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I remember when Gaithersburg ran the 51 and i drove a brand new (than) Orion VII on it, I picked up my sister and brother that day.

OK thanks guys, i have been out of the loop so long i didnt even know Blue Bird got in the commuter bus field.

I was riding around the Denver area ad saw this bus in Longmont on the BOLT from Boulder.I checked MCI's website but nothing even looks close. If anyone has info it would be nice.

Great pics Ray!

Im in Whitefish, Montana and this was sitting in front of the musuem/Amtrak train depot. It was built by Kenworth and the rear doors are built to the height of the old RPO cars that ran the line(to ease unloading of the rail car). They used the Bruck till Amtrak took over the Empire Builder. It seats 21 passengers in front with there luggage and the rear was for the mail.

The main reason i say im stuck is because it was a train that would have connected to Amtrak and get into DC at a decent hour. I did get somemore bus riding in so all is not lost, I went to the Danbury Fair Mall on the rt.6 and caught the night service bus (cutaway) to the "pulse point" and caught my bus(err cutaway) back to the hotel. I do have a funny side note thou the bus driver of the last bus i was on went thru the drivethru with the cutaway to get a cup of coffee with pasengers on the bus! I thought it was hilarous until i found out she does it everyday sometimes twice a day.

BTW im too lazy to resize photos

I got a chance to ride Housatonic Area Regional Transit this afternoon, it wasnt a ride i was planning on so i didnt have my camera. I wasnt impressed with it thou and found the schedule to be confusing online. Now i have there bus schedule in hand and it makes more sense. They use Gilligs and Orions, all i saw out today was 35ft Advantages, and a Orion V. They have a transfer/pulse point but i can not call it a transit center at all as their is no bathrooms (for the public) or an indoor waiting area. At least in Amarillo,TX they had bathrooms and a indoor waiting room. I missed my Metro-north train so im stuck here for the rest of the weekend and i will try to ride again tomarrow. I was gonna take the train to Stamford and transfer to Amtrak to go visit you all in the DC area since I havent been there for 2 years now (remember riding my big rig Christmas eve 2006? I know 3 people on this board remembers).I WILL bring my camera tomarrow if i do ride HARTs sunday/night schedule. Until next time, ill just keep flying around the country testing rails and reporting about bus system. Dont I have a fun job!

Nice video, Im gonna have to do one next year for the 2009 video year book. I have a few good videos stored in my camara already.

After riding various bus systems i do like the "regional" bus system approach. Sound Transit (ST) runs all the "regional" stuff and the the local jurisdictions run "local" service. Even in "local" service they cross county lines and the local jurisdictions also run differant ST routes. The ST rt.574 was actually run by Pierce Transit but used buses in ST paint (MCIs). The local jurisdictions making up ST also do the same so ST dosent actually have its own depot AFAIK. I know when the regional light rail opens up, ST will have its own facilities for once. I personally like the idea of a "regional" transit provider and wish Metro would give up routes to the jurisdictions as it is actually cheaper in the long run. Of course Metro would have to give up some facilities and buses (who would get what?) and we need to keep the already ineffect fare schedule. Also we NEED a Regional route numbering system that coordinates with MD MTA also. Imagine all Baltimore bus route numbers starting with a "B" and Ride on all starts with "M"(for Mongomery county),FFC with an "F" and so on and so forth. I am tired of Metro living in the PAST with the retarded route number scheme. We need to move foward from the past route numbers and WHO cares that its "historical" (IMO its "hysterical"). Metro is WAY to expensive to run as is and its the reason I think the local jurisdictions should run the "local" routes. Remember WMATA is run by the individual jurisdictions on what kind of services it runs(or in PGs case dosent run).

The Breda pics were from earlier in the week, heres a Gillig Phantom trolley bus

Most of their buses tend to be Articulateds 95% are New Flyers the other 5% are the Breda that they converted to trolley buses from the old duel modes they have about 50 Bredas left. I also rode the Tacoma Link but not the Sounder commuter rail. They were testing the Sounder light rail today and saw a few running around but couldnt get pics heres the rest of my pics.

I was in Seattle all day Saturday and i rode around of course! I even rode the monorail and the Gillig Phantom trolley buses. I was looking for the Breda trolley buses but i dont think they run on week ends. I even rode the S.L.U.T. (South Lake Union Trolley) its actually the old acrynom its now the S.L.U.L. because it might "offend" somebody. Heres a pic

Favs:
Lynx  (Orlando, FL) VERY colorful and happy
Snowmass village shuttle (Snowmass Village,CO) I like the newest ones with the snowflakes
WMATA second paint scheme with the red and blue stripe into an arrow i grew up liking this scheme, i DISLIKE the blue bottoms on the third.
Ride On i liked it on the '93 30ft Gillig Phantoms

Worst:

WMATA third scheme
RFTA (Aspen,CO) all schemes so far
MTA (Baltimore,MD)all schemes so far if the Maryland flag was a full wrap i think i would like it.
Ocean City transit its BORING

My criteria for a decent bus system has to do with scheduling, bus operators attitudes and manners, maintenence, etc. I find that for a large system MD MTA is very low on the totem pole in all catergories. My favorie was the "extra passengers" on the bus(ROACHS). I know Baltimore isnt the richest city in the world with an unlimited budget, but come on get real the only time i liked riding MTA was the light rail and i heard they screwed that up also. We always make fun of PGs The Bus but for big bus systems MTA is the butt of my jokes. I am sorry if i "offend" anyone but i dont have too many positives i can say about MTA. I have ridden many bus systems and most are in the middle of the road, not on the bottom of the totem pole. oh and BTW these opinions are MINE, and you dont have to like them.

I got a chance to ride CUBS (Community Urban Bus System) they have hourly headways and use heavy duty equipment. I rode a 03 Gillig Phantom 35 fter and thats all I saw at their transit center. They run an hourly "pulse" system and have good ridership right before rush hour, in fact my bus was over 10 minutes late and all the other buses had to wait. It was a fully seated load. The routes could use restructring and half-hour headways and it would be alot better for the riders. They apprently have some kind of commuter service to Vancouver,WA but it might just be a van not a bus thou. The fare is 1.20 for a daily pass good till the last bus at 6pm from the transit center. They have no sunday service and saturday service is only on three of the five routes.