ROSeaboyer Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 Well, looks like 851 might be getting used on 94 today; the bus checking in there is a number I've not seen tracked before, so it seems like Dieppe is keeping all four of their buses active for the time being Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 Yup. That would be Unit 851 running on the #94 Centrale. Tracker #64. It's also in plain white, like 850... Maybe Dieppe is trying to figure out how to translate the Codiac wave branding in French or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 Not exactly surprised that it's in plain white, honestly. It matches 850, at least? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Least they could do is remove everything but the fleet numbers off of 700 and 701, then...lol Maybe it'll be the return of a Dieppe Express of sorts, and in the spirit of the current express routes, they'll name it the 53 White Line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Hate to double post, but I came across a random find that was too good to not share... A patch of the late 80s and early 90s branding! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 @Resurgo I'm honestly a bit surprised that Riverview hasn't requested something like that; it would allow them to have half-hour service on the 81, or at the very least keep their bus inside town limits all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 5 hours ago, ROSeaboyer said: @Resurgo I'm honestly a bit surprised that Riverview hasn't requested something like that; it would allow them to have half-hour service on the 81, or at the very least keep their bus inside town limits all day. They're sitting on this recommendation, and have been for a couple years now, I think. Would make sense, since the 80 and 81 spend a lot of time just getting to and from Riverview via 1111 Main. Provided they can use an existing bus from the current fleet, the cost to run the route would probably be offset by the mileage saved on either route. You still need an extra driver, but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 It would make sense, even outside of peak times, but would require a third bus. Something like: half-hour service between Riverview Place and 1110 Main (the Riverview buses are on the new event centre side of Main), and then half-hour loops from Riverview Place following existing routing for the 81 and the 80 (the non-peak trips). Outside of peak times, the Riverview-bound bus would just alternate between 80 and 81, similar to how Dieppe alternates between 93 and 95 in off-peak times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 Ideally, yes: Riverview is getting an 831 in the next batch of 4th gen LFS, so they could keep 530 around when the time comes and use it for the 82 Coverdale route (or 53 _______ Line) linking the Main St. hub to Riverview Place. Leave the other two routes as is, other than their trajectory to Moncton and back. This should allow them to offer 30 minute service at least during peak times and, like I said, the shortened 80 and 81 routes should offset adding the third route. Outside of peak hours, they could alternate one bus between 80 and 81 and a second for their link route, like you said... Of course, they could be waiting until they get their 3rd bus, too... Keeping 430 was not an option: pretty well all the RTS had frame issues at this point and needed to go! (So much for the projected >20 years of service) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 I remember that report, now, and it looked like they were only going to have two buses in regular service, with a taxi shuttle covering the area covered by route 80. The big question is whether that order of 5 buses was covered in the last delivery or not; if not, there goes the rest of the ex-STM buses (including 530) as the number fits perfectly and Codiac would just need to order 4 more buses to have a fully-accessible fleet. Unrelated: Would someone with wiki edit access be able to add 851 to the Codiac pages? Also, it would probably make sense to update the STM wiki page to mention the buses that were sold to Codiac in 2011-12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 Given that they're going by age, and not really anything else, that will mean the end of the ex-STM buses. That still leaves 500-503 as far as inaccessible buses, but the 500s are already spares at this point, and 500-503 seem to be last to go out, with 504-506 and 508 being much more common. If they ever acted on that recommendation for Riverview, I hope they don't go with the taxi shuttle (van) option, because the instant you get a rush you're screwed and usually have to call in a bus anyway. They did that for the Magic Mountain/Magnetic Hill shuttle one year, because of a shortage of buses at the time... We don't rely on worn-out RTS that are constantly having issues to the point where our spare/helper pool is always being drained. Which is to say that it was a necessary stopgap measure and there'd be no excuse at this point in time... Ahh... that RTS life! Broken down, blocking traffic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 Before STM returned those