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King County Metro - Seattle, Washington


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On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 1:14 PM, northwesterner said:

I've ridden a few of them.

Gillig's fit and finish has improved over the last few years - these are good coaches. The NFI Xcelsior is a step backwards, overall, from the late production D40LFRs that were far superior to the Gillig LF. 

I have no issue riding on one of these coaches.

I really liked the D40LFRs and C40LFRs. They should have kept them through at least 2020. Rather those over the Xcelsiors.

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On 1/30/2019 at 9:03 PM, Jaykob Walson said:

Does anyone happen to know why Gillig Phantom 40' 3582 was spotted by me in Tacoma? I'm assuming it's waiting to be either restored or scrapped at the boneyard. It was not running on any Pierce Transit or King County Metro routes (even though KCM does not operate there).

What did the destination sign say?

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On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 2:20 AM, TheAverageJoe said:

Kiro updated it this month

Yes but what's the update? As far as I can see the video and the facts all date from 2016. Why are Kiro pushing this three years after the event as "news"?

That said, it is shocking (groan) that KC Metro did not have proper safety training procedures for its new fleet. I cannot understand this, as the majority of mechanics would have worked on the previous trolleybus fleet and would have been aware of the general issue of a "hot  coach". But it sounds as if the hot coach detector was disconnected. Was that a maintenance fault or even a manufacturing fault?

Finally on dewirements, the first example shown on the video looks like it was caused by overhanging tree branches. Surely KC Metro inspects all routes and prunes trees where they might foul the overhead wires?

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On 2/2/2019 at 2:18 AM, martin607 said:

 

Finally on dewirements, the first example shown on the video looks like it was caused by overhanging tree branches.

There are ongoing systematic dewirement issues caused by the current generation of Kiepe pole collectors. The situation is improved from when this story was initially published, but has not been satisfactorily resolved. 

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We've had the first significant accumulation of snow with the current fleet of coaches. 

Before, the Gillig Phantoms, Gillig Trolleys, D60s and DE60LFs took a bulk of the workload. Typically the high floors fared better and would see more service during this time. 

With the high floors mostly gone, it was mentioned that Metro had grounded over 100 artics. It looks like the XT60s were mostly out of service, while a mix of hybrids were still chained up and pressed into service.

There were the typical reports of jackknifed coaches and artics that needed wreckers to be helped up hills. So far Metro has performed well given the conditions. 

The Orions and XT40s were also chained for service, but the D40s were out there with bare tires given the narrow wheel base. 

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Martin, thanks so much for posting those photos!  It means a lot to me to see them as it does each time I peruse the collection of photos on your website.   

The one of 639 going through the intersection of 3rd and Pike is just fascinating.  The Woolworth's! --the old traffic signal! --the type that hung over so many Seattle intersections   ...such memories from that early/mid 70's era which was about the time I first started driving buses for Metro.  You'll never know the feeling I had when seeing them this morning  --thanks again!

 

 

 

eta:  btw, a retired co-worker and I were recently just shooting the sh** about the early days.  Our conversation turned to the dime shuttle which was a Seattle Transit circulator through the CBD and a precursor to Metro's Magic Carpet (free ride area) that was put in place a bit after Metro took over.  He started driving buses before I did so started with STS just before the merger and remembered driving the "dime shuttle" and the 100s that they had running on it at the time that had little flags on the front corners of the bus signifying the bus was a shuttle.  I told him the only 100 I remember driving that had flags like that was the bicentennial bus.  Then I told him that I think I remember that you had a photo of one parked in the yard and sure enough, when I went to your website, there it was!!  Coach 196 parked in the lower yard at North Seattle (5th and Republican ...aka Mercer Base).    At North Seattle, we had to back the 100s into their lanes when bringing them back to the barn.  The 200s and 500s were parked in lanes in the upper yard which was on the other side of the chain-link fence.

He was thrilled to look through your photos!

http://www.barp.ca/bus/usa/kcm/twinic/SeattleMetro196.jpg

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On 2/2/2019 at 2:18 AM, martin607 said:

Yes but what's the update? As far as I can see the video and the facts all date from 2016. Why are Kiro pushing this three years after the event as "news"?

