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BC Transit Fleet/General Notes


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All three at Nanaimo at the Departure Bay ferry terminal. The first of the two Nova's is actually missing the back cover to the roof "stuff," whatever it's called.

Oops, looks like mechanic forgot to cover the HVAC rooftop shell.

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  • 1 month later...

A bit late on this thread, but here's a bit more detailed information for anyone interested:

Ok.. I was on the BC Transit website, checking out the "Fleet Roster" section.

Seeing as I was born and raised in Victoria, I have seen most of these buses in person.. But there is one that I did not know they had until I checked out this section.... The "International/El Dorado National Aero Elite" apparently they have 5 in the fleet and were manufactured between 2004-2006. Does anybody know where they're running (I imagine they're in the small communities fleet as I have not seen them in Victoria or Kamloops when I was there in '06) And has anybody managed to snap any pictures of them??

Vernon has one ... C-619, we use it for our service to between Vernon-Armstrong-Enderby (run #60). Its quite a nice ride on the highway, most passengers prefer the seats (very comparable to Ford Polar seats) over the Dennis Dart and Nova LFS seats. The driver's seat is by far the most comfortable in the fleet. Once you hit town though, being a converted truck, its one rough ride! When C-619 is out of service, you'll usually see one of our Darts on the run (usually 9934 as it seems to be the only one in the fleet who can get up to 90km/h ... lol) or a Ford Polar for the Saturday service.

BTW, here's a photo of C-619 for those of you interested ....

DSC00012.jpg

I would love to know which run is busy enough in Vernon for a Nova.... it's not a very well utilized system.

Since you found your answer in your second post, you are correct. The two Nova's are being used for our service between Vernon and the UBC-O campus in Kelowna (run #90) which started at the end of August 2008. The bus deadheads to Enderby first thing in the morning, returning to Vernon through Armstrong as run #60. Once it arrives in Vernon, it continues on to UBC-O as the #90 and continues between Vernon and UBC-O for the rest of the day. The second Nova acts as a spare.

Our system is not very well utilized, but its been growing over the last few years. The biggest problem we've been facing is that we've almost had no expansion in over 25 years of service. Only within the last 2 years have we had significant improvement to the service and our fingers are crossed for more :)

As far as the Nova's being used in Vernon, alot of our routes have some pretty tight corners and stretches, which makes our 30' Dennis Darts ideal, but they will be retired someday so it'll be very interesting to see what we get as replacements.

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As far as the Nova's being used in Vernon, alot of our routes have some pretty tight corners and stretches, which makes our 30' Dennis Darts ideal, but they will be retired someday so it'll be very interesting to see what we get as replacements.

I believe I was talking with the original author of this thread just a few days ago about this issue in general - that is, when the Dennis Darts are retired, what will BC Transit order to replace them? I seem to recall we speculated that the Eldorado EZ Rider II might be considered as a viable option, since Nova does not offer a 30 foot version of the LFS. A l'extreme limite, maybe the Orion VII 30'? No, I shouldn't even venture with such blasphemy... :)

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I believe I was talking with the original author of this thread just a few days ago about this issue in general - that is, when the Dennis Darts are retired, what will BC Transit order to replace them? I seem to recall we speculated that the Eldorado EZ Rider II might be considered as a viable option, since Nova does not offer a 30 foot version of the LFS. A l'extreme limite, maybe the Orion VII 30'? No, I shouldn't even venture with such blasphemy... :(

Good question. It's been on our minds for the last couple of months now :o

Vernon is an oddball (in alot of ways .. lol), a 30' bus is ideal for us given our ridership levels and the way our routes are designed. But, there aren't that many options for a 30' bus out there. Another possible candidate is the Dennis Darts predecessor, the Enviro200. Now, this is just a rumour, but apparently BC Transit is contemplating in keeping the fleet down to as few models as possible (which will suck for you photogs out there) simply for the reason that it'll keep maintanence costs down and add more flexibility in exchanging buses between systems. Like I said, thats just a rumour. My question is though, are there enough communities in BC Transit's system that still require a 30' bus in their operations to make adding one to BC Transit's fleet cost effective? If Vernon is really the only city left, chances are we won't be getting 30 footers.

