Hamilton Street Railway

[TTC4120fan]

Pardon my ignorance, but I noticed that wiki was updated to list 0601 and 0602 as retired. I thought that these were still in storage along with a group of early 07’s. Has this been confirmed, or is it someone simply editing the wiki because they have been out of service for such a long time?

[Wayside Observer]

2 HSR bus drivers reinstated

"The City of Hamilton can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted."

With apologies to Winston Churchill.

[Seashore_518203]

18 hours ago, TTC4120fan said:

Pardon my ignorance, but I noticed that wiki was updated to list 0601 and 0602 as retired. I thought that these were still in storage along with a group of early 07’s. Has this been confirmed, or is it someone simply editing the wiki because they have been out of service for such a long time?

Buses 0601, 0602, 0701-0709 are not officially retired at this point. They are in storage. If City Council approves expansion plans for September, then the vehicles will be required and put back in service. No new bus deliveries are planned before that time. So, the answer is, technically they are not retired at this point.

[buschic]

Thanks for the update.

I’m missing my hometown so bad, but might be moving back in the next year or so, as my employer is moving to Hamilton (Amazon)

[Vekoma]

17 hours ago, buschic said:

Thanks for the update.

I’m missing my hometown so bad, but might be moving back in the next year or so, as my employer is moving to Hamilton (Amazon)

It does make me wonder, with the amazon DC opening in Mount Hope, what should the HSR do with this corridor? I imagine alot of these employees will use transit and currently the A-Line is the only route that services Airport road. The proposed enhancements to route 20 for September would need to include all day service as well as weekend service. Perhaps it would also make sense to extended the 27 to the Airport.

[Thomasw]

Before somebody undoes my edit to the wiki like last time.. 932 is officially retired! It was wrapped around a pole on the 12th during a snowstorm. I have screenshots from the operator who wrapped it around the pole. Repairs were estimated at 1.2 million so it was considered a write off.

[Chris W]

29 minutes ago, Thomasw said:

Before somebody undoes my edit to the wiki like last time.. 932 is officially retired! It was wrapped around a pole on the 12th during a snowstorm. I have screenshots from the operator who wrapped it around the pole. Repairs were estimated at 1.2 million so it was considered a write off.

Hopefully everybody on the bus was okay. That's the main thing.

Now onto the tone of your post. I had to revert the changes you made prior after getting confirmation from my HSR contact about the 0700s and 0600 hybrids, which you erroneously listed as retired. You also listed 932 as retired on February 12, 2020, which is a typo I have since corrected. Your attitude in the above post (particularly the beginning) is very defensive and I'd recommend changing it and double-checking your sources prior to posting. 

[Thomasw]

24 minutes ago, Chris W said:

Hopefully everybody on the bus was okay. That's the main thing.

Now onto the tone of your post. I had to revert the changes you made prior after getting confirmation from my HSR contact about the 0700s and 0600 hybrids, which you erroneously listed as retired. You also listed 932 as retired on February 12, 2020, which is a typo I have since corrected. Your attitude in the above post (particularly the beginning) is very defensive and I'd recommend changing it and double-checking your sources prior to posting. 

When I made the edits someone had provided me with screenshots that the buses hadn’t been in service for over a year and a half so I assumed they were retired. I don’t live on Hamilton so I wasn’t aware that these buses were in storage. I appreciate that someone changes they’re status to stored to avoid confusing. Regarding my tone. I didn’t someone to automatically think that because I messed up once, this new edit must also be false and remove it. Sorry if you misinterpreted it.

[Seashore_518203]

HSR 932 is shown in the Trapeze OPS maintenance system as being "In Heavy Repair". The status has not been changed to INACTIVE at this point, so you have to assume it is still active. The $1.2 million estimate is questionable as they did not even cost that when brand new.

Sometimes, transit systems cannot officially retire a vehicle on paper until the cheque comes in from the Insurance company which can be up to 1-2 years later or more. When a bus is acquired using taxpayer funding, you have to keep it active for a set amount of time which is why you see accident buses kept on site, even though they will never see service again.

As Chris W states, please leave the Wiki updates to local people and do not rely on driver's sending you a picture. Wait until you have official confirmation from the Maintenance Department.

[HamiltonTransit1710]

15 hours ago, Thomasw said:

Before somebody undoes my edit to the wiki like last time.. 932 is officially retired! It was wrapped around a pole on the 12th during a snowstorm. I have screenshots from the operator who wrapped it around the pole. Repairs were estimated at 1.2 million so it was considered a write off.

Can I see the photos if you have them 

[G.A]

41 minutes ago, HamiltonTransit1710 said:

Can I see the photos if you have them 

Not a good idea to post those kind of photos online. I posted photos like that once and a lot of people did not like that.

[smallspy]

17 hours ago, G.A said:

Not a good idea to post those kind of photos online. I posted photos like that once and a lot of people did not like that.

The problem is not that "people might not like that".

 

The problem is that the photos may not have been cleared to be released publicly. They may show things that shouldn't be shown to the public. They may have been sent to you by someone who is not supposed to be sending them, and so spreading them around may put them into an awkward - or worse, compromised - position. People have been fired for this kind of thing.

 

Unless you have been given explicit permission to share them, the best thing to do is not to.