buses to Nova, it sounds as though they weren't properly taken care of; I can only imagine those buses were a stopgap measure, anyway. I just did a check, and 500, 501, 502, 515, and 530 (obviously this last one lol) were all on active service this week. Since 512 hasn't been in use since early October, and 511 was parked at the back with the other retirees, it might be safe to say those two are done but there's been no buses to replace them yet. Although, oddly enough, 602's not been in use for about a week now... It makes sense for 504-506 and 508 to be used more frequently as spares, given how those buses have the ramp. I wonder how long it'll be for more routes to get declared accessible by Codiac, though; 51, 52, 60, and 64 are at the stop threshold (8 buses total), and 50 used to be accessible (discontinued as such before 800-808 were delivered) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 2 hours ago, ROSeaboyer said: Before STM returned those buses to Nova, it sounds as though they weren't properly taken care of; I can only imagine those buses were a stopgap measure, anyway. I just did a check, and 500, 501, 502, 515, and 530 (obviously this last one lol) were all on active service this week. Since 512 hasn't been in use since early October, and 511 was parked at the back with the other retirees, it might be safe to say those two are done but there's been no buses to replace them yet. Although, oddly enough, 602's not been in use for about a week now... It makes sense for 504-506 and 508 to be used more frequently as spares, given how those buses have the ramp. I wonder how long it'll be for more routes to get declared accessible by Codiac, though; 51, 52, 60, and 64 are at the stop threshold (8 buses total), and 50 used to be accessible (discontinued as such before 800-808 were delivered) The second hand LFS (and Classics) were mostly an expansion effort: it wasnt that long ago that the fleet was Fredericton-sized. We also only had 12 low floors and 8 accessible buses 500-507, 600-603). And yes, they were a temporary measure... Part of the accessibility issue is not just the fleet: it's the stops in some locations. That said, the fleet issue was also (in recent years) that they couldn't GUARANTEE an accessible via, because of the Classics and RTS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 That makes sense; I imagine the redrawing of the map after the 2012 lockout wouldn't have been as possible without the STM buses, at a minimum. That being said, I wonder if a newer fleet will allow Codiac to expand the number of routes/increase route frequency. Fredericton only has 28 buses, but during the morning rush, 20 of them are in use; Codiac has 35 for Moncton, but only 19 are in use during the afternoon rush (41 total and 24 in use once the Riverview and Dieppe buses are included). The December schedule adjustment could be interesting if that turns out to be accurate, at the very least... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTL66 Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 In Montreal we had many problems with the fleet of 1st gen LFS. There were lemons from the start and the STM ordered too many IMO to be able to properly maintain them. Buses here in Montreal are sometimes in service in upwards of 27 hours a day, sometimes do not even have a rest between shifts except to fuel and maybe wash the bus if needed. Buses will leave the garage at 4am and come back at 6:30am the next day and then get assigned to another route and be back again at 10pm. The STM has a system to maintain the buses in bulk during the slower seasons. They will immobilize 20-25 buses per garage and do major maintenance at that time, while doing preventative maintenance during the rest of the year to keep the buses rolling. With a fleet of 1800s buses, it is hard to maintain them in tip top shape versus a smaller company like Codiac. Smaller companies have used Ex-Montreal buses without too much problems because they do have as big as a fleet to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 47 minutes ago, MTL66 said: In Montreal we had many problems with the fleet of 1st gen LFS. There were lemons from the start and the STM ordered too many IMO to be able to properly maintain them. Buses here in Montreal are sometimes in service in upwards of 27 hours a day, sometimes do not even have a rest between shifts except to fuel and maybe wash the bus if needed. Buses will leave the garage at 4am and come back at 6:30am the next day and then get assigned to another route and be back again at 10pm. Oh, I have absolutely no doubt that it's much easier to maintain a fleet of forty-some buses compared to 1800. Service can accommodate up to seven at a time, which you would need to be able to handle 306 at a time to get the same ratio, for one... As such, they're maintained throughly, mechanical problems or usability issues (AC not working, for an example of the latter) are fixed ASAP; bodywork is usually done quickly too, after a collision, granted damage is usually minimal on these beasts... Cosmetic issues, like a damaged/missing decal or damaged livery striping might take a while to be corrected, though. Guess