Saskatoon Updates

[GMC T6H-5307N]

7 hours ago, j@den5766 said:

Does anyone have an idea where they send buses after they retire? 

Three options: 1) If they are involved in an accident and make a claim with SGI, then the bus goes intact to Affiliated Auto (a scrapyard near Martinsville) for resale via SGI. 2) The bus gets sent for scrap with most usable parts removed. 3) The bus gets sent to Merrill Dunes as a prop in their yard! They’ve got lots of our former fleet up there!!

[j@den5766]

Where do they scrap the buses?

[tim gueguen]

Saw Vicinity 1712 on the road yesterday.  It was on 8th Street with the sign saying "University Only."

[tim gueguen]

And now I've seen 1713.  It was running on Route 3 this afternoon.

[GMC T6H-5307N]

445 and 448 retired

103, 104, 105, 108, 112, 449, 450, 451, 452, and 454 are all dead. Doubt any will return to service 

Active classics are now 102, 107, 109, 110, 111, 115, and 116

Vicinity’s fleet numbers are 1712 thru 1715, and 1816 thru 1819. There are two orders but the buses seem to be identical, with the exception of the 1800’s having two wheelchair ramps at the front and rear doors!

1803 is off the road after a good collision with a pickup truck on March 22nd

[tim gueguen]

Gotta catch them all!   It was 1715's turn today to service Route 3.  That makes sense, since the current version of Route 3 seems to be pretty low traffic. I've wondered for a while if they won't be used a lot for Route 15, which presumably has few riders most of the time.

[j@den5766]

I just noticed that the wiki hasn't been updated in a while... Also I got to ride 1817 today on the 3/9. Really smooth ride but if you're 6'4 like me its a bit tough to fit in the back lol

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

On 4/18/2018 at 3:02 PM, GMC T6H-5307N said:

445 and 448 retired

103, 104, 105, 108, 112, 449, 450, 451, 452, and 454 are all dead. Doubt any will return to service 

Active classics are now 102, 107, 109, 110, 111, 115, and 116

So that's the end of end era for the original Saskatoon Classics then I guess!

[GMC T6H-5307N]

112, 451, 452 have been confirmed retired, their fareboxes have been stripped out recently.

817 is now retired, she had a system failure on December 20th, 2017. She is now being parted out.

448 was involved in a total loss accident on March 12th with a car and sustained serious damage to retire it.

All Vicinity’s are in service now, hearing mixed reviews of them. Some love them, some hate them. I hear they are slow and I hear they are fast! But seems like they are doing well out here!

Dont know if I mentioned this, but 1008-1011, and 1201-1202 have been removed from the active fleet, and were transferred to Access Transit. Access ran them for a short amount of time and parked them. Last time I saw an arboc out was 1011 running for Access in December 2017.

600’s are almost done rebuild, and now the 700’s are on their way out. 702 and 710 have retuned and are back on the road. 

I will update the wiki once 613 retuns from rebuild, I haven’t forgotten about the wiki guys! Just waiting until there’s more to add!

Active classics (as of Friday, April 27th, 2018):

102, 107, 110, 111, 115, and 116

Dead classics (not yet confirmed retired):

103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 449, 450, and 454

[Ashley65655]

Crestline says its bus was Declined by Selkirk MB Council

[Benton Harper]

2 hours ago, Ashley65655 said:

Crestline says its bus was Declined by Selkirk MB Council

Would this not be a Selkirk post?  No reason for it being here

[tim gueguen]

Having ridden a Vicinity my take on them is that they seem kind of cramped.  The seats appear to be narrower than the seats on the 40 foot buses.  They've been running them on the Route 2 and 10, which seems a bit odd, as those buses can pick up pretty heavy passenger loads at times.  One good design choice is that the seats that are located where a wheelchair parks simply flip up.  The latched front seats on the 40 foot buses sometimes are a bit difficult to unlatch.

[Articulated]

During a visit to MTB today, spotted 0703 and 0704 in the middle of refurbishment. 708 was sitting outside, and should probably be heading back west shortly.

[GMC T6H-5307N]

573, 583, and 9504 (not pictured) have been sent out to Merrill Dunes paintball. They’ll make some good props! They were surprisingly intact for the most part!

Active classics are 102, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 115, and 116... down to 8 buses. Next month will see the death of a few of these as their safeties will expire.

449 is in the shop getting 573’s(?) engine installed for the charter on June 2nd

[thager]

How many ex Calgary classics are still in service.

[kevlo86]

As noted above 449 was the charter bus for the June 2nd charter. Here is a short video at the University of Saskatchewan.

 

[A. Wong]

Saskatoon Transit 1712 at Confederation Mall

[SidneyTransitfan]

Made it to Saskatoon tonight, at long last. Hoping to catch the Classics out and about over the next few days.

Any updates as to which ones are running and which ones aren't?

[GMC T6H-5307N]

9 hours ago, SidneyTransitfan said:

Made it to Saskatoon tonight, at long last. Hoping to catch the Classics out and about over the next few days.

