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Wow, nice pictures and a nicely diverse fleet! It looks like I should head for Queens the next time I am up there!
Thanks a bunch. Glad you like the pics. Yes, our fleet is becoming nicely diverse. A big part of this is the MTA's Bus Test Evaluation program. Basically, this is a test to identify which is the best bus overall for the MTA. The MTA decided to purchase 7 small orders of 90 buses each (90 bus orders are quite small in NYC) . The test called for 3 groups of 40-footer clean diesel buses, 2 artic orders, 1 OTR coach for express service and one 40-footer bus powered by a turbine engine.
The TA halted production/delivery on the turbine powered DesignLine EcoSaver IV order, which was eventually cancelled as the TA ran out of patience with seemingly endless problems. The 7 units on property were returned to DesignLine.
The next group on property was 90 Nova LFS artics (1200-1289). Apparently the TA was so happy with these buses that they ordered an addition 328 units (5770-6097), which are now being delivered.
The buses will be assigned to NYCTA depots. The test involving the 3 groups of 40-footer diesel buses involves 3 depots. One depot in Queens (Queens Village, one in Brooklyn (Ulmer Park) and one on Staten Island (Castleton). Each of the 3 sets of buses (Orion VII EPA '10, New Flyer XD40 & Nova LFS) will be split evenly between the three depots for the evaluation. All Novas are in service and the delivery of the Orion VII and Xcelsiors are in progress. The Novas are 8000-8089, Orions are 7000-7089 and the XD40s are 4810-4899.
The express bus order went to Prevost for the X3-45 (2400-2489) with Wi-Fi. These buses are operating on Brooklyn and Staten Island express routes.
The next group of artics is said to be the Xcelsior XD60.
Great pics, Wayne. So how many C40LFs did/will NYC get from that order?
Quote from: Flxible on February 02, 2012, 11:38:15 AM
Great pics, Wayne. So how many C40LFs did/will NYC get from that order?
Thanks Fred. We're due to get 385 (185-569) of them and I think the option for 90 additional units is likely to be taken. I'm loving it:-).
Wow. And New Flyer agreed to keep building all of them in the older style? What will these (and the other groups of 90) replace?
I've heard other theories about New Flyer building the C40LF for the MTA which could be true. My thinking has been that from a business standpoint, if the MTA expressed an interested in the original LF styling, it was common sense for NFI to supply them with the buses. They're obviously interested in MTA's business and it's no secret that the MTA tends to place large orders. These buses will go to both NYCTA and MTAB depots and they'll replace the 190 older C40LF and likely all (or most) of the Orion V CNG buses.
The BTE test fleets will replace various diesels from the '96 Nova RTS and '99 Orion Vs. The Prevosts will replace some of the oldest MCI 102DL3s. This is really the beginning as they expect to replace about well over 1000 more buses in the next few years.