget, and transit requested $1.63 million for "replacement buses". This could mean 4 diesels or two hybrids. I'd say that the four existing hybrids will be one-off, and it is highly unlikely there will be more added to the fleet. There are some other capital dollars floating around in this budget. A few hundred K for replacement and refurbishing, and $6.5 million for bus purchases until 2012... if I'm reading this correctly.

It is nice that Stoon Transit is so transparent and forthcoming about this stuff, that we have to piece it together from observations and budget documents. :P

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I checked the capital budget, and transit requested $1.63 million for "replacement buses". This could mean 4 diesels or two hybrids. I'd say that the four existing hybrids will be one-off, and it is highly unlikely there will be more added to the fleet. There are some other capital dollars floating around in this budget. A few hundred K for replacement and refurbishing, and $6.5 million for bus purchases until 2012... if I'm reading this correctly.

It is nice that Stoon Transit is so transparent and forthcoming about this stuff, that we have to piece it together from observations and budget documents. :P

Hell, at least Saskatoon usually posts tender documents for any new busses :)

Martin and others are also forced to go thru council meetings and budget items to discover what is happening ETS wise too, and even when we have a tender, things change, change big time...

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Is it pretty easy to find those Ex-Edmonton Fishbowls in service during a weekday?

Not really, generally they appear to be last resort busses. Just check my observations to see how rare/common they are compared to Saskatoon's own fishbowls. Search #'s 992, 951 & 983 in this thread respetively. So far they only appear to be common on Routes 21/22 and 70/80 extras for the afternoon rush hour. Since I don't personally take any of those busses I can only speak from casual observation.

This brings up a sad point - how many fishbowl's will be axed now that the new units have arrived? How long do they have to go? Maybe the two D40's will go first?

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I meant does anyone know why the D40s aren't being used much.

Lack of spare parts I'm guessing. There's only 4 units to begin with, as opposed to ~35 for fishbowl's, hence when they break down its not a problem, as opposed to the D40's that might be out for good.

I'd say they're used just as often as some of the older Jimmy's, i.e. 371, 377 and other units.

Although I don't generally keep track of the D40's, since they're not as cool as the fishbowls, they often work as #5 Extra in the mrning rush hour.

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