that's the drawback of a smaller system and therefore budget. Still, long gone are the days of rusty GMCs and Orions with "CO I AC TR S T" over a faded maroon and gold stripe, like you might have seen in the 90s or even the early noughties. One of the issues, when routes had assigned buses, is the whole fact that most were on the road upwards of 18 hours per day... I think this is another reason the fleet is rotated now, that and the whole idea of spreading out the mileage and wear, as previously discussed. Pictured: "Cod" Transit #212, waiting for service back in the "good ol' days..." 7 hours ago, ROSeaboyer said: That makes sense; I imagine the redrawing of the map after the 2012 lockout wouldn't have been as possible without the STM buses, at a minimum. That being said, I wonder if a newer fleet will allow Codiac to expand the number of routes/increase route frequency. Fredericton only has 28 buses, but during the morning rush, 20 of them are in use; Codiac has 35 for Moncton, but only 19 are in use during the afternoon rush (41 total and 24 in use once the Riverview and Dieppe buses are included). The December schedule adjustment could be interesting if that turns out to be accurate, at the very least... Not sure if you'll see much in December, but I'm guessing that with nearly half of the fleet being brand new and pretty well all problematic units (RTS) or worn units (ex-STM LFS, Classics) replaced they might feel comfortable not having nearly one spare for every bus in regular service. I would not be surprised to see a second bus on busier routes and/or a new route or two pop-up... Of course, this is purely speculation at this present time... Some of my reasoning also come from the fact that: they're hiring and training drivers like there's no tomorrow; they're advertising in the local media and on billboards wide open, despite the fact that ridership has been steadily climbing every year; they've replaced half the fleet (with still more to come), etc. The powers that be have something in mind/up their sleeve, I'd say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 I get the feeling that the "every 40 minutes" during rush hour might turn into every 20 for some routes (likely the 60, at a minimum) with the 61B and 64B better staggered during those times. And who knows, Dieppe might add a 4th route or something with their 4th bus. But, still a few weeks away from those changes even being publicized Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Would not surprise me (20 minutes instead of 40), because these used to be 30 right across the board, but people were complaining that they were often late, which was due to rush hour traffic... Funny thing is most of the same people now aren't happy that the schedule was adjusted. Other than your Red, Green and Blue Line, which are the highest volume, the generally high volume routes are 60, 61, 64; I'd consider 62, 94 and 81 to be borderline to falling into that group, too... 63, 65, 95 can be busy during peak times, mostly your morning and evening commuters, but is otherwise what I'd consider medium to low. The peripheral routes (66, 68, 80, 93) are usually busy with commuters, and see moderate traffic at noon, but otherwise slow... 70/71 are low traffic, hence the combo route, but need to be redesigned. 70 Mapleton: Should return to it's "Frampton" days and run the other side of Mountain Rd, opposite of the 62 Hildegard, it could still make a point to go on Gorge Rd and service Crandall University. Make it loop around Plaza, Mapleton, Frampton, down Gorge, through the subdivision across from Crandall, up Gorge, down Mountain, back to Plaza. 71 Coliseum: Largely cuts through an area serviced by the 65 Killam, while it goes waaaaaay out to Westbrook Circle, then through the territory of 62 Hildegard. Rerouting it would remove service from the Ayer area, though... Maybe have it focus on Ayer and Worthington, detour to Westbrook circle and then loop back through somewhere other than right through the 62's territory? The post-lockout map provides much better coverage of the overall city, but the city itself being spread out and clustered (city planners past and present need a kick in the bum) means every route has a long loop that branches far out into its own territory; The old routing focused on the main arteries (Main, St George, Mountain, Elmwood, etc.) and each route only briefly branched into their own neighbourhood. The new strategy focuses on "no one should have to walk a mile to catch a bus," while the old strategy was to throw as many buses "where the traffic is" and you could walk through your neighbourhood. Again, people will often complain "where are the buses?" as they wait a max of 15 minutes for the next Blue, Green or Red Line... Answer: Not wasting half their time playing leapfrog on Mountain Rd or Main St. Truth be told, the original Express system had four buses (600-603) that ran the hour-long gauntlet of Champlain to 1111 Main, up Mountain to Plaza, down Mountain to Main and back to Champlain... all the while, the #1 and #2 (Downtown Centre-Ville/Malls) chased them around on 75% of the exact same route. Most of it has been optimized, and there's little options for alternate routing where overlap exists... (If only I could optimize and streamline this post... haha) TL;DR - Territory coverage near optimal, inferring that improvements at this point would mostly be adding vehicles to routes. Bonus mini-rant about old system... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Absolutely; I remember being on the bus in the afternoons and hearing dispatch telling the Express heading down Mountain Road towards Highfield to slow down a bit to let the 1 catch up. I also remember waiting for a bus on Main and seeing 4 buses, one behind the other, go by. For your point on 71, the best way to reroute that would be to use Wheeler Blvd to go back to Plaza, but that might not be the best idea in terms of being able to pick up customers; if that happens, I could see it being a route that flips midday, taking Wheeler out in the morning and back in the afternoon. My predictions for what changes come up in the next schedule change: 50 becomes every 15 minutes all day, maybe 20 minutes during rush hour (the 40 might've just been to keep it in sync with the other 30-minute routes) 51 becomes a proper 15 minute run on Sundays (now, there's 2 runs on a 45 minute loop, so there's a weird half-hour gap between a couple runs, and then 15 minutes for the next) 60 goes 20 minutes during peak hours 61B and 64B better fall into the half-way mark during rush hours; they're both offset a bit more one way as opposed to being perfectly in the middle 64B might go all day (not evening) The Dieppe buses go to every 40 minutes during peak hours; 95 definitely needs this, especially in the afternoons Either 94 or 95 goes to every 20 minutes with the 4th Dieppe bus being used for these runs Obviously those are guesses, but I imagine there won't be anything more drastic than that. This adds 1 bus all day, 1 during the day, and 2 during rush hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Yeah... Doubt you'll see anything drastic happen "overnight." Likely you'll see small increases in service to plug holes that are presently there... My favorite bit of Codiac nostalgia is being on a late bus during rush hour, which keeps falling behind and getting the "anyone NOT going to [terminal] get off at the next stop and take the next bus: this run will be dead-heading to [terminal]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 6, 2017 Report Share Posted November 6, 2017 That reminds me of waiting for the Express in front of the Blue Cross Centre for my first ever time on the bus in Moncton; there was a supervisor across the road who yelled for me to run up to the corner of Main and Botsford to grab the Express as it was deadheading to Champlain to avoid traffic. There was another time, similar circumstance but when the LFX demo was in use, the driver waved me over so he could deadhead around. Gee, I wonder why the 52 is scheduled for a half hour from 1111 Main to Champlain in the afternoon after the post-lockout changes got stabilized Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seashore_518203 Posted November 7, 2017 Report Share Posted November 7, 2017 I received an updated roster from Codiac Transpo today. Here are the VINs of the newest buses. 810 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J8H9776066 811 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82JXH9776067 812 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J1H9776068 813 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J3H9776069 814 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82JXH9776070 815 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J1H9776071 816 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J3H9776072 817 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J5H9776073 830 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J7H9776074 -- Owned by Town of Riverview 850 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J9H9776075 -- Owned by Town of Dieppe 851 2017 NOVA-LFS 4RKYL82J0H9776076 -- Owned by Town of Dieppe RTS 430 (owned by Riverview) is the only RTS bus still active. LFS 514, 515, 516, 530 are the only ex-Montreal buses still active. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 8, 2017 Report Share Posted November 8, 2017 @Seashore_518203 awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resurgo Posted November 8, 2017 Report Share Posted November 8, 2017 On 05/11/2017 at 10:18 PM, ROSeaboyer said: Gee, I wonder why the 52 is scheduled for a half hour from 1111 Main to Champlain in the afternoon after the post-lockout changes got stabilized Yeah... Is like to know how one was supposed to get from one end of Main St to the other, during rush hour, in 15 minutes. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSeaboyer Posted November 8, 2017 Report Share Posted November 8, 2017 35 minutes ago, Resurgo said: Yeah... Is like to know how one was supposed to get from one end of Main St to the other, during rush hour, in 15 minutes. lol Teleportation? It’s amazing how backed up it gets going towards Dieppe but how fine it is the other way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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