Another rumour is that BC Transit want's the Dennis' gone by 2011, sooooo my prediction is the following: There are a schwack of buses being ordered for the 2010 Games, including NovaLFS (which seem to a very popular bus for BC Transit), so I figure that once the games are done, those Nova's will be heading off to other communities including Vernon.

We'll revisit this thread in a year and a half and see how well I faired ... :)

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I believe I was talking with the original author of this thread just a few days ago about this issue in general - that is, when the Dennis Darts are retired, what will BC Transit order to replace them? I seem to recall we speculated that the Eldorado EZ Rider II might be considered as a viable option, since Nova does not offer a 30 foot version of the LFS. A l'extreme limite, maybe the Orion VII 30'? No, I shouldn't even venture with such blasphemy... :)

Are there D30LFRs and D35LFRs out there lol? :(

Dave

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No shots from me, but it was done up in the new green/blue scheme. It looked more like a Handydart, because the stairs had that little fold down step. It kept the stock front door, with the automatic door right behind the front passenger seat.

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No shots from me, but it was done up in the new green/blue scheme. It looked more like a Handydart, because the stairs had that little fold down step. It kept the stock front door, with the automatic door right behind the front passenger seat.

Yep that fits the description of the demo I shot at Dynamic a few months back, it was just plain white although.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I am so glad we went with the green/blue combination, looks fresh and sleeker. That Nova with the new livery but in red/blue still looks too tired for my liking. Even the Ford Polar's look so much nicer in the new colours. And the touch of matt black along the window's give it that extra touch of niceness lol.

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  • 5 months later...

I was so suprised to see 6715 yesterday in Chilliwack. I'm assuming it will be retired soon after the Nova's arrive. It now only has a single roll sign.

Here's some pictures:

6715_0.jpg

6715_1.jpg

Vernon has one ... C-619, we use it for our service to between Vernon-Armstrong-Enderby (run #60). Its quite a nice ride on the highway, most passengers prefer the seats (very comparable to Ford Polar seats) over the Dennis Dart and Nova LFS seats. The driver's seat is by far the most comfortable in the fleet. Once you hit town though, being a converted truck, its one rough ride! When C-619 is out of service, you'll usually see one of our Darts on the run (usually 9934 as it seems to be the only one in the fleet who can get up to 90km/h ... lol) or a Ford Polar for the Saturday service.

Saw this one at Village Green Mall yesterday night. Was really surprised when it pulled up. It's a decent looking shuttle bus, much better than the smaller Polar buses.

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Saw this one at Village Green Mall yesterday night. Was really surprised when it pulled up. It's a decent looking shuttle bus, much better than the smaller Polar buses.

The Polar's are much too small for that run. When I drove it back in 07, I had to take a Polar as spare (C619 was in the shop as usual) for the week, and there were a couple of trips everyday I'd have to call in one of the Handydart guys to pick up passengers I couldn't fit in the Polar. We tried doing some trial runs with our Dennis Darts but there are only two (9904 and 9934) that could keep up with highway speeds but now with our two Novas, if C619 is in the shop, the spare Nova is sent out.

As far as C619 goes, while it looks nice, its a very unreliable and uncomfortable vehicle to drive ... lol!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Spotted ex-small communities 8076 being stripped for parts in Calgary today. It was at Big Rig collision with he front end torn off and missing windows and doors. Was retired with accident damage to the passenger side just behind the front wheel

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Ouch. The first BC Transit D40LF to die... RIP.

The last known location of that bus was Prince George. In the fall of 2009, all three of that system's remaining D40LFs were moved out. 8077 and 9852 appeared in Victoria in October, and 8076 became "unallocated", truth be told I had forgotten about the fact that we had a bus off the radar until Peter called me earlier today to tell me that this wrecked bus had appeared in Calgary.

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