No pic, sorry. I think I read this somewhere in the forums, but I'm not sure - I couldn't find the thread
However, they come with a new scheme (looks like arrows with the phrase "Take your CUE" in the middle" - so much for advertising), according to a picture in the latest issue of Passenger Transport (a magazine for industry professionals). They are also 35 foot (a first!) Gillig BRTs.
The article says that these six buses are replacing 10 year old buses that have outlived their usefulness. What buses are these? I thought all of their buses were late model Gillig Phantoms from 2002 (or something like that), not to mention that a Phantom is 12 year Altoona Tested.
CUE also hopes to convert the entire fleet to hybrid operation by 2014. So, there's something for you transit photographers to photograph in Vienna and Fairfax!
I love this: CUE is mothballing buses that aren't even 12 years old, yet on the other side of the Potomac there are 15 year old Ride On buses whose brakes are about to give out and there are Metrobuses that could make their 20th birthday.
I think it's time for two things to happen: Me to do a CUE fantrip and for Metro and Ride On to take a CUE regarding certain buses.
Gotta remember, that T/As like Cue and DASH can get rid of their buses within 10, 12 years because 1)They don't get Federal money and 2)They are small enough that they can replace their buses when they want to. With all of the headaches larger T/As have sometimes they can't get rid of buses when they want to, therefore they have to run a bus that is 20 years old.
I am pretty sure with the amount of service those buses see and the fact that other than when GMU is in school, they have pretty light loads, those Gilligs are probably in pretty decent shape and could run another 5 to 10 more years.
The oldest Gilligs they have are from I believe 1998...and they were *fine*. Parts for 1998 Phantoms aren't as easy to find in 2009 as they were in 1998 but they are by no means obsolete or "unuseful".
(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd19/bjb91/S7301554-1.jpg)
There ya go.
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 08:04:40 PM
The oldest Gilligs they have are from I believe 1998...and they were *fine*. Parts for 1998 Phantoms aren't as easy to find in 2009 as they were in 1998 but they are by no means obsolete or "unuseful".
In a perfect world, Ride On would buy those 1998 Phantoms and put them on some Nicholson routes,
Quote from: Scrabbleship on October 07, 2009, 08:54:25 PM
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 08:04:40 PM
The oldest Gilligs they have are from I believe 1998...and they were *fine*. Parts for 1998 Phantoms aren't as easy to find in 2009 as they were in 1998 but they are by no means obsolete or "unuseful".
In a perfect world, Ride On would buy those 1998 Phantoms and put them on some Nicholson routes,
Why would they buy old buses when they are getting new buses?
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
Ffx Connector is still running 20+ RTSs from either 93 or 94. Go to Vienna and see the West Ox routes.
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 10:40:57 PM
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
How many Helldorados are left actually? Between that and that the Champions have been MIA for over a week, something really must be going on at Nicholson.
Thanks for the picture! Wow, they finally put the full name of the system on the bus - the City University Energysaver!
I guess they are taking the cue from WMATA with those high mount turn signals. They look great, though!
Quote from: Scrabbleship on October 08, 2009, 09:04:58 AM
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 10:40:57 PM
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
How many Helldorados are left actually? Between that and that the Champions have been MIA for over a week, something really must be going on at Nicholson.
If the Dorados and Champions out of Nicholson are MIA, what's running on their routes? I'm sure they don't have THAT many Baby G's yet.
Quote from: Transport on October 07, 2009, 11:39:39 PM
Ffx Connector is still running 20+ RTSs from either 93 or 94. Go to Vienna and see the West Ox routes.
Vienna? They aren't running out of West Falls Church any longer? I'd love to ride one of them again.
Of course, I must ask...what exactly are the newest batch of New Flyers replacing? Are a lot of Orion Vs getting displaced, or are the RTSs retirement being put on hold as the Orion Vs are getting rehabbed?
Quote from: Tritransit Area on October 08, 2009, 09:30:56 AM
Quote from: Scrabbleship on October 08, 2009, 09:04:58 AM
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 10:40:57 PM
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
How many Helldorados are left actually? Between that and that the Champions have been MIA for over a week, something really must be going on at Nicholson.
If the Dorados and Champions out of Nicholson are MIA, what's running on their routes? I'm sure they don't have THAT many Baby G's yet.
Quote from: Tritransit Area on October 08, 2009, 09:30:56 AM
Quote from: Scrabbleship on October 08, 2009, 09:04:58 AM
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 10:40:57 PM
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
How many Helldorados are left actually? Between that and that the Champions have been MIA for over a week, something really must be going on at Nicholson.
If the Dorados and Champions out of Nicholson are MIA, what's running on their routes? I'm sure they don't have THAT many Baby G's yet.
They got a bunch of the older Gilligs from Silver Spring and I think they may have gotten some Orion V's too. I know that at least one Nicholson route (the 18) has been shifted over to Silver Spring for the time being.
Quote from: Tristan on October 07, 2009, 10:40:57 PM
So they can replace dumpy cutaways at 1/4 the cost
Those 1998 Gilligs - were they rehabbed with LED signs? Anyway, I'm sure those buses would work well with Ride On - they are likely in very good shape.
