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My take on "Metro", Enjoy;





















And for now my favorite buses, The Orion V; it felt great to see and ride these bad boys










WMATA 2000 Orion 05.501 #2167 - YouTube

I got to spend New Years Day in this bad boy, she still runs like a champ

Most of these we're taken over the summer I've been without Internet for a while now I'm back in the game, Enjoy;






This was one FAST ass Nova! great Night on the 500

AWESOME! You finally got out of the Burgh!  Hope you enjoyed the NJT Flxes as much as I do!

I LOVED those Flxibles! Talk about very fast and comfortable at the same time big difference from our Equipment.

Jonesy, wasn't you talking about coming down here since we always go up and see you? BTW Thanks for the pics

Shhhhhh!!!! now you killed the Secret lol I'll be in the D.C Area January 17th and the 18th...more details to come!!!

Took a little day trip....They Finally let me out of the Burg lol anywho heres a few Pics from State College to New Jersey--First up State College CATA;


They're system is basically made up of CNG Orions and New Flyers, pretty much sound like our Neoplans but with more Power...All-in-All i was very Impressed.

MegaBus DD415 First Shot taken at State College in the Walmart Parking lot the other in NYC....



To the Big Apple I go I must say this system really has a lot of buses! lol besides the fact that its very congested there wasn't a single moment where you couldn't find an MTA around here, I'm kind of sad I wish I could of seen more Orion NGs and even some Orion Vs but It was mostly regular VIIs a couple RTS and New Flyer Artics;



M.J Quill Depot..Lots of stuff goes on here

New Jersey Transit, Home of many MCIs, Brand Spankin' new NABIs, RTS, Neoplans and some Flxibles on the side--NJT Is currently in the phase of Retiring the Flxibles metros which are 1994 Models I'm guessing from the looks of it the NABIs are whats replacing them, Managed to ride 2 3751 and 3758 both run on Cummins C Engines, Heres a few shots of their MCIs in NYC and Flxibles in Elizabeth and North Arlington NJ;










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAGADY1fD98

I know....I know....

CCAC Trips During the Summer?

Going....Going....Going....Gone.....

I love this shot!

Trying something Different.

Time For some Videos;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA257PplsJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1cpqFO4HE

What was going to be a trip to New Castle ended up being a Trip out to Charleroi Washington County on the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority. I ended up meeting my Friend Marc who is the Marketing and Planning Director For the MMVTA hes been real busy Himself due to big Changes coming to this TA real soon the Transit Enhancement Model (TEM) is Basically PATs TDP, They're Input from Riders and the General Public around the Mon to Improve Bus Service within the Operating Area. There will be many Route Changes along with Fare Changes and everything is for the good One Big Step thats been going well Is Construction of their New Main Bus Facility In Donora they no longer use the the 88 Garage In Speers there IS still bus service that serves Speers but thats about it once the New Plans are in Place Most Bus Service will begin in Donora since thats where the Facility is located now Followed by Charleroi which will be Services Second all part of the TEM, Heres a few pics from my Trip on Wednesday;


The Good Ol' Transit Center on McKean Avenue in North Charleroi, they keep this place to clean and kept up its unreal every Staff person in there is Friendly most Routes stop here for Pick-Ups Drop off and Transfers, Due to the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge Closure buses have to Head towards Belle Vernon and cross Country Back to Charleroi via McKean Avenue and U-Turn at the Entrance of the Bridge to head back Outbound towards Speers.

Marc was nice enough to take me to Donora to check out the Brand New Bus Facility being built in an Old Former Industrial Park according to him this was suppose to be done a while ago but things got held up on that day lots of work was getting Done as far as Pavements and Developments along with Lighting everything is almost in just need the Detailed stuff now.

This is gonna be the main Wash Bay everything is brand Spankin' New the buses will enter from Behind and once they get their Baths they will get Fuel or already be Fueled and will head over to the Main Bus Garage for the day (See Pics Below).