Any updates as to which ones are running and which ones aren't?

Active units are the following:

102, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 115, and 116

[STO_1601]

On 6/11/2018 at 11:00 AM, GMC T6H-5307N said:

Active units are the following:

102, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 115, and 116

I saw you updated the wiki and said 110 & 111 are retired or stored (leaving only 6 units left).

Do you know when the last Classic is due up for retirement?

The same thing is happening in Gatineau we only have the ex-Calgary Classics left for the STO. The last one should be retired by the end of September.

Looks like Saskatoon & Gatineau are the last transit agencies to run Classics. It will be sad when they are both retired. Possibly even the last two to run high floor buses in Canada. 

 

[M. Parsons]

32 minutes ago, STO_1601 said:

Looks like Saskatoon & Gatineau are the last transit agencies to run Classics. It will be sad when they are both retired. Possibly even the last two to run high floor buses in Canada. 

 

I suspect Translink's Orion V's will out last the Classic's. 

[GMC T6H-5307N]

22 hours ago, STO_1601 said:

Do you know when the last Classic is due up for retirement?

The same thing is happening in Gatineau we only have the ex-Calgary Classics left for the STO. The last one should be retired by the end of September.

Looks like Saskatoon & Gatineau are the last transit agencies to run Classics. It will be sad when they are both retired. Possibly even the last two to run high floor buses in Canada. 

 

Units 104, 105, 107, and possibly 115 have safeties that are valid to January 2019, so provided nothing comes up they will continue to run until then.

Active Classics as of Friday August 17th are as follows 102, 104, 105, 107, 111(Safety was up in July but could be renewed) 115, and 116 - 6 or 7 units total

110 has been retired after an unknown problem occurred on June 18th. 

As for our D40LF’s:

9502, 9505, 9701, 9703, and 9706 remain active

9503 and 9508 are parked. 9508 has been our of service since June

 

[STO_1601]

@GMC T6H-5307N It's been 2 months since the last update how are the Classics & 95-97 D40LFs doing now?

[GMC T6H-5307N]

15 hours ago, STO_1601 said:

@GMC T6H-5307N It's been 2 months since the last update how are the Classics & 95-97 D40LFs doing now?

Active classics: 102, 105, 107, 111, 115 and 116

Active LF’s: 9502, 9503, 9505, 9701, 9703, and 9706

Recently parked buses: 

104 - Parked some time in August?

9508 - Likely retired after being parked since June 18th

Provided nothing comes up with the buses, 107, 111, and 116 will probably be the last Classics on the road, as the safety on these buses expire in January 2019

And finally there is an order for 2019 Nova Bus LFS, but the exact number is unknown at this time. This is the last of the current contract we signed with Nova.

[Ralph Watzke]

SASKATOON TRANSIT HISTORY - Does anyone recollect one or more Flxible 30 foot transit buses on the Saskatoon fleet circa 1966 or earlier? 

• I am referring specifically to a City Of Saskatoon Transit bus I rode in the summer of 1966, with Flxible markings (name inside an oval, WITHOUT Twin Coach). I don't think it had the Twin Coach "crew cuts", I'd have noticed that, rather it looked very much like the standee-window short Old Look GM's or Macks. And the upholstery was white and black two-tone, as I recall. Or would it have been a late short version of Twin design without the Twin nameplate and "crew cuts". I could find no reference to these buses in any City Of Saskatoon Transit fleet list, but there is a gap of 7 numbers in the early sixties that might have been these? I've found pictures of a 1954 Southern brochure that resembles this bus, also seen photos of short Twins with standee windows that seem reminiscent.. There seems to be an almost total absence of info on buses produced by Southern, or of the small transit buses made by Flxible at the Southern plant. Anyone have any info?  I remember in 1966, riding on at least one thirty-foot Flxible transit bus in Saskatoon, SK. This bus would have been an Old Look made in the fifties or sixties, not sure if it was a shortened Twin Coach or an original Flxible design. The only name displayed was Flxible, no Twin Coach, no Canadair. Does anyone know about this particular model as I have been unable to find any photos or records of such a bus anywhere?   There is an unaccounted gap of seven numbers, 313 to 319 around 1964-65 in the midst of the GM New Look list, thus I suspect that these numbers may have been old-look Flxibles built in the Alabama ex-Southern plant? The bus I was in, in 1966, looked to be in fairly new condition, despite its old-look styling. I suspect these buses may have been bought to replace some of the similarly sized CCF C-36A small gasoline Brills 101-125 from 1946-1953, but for some reason not kept long in the Saskatoon system. The below 1954 pictures of Southern buses do look like a pretty close match to the Saskatoon Flxible, so it's quite possible that Flxible opted to continue to build these under the Flxible name circa 1964-65. The other alternative is that Flxible may have chosen to continue building an "old look" short Twin Coach but without the "ears/crew-cut" and Twin Coach name, much like GM continued to build its small Old Look until 1968; the photos of later small Twins with standee windows do seem to bear a resemblance too. Manage