That said, it is shocking (groan) that KC Metro did not have proper safety training procedures for its new fleet. I cannot understand this, as the majority of mechanics would have worked on the previous trolleybus fleet and would have been aware of the general issue of a "hot  coach". But it sounds as if the hot coach detector was disconnected. Was that a maintenance fault or even a manufacturing fault?

 

KIRO will be running some type of exposé investigation on it during the 5:00 PM news  ...something about fines from the state, etc.?  I didn't catch all what it will be about .  Thursday 21st  on the 5:00 PM newscast.

 

 

 

edited to add:  To clarify, Metro is being fined by the state L&I   --4:40 AM from KIRO:

"King County Metro has been fined $20,100 by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries for safety issues related to employees working around high voltage, two years after a KIRO 7 investigation into employees getting shocked while working on the buses. "

Thursday at 5 p.m.: King County Metro fined for safety and training violations – again

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  • 1 month later...

Went for a typical visit on a NB decker on Wednesday:

I was going in from Lynnwood TC to Seattle on the 512. I shaved 15 minutes off my travel time by getting off at NE 45th, transferring to the 44, and transferring to the LRT.

That got me REALLY excited for the Link extension to Northgate.

=================

More KCM related: here's a rundown of Friday's events:

6964 was the last bus in revenue service to serve the tunnel. Afterwards, KCM held a ceremonial last run on the original Breda dual-mode units, #5034. The closure comes as the Washington State Convention Centre undergoes further redevelopment amidst upgrades to the Link LRT service.

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It's unlikely to see hush mode removed - they are built into the buses after all, aren't they? But it's possible future orders might not have a need for it.... and yet, having said that, did KCM not just order some extended range BAE hybrids? So maybe the working assumption is that they'll find a use for the feature... somehow... somewhere.

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HUSH mode is software, so it is relatively easily disabled/enabled.

HUSH may have potential uses in noise or emissions-sensitive areas, such as residential areas in the late evening. Extended range BAE hybrids could serve a similar purpose.  However if noise is that big a concern then the best thing to do is retire the 2600s (and 2004 ST 9600s) ASAP; new buses are far quieter and cleaner.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/5/2019 at 12:36 PM, Atomic Taco said:

Just saw Proterra T462 testing in Pioneer Square.  It's wrapped with the KCM and Proterra logos, with most of the surface area mentioning that it's battery powered.

I just saw T461 and T462 at a site near the light rail. Google Maps lists the business as Starline Luxury Coaches: https://goo.gl/maps/QmhU58cp4582

I saw them there back in January as well. 

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Is it just me, or did the 6800s and DE60LFAs wear down dramatically?

They're noisy, perform like slugs, and in the case of the LFA's, have significant interior wear. 

The 6800s still have relatively fine interiors (most comfortable seats in the fleet), but the "new coach smell" seems to have lingered and left a stale aroma due to the non-opening windows. 

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On 4/14/2019 at 12:28 PM, anonymous guy said:

Is it just me, or did the 6800s and DE60LFAs wear down dramatically?

They're noisy, perform like slugs, and in the case of the LFA's, have significant interior wear. 

The 6800s still have relatively fine interiors (most comfortable seats in the fleet), but the "new coach smell" seems to have lingered and left a stale aroma due to the non-opening windows. 

Agreed on that one. Not NFI’s best work, to be honest, interiors rattling on some of them pretty early on as if they were 20 years old. I was hoping that with new coaches coming in, Metro would be able to spend some more time on maintenance with the LFRs and LFAs.

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  • 4 weeks later...

According to the wiki, some routes are served by multiple bases—I haven't done a comprehensive comparison, but I can see some (expected) overlap at Atlantic/Central (and some at Ryerson), some at East and Bellevue bases, etc.. This somewhat makes sense as they're close to each other, but I'd like to get as specific as possible. The context here is that I want to start tracking which vehicles are at which base on my tracker.

Anyone have more insight on how this works? I suspect I'll need to settle for grouping the bases across from each other as "one base," but if there's more to it I'd love to know. 

Tagging @aznichiro115, who's made a lot of related edits on the wiki and may have something to offer.

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