 

Dan

[G.A]

25 minutes ago, smallspy said:

The problem is not that "people might not like that".

 

The problem is that the photos may not have been cleared to be released publicly. They may show things that shouldn't be shown to the public. They may have been sent to you by someone who is not supposed to be sending them, and so spreading them around may put them into an awkward - or worse, compromised - position. People have been fired for this kind of thing.

 

Unless you have been given explicit permission to share them, the best thing to do is not to.

 

Dan

I took the photos myself of a simple little accident (not the one in Hamilton). But yes I understood that case about 15 years ago. This is the most valid point that I've seen today. And yes I am able to release the photos now publicly but just choose not to.

 

[HamiltonTransit1710]

18 hours ago, HamiltonTransit1710 said:

Can I see the photos if you have them 

Sorry 

[JRM1000]

Bus #1821 has become the first RNG(Renewable Natural Gas) bus in Ontario. It rolled out this morning. 
 

Pictures taken from Twitter and here’s a link to the press release.

https://www.hamilton.ca/government-information/news-centre/news-releases/enbridge-gas-partners-city-hamilton-fuel-ontarios

 

[Benton Harper]

What exactly makes the natural gas renewable, as it all comes from underground no?  If it is methane captured from a land fill, then an argument could be made.  Is it called renewable due to carbon offsets, then its not really renewable

[Vekoma]

3 hours ago, Benton Harper said:

What exactly makes the natural gas renewable, as it all comes from underground no?  If it is methane captured from a land fill, then an argument could be made.  Is it called renewable due to carbon offsets, then its not really renewable

From the linked article: It's not fossil fuel gas from the ground, but waste gas, as you eluded.

Quote

RNG vehicle fuel is upgraded biogas; the gaseous product of the decomposition of organic waste from homes and businesses that has been processed into green fuel. This green HSR bus operates with carbon-negative RNG—fuel that goes beyond net-zero—provided from the StormFisher facility in London, Ontario, creating a circular economy in the province; achieving climate change targets, diverting waste from landfills, and supporting economic development, all while decreasing CO2 emissions and providing transit customers with comfort and reliability.

 

[Benton Harper]

2 hours ago, Vekoma said:

From the linked article: It's not fossil fuel gas from the ground, but waste gas, as you eluded.

 

Yup, that's exactly what I was saying, it's not CNG or LPG or whatever form of natural gas we are used to for the last 100+/-  years, but rather some clever rebranding...

[Seashore_518203]

15 hours ago, Benton Harper said:

What exactly makes the natural gas renewable, as it all comes from underground no?  If it is methane captured from a land fill, then an argument could be made.  Is it called renewable due to carbon offsets, then its not really renewable

As stated when you click on the article, HSR is the first system in Ontario to use RNG but not the first in Canada.

Coast Mountain Bus Company in Vancouver implemented a similar program in April 2019 becoming the first system in Canada.

https://www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca/fortisbc-partners-with-translink-to-provide-rng-for-bus-fleet-7360/

[CLRV4094]

932 appears to be back following that collision last month and tracking on the 2

[Wonka]

Regarding the RNG news, does this mean that 1821 would have undergone some retrofitting to use that fuel or does it just go right into the existing engine like the CNG did? Is this a pilot project that could be rolled out to the rest of the CNG buses down the line or just a PR thing?

[newflyerinvero]

With the 13 buses pending approval by Hamilton City Council, would they be automatically CNG, or would these be hybird? 
Related, wasn't it not too long ago that the HSR stopping participating in the Merolinx Consortium after the last order of CNG Novas?

[G.A]

6 minutes ago, newflyerinvero said:

With the 13 buses pending approval by Hamilton City Council, would they be automatically CNG, or would these be hybird? 
Related, wasn't it not too long ago that the HSR stopping participating in the Merolinx Consortium after the last order of CNG Novas?

They would be CNG. They are going for an all CNG fleet. Unless that has changed.

[Bus_Medic]

4 hours ago, Wonka said:

Regarding the RNG news, does this mean that 1821 would have undergone some retrofitting to use that fuel or does it just go right into the existing engine like the CNG did? Is this a pilot project that could be rolled out to the rest of the CNG buses down the line or just a PR thing?

My understanding of the logistics is that this is nothing more than a contact to subsidize the the cost of introducing the equivalent amount of digester gas into the consumer grid elsewhere, as this bus is going to consume. The bus itself will be fuelled out of the same infrastructure it always has. Toronto has been doing this on larger scale on the waste collection fleet for at least a decade now.

The natural gas network is a fungible system, in much the same way as the electrical grid.

RNG is dewatered, filtered methane, chemically indistinguishable from fossil methane. The only difference is the age of the molecule.  Sorry to say, the wrap is just a marketing wank.

[Seashore_518203]

On 3/6/2021 at 6:20 PM, newflyerinvero said:

With the 13 buses pending approval by Hamilton City Council, would they be automatically CNG, or would these be hybird? 
Related, wasn't it not too long ago that the HSR stopping participating in the Merolinx Consortium after the last order of CNG Novas?

HSR is still participating in the Metrolinx consortium. There was talk that they were thinking of getting out, but they decided to remain in the consortium.