Besides, Gillig's still around, parts shouldn't be hard to find, especially since there are so many Phantoms out there, both active and retired.
Quote from: Tritransit Area on October 08, 2009, 09:29:37 AM
Thanks for the picture! Wow, they finally put the full name of the system on the bus - the City University Energysaver!
I guess they are taking the cue from WMATA with those high mount turn signals. They look great, though!
If your talking "hi mount turn signals", are you referring to the circular things, by the A/C-Engine vent? Those are NOT turn signals. They are flashing hazard lights, activated when the bus decelerates/applies the brakes.
Its like when you break down on side of road. . in a perfect world, you put your 4-ways or hazard lights on, and people behind you, know your slowing down, and possibly stopping. Heck. . here at HARTline (Hillsborough ARea Transit) we even have a red
STOP in letters, that lights up, when the brakes are applied. But sometimes, after all the warnings, people will still plow into the rear of the bus. *sigh*
Quote from: DCT S9Z4Z6 on October 08, 2009, 12:39:06 PM
Quote from: Tritransit Area on October 08, 2009, 09:29:37 AM
Thanks for the picture! Wow, they finally put the full name of the system on the bus - the City University Energysaver!
I guess they are taking the cue from WMATA with those high mount turn signals. They look great, though!
If your talking "hi mount turn signals", are you referring to the circular things, by the A/C-Engine vent? Those are NOT turn signals. They are flashing hazard lights, activated when the bus decelerates/applies the brakes.
Its like when you break down on side of road. . in a perfect world, you put your 4-ways or hazard lights on, and people behind you, know your slowing down, and possibly stopping. Heck. . here at HARTline (Hillsborough ARea Transit) we even have a red STOP in letters, that lights up, when the brakes are applied. But sometimes, after all the warnings, people will still plow into the rear of the bus. *sigh*
Isn't that "STOP" sign kind of standard in Florida? I know that MDT, BCT, and JTA all have it too. Has Lynx or any of the other agencies given in as well?
Quote from: DCT S9Z4Z6 on October 08, 2009, 12:39:06 PM
Quote from: Tritransit Area on October 08, 2009, 09:29:37 AM
Thanks for the picture! Wow, they finally put the full name of the system on the bus - the City University Energysaver!
I guess they are taking the cue from WMATA with those high mount turn signals. They look great, though!
If your talking "hi mount turn signals", are you referring to the circular things, by the A/C-Engine vent? Those are NOT turn signals. They are flashing hazard lights, activated when the bus decelerates/applies the brakes.
Its like when you break down on side of road. . in a perfect world, you put your 4-ways or hazard lights on, and people behind you, know your slowing down, and possibly stopping. Heck. . here at HARTline (Hillsborough ARea Transit) we even have a red STOP in letters, that lights up, when the brakes are applied. But sometimes, after all the warnings, people will still plow into the rear of the bus. *sigh*
Says who that they aren't turn signals? Buses all over this region have additional turn signals in that general area. Have you seen these lights on these buses functioning yet?
Sorry. . I miss spoke.
yes those ARE turn signals. . but also they come on as flashers, when no turn signal is given, and the bus slows down, brakes for a service stop, or traffic stop.
Not necessarily -- that all depends on how they were spec'ed by the agency. In Virginia, such lights are not actually legal, IIRC. We had "retarder lights" (as we called them) on our 2003 Orion Vs but we disabled them after a few months in light of this, then ended up recently converting them to brake lights (which is why these buses now have a cluster of three brake lights in the rear).
wow...what an oops! I'd imagine they are taking after WMATA, the pioneer in the region of the upper rear turn signals. At least they aren't full-sized the way another local TA used to get them...
Down here in Tampa, HARTline has them as hazard lights, but I have seen other T/A's in Florida use them as secondary turn signals.
I also know that some Orions & Gilligs ive driven also had a retarder light, in the same general area, but that was singular & remained on/off, depending on the retarder setting.
Straying off topic a bit, but...
The lights I am talking about that we had on our 2003 Orions were mounted on either side of the rear brake light (there was a single rear brake light and two ambers on either side: O O O ) and they would illuminate whenever the retarder kicked in -- whenever the dashboard's "BRAKE RETARD" light came on, the rear retarder lights would also illuminate.
The idea was that since only a physical brake application illuminated the brake lights, there should still be some warning that the bus is slowing to a stop (it is possible to retard a bus to a nearly complete stop if you wanted to). I'm not 100% sure if we rejiggered the brake lights to illuminate whenever the bus slowed down (retarder or not) but I know that we just ripped out the ambers and spliced two new reds into the brake lamp circuit.
Many Ride On buses have the single, small, retarder on/off lamp of which you speak...at agencies where it is policy to keep the retarder on (most that I know of), this helps to enforce the rule (you still want drivers to be able to switch them on and off for winter weather -- you can skid if you brake and retard at the same time).
And that's the power of agency specification. As for the CUE Gilligs, we'll only know for sure when someone sees one come to a red light :-)
Yeah, different systems have different set-ups and specs for these types of lights. Champaign-Urbana for example, has strobing side turn signal and hazard lights (along the side of the bus).