Fuel Pumps ready to be Used all you need is Fuel now..That big Garage in the Backround is the main Bus Garage Currently thats where all Maintenence Work is being Done at until the New Facility is Finished that building will House the buses for now until it is Retrofitted to Match the New Facility being Built....Plenty of room inside that place too I might add.

one more shot of the New Facility I must say they did a Beautiful Job building this place even though its not done I was very Impressed by what I seen, Those two Doors on the Left Side is where the Buses will go to Get Worked on and the one on the far right is the Bus Wash..Once Construction is Finised this Facility will have a Park & Ride lot along with many Ameneties for Passengers getting on and off buses in the Area.

Inside The Garage....

Its Basically you typical Garage looks like a Port Authority Garage but the only thing is work is ACTUALLY getting done lol and all in one spot on top of that as most of you know the Mid Mon Runs a pretty nice Diverse Fleet of RTS, Gillig Phantoms and Low Floors and STV type Small Buses Theres actually 2 more new buses coming Next year but Im not gonna ruin the Surprise on that one lol heres a few Pics inside the Garage most of the buses were out for the day so this is what was in for me;

469 Sit Peacefully Before going out for a Nice trip to Pittsburgh on the A Line these buses really do put in Work and they still run great for their age!

472 one of 2 35ft RTS in the Fleet rest for the day I believe they use these Exclusively on the Green Line which is a Local Run.

477 and 470 Sit Quietly, 470 is waiting for its Driver to Pittsburgh while 477 waits on a Mechanic to Move her up a little bit from what I was told the Riding Public aren't like the New Gilligs as much not really too sure on why but from my point of view they did a really good Job spec'ing these buses out and still smell brand new one thing about the MMVTA cleanliness is a Priority to them.

The lighting is real low inside this building so I had to Edit these pictures to make them look Presentable....This is their somewhat "Deadrow" 481 is all Decked out with ADs on it (good Marketing) along with 462 and a Dusty 460.

Close up of 481.

MMVTA has about 4 Gillig Phantoms in its Fleet each of them Are painted into a Designated Special Scheme heres 475 in a Prototype they Tried out a while ago this is a nice one I believe its sister 476 also has this one while there is also a Red CAL U phantom and a Regular one painted in the RTS scheme (See Photo Below).

I seen this one in Monongahela and I was worried I wouldn't get a pic of it and here It ended up Pulling into the Garage for the day this is #473 getting some Oil work done outside before Pulling Inside I really like this scheme on the Phantom for some Reason looks great for its age....

2 Videos To and From the Valley;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SKSW_IcDXg
On-Board RTS #465 to the Valley...This one was a little Slow due to the A/C on Full Power still ran great though--This is a BAD video and I say bad because the HVAC was wayyyy too loud and you really can't hear the bus much and also the seats are so high its hard to hold the camera up the whole time trying to record and pay attention to where I am lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_43xdWFZFt4
Coming Back To Pittsburgh I managed to get picked up by a New Gillig Low Floor I must say I think these are the only Gilligs I approve of VERY comfortable and VERY fast I enjoyed every second of being on that bus coming back here and I didn't even want to get off lol the driver was very Polite and Dedicated to her work Sad thing about it as soon as I got off in town I got on 5553 what was Downgrade it was lol

All-in-all I enjoyed my time Down in the Valley hot as hell but it was worth the Trip I just want to Thank Marc Roncone of the MMVTA along with the nice people in the whole TA for putting up some time to show me around the system I hope nothing but the best for the MMVTA  you have a very neat and Organized Transit System going on with lots of class and so lots of Potential in the Future I plan on going back down that way in a Few Months to check out the Donora Site hopefully to be Completed I had lots of fun down there on Wednesday it was a great day!

Next Stop BCTA 

First it was the Dayton Gillig, Now its the St. Paul BRT--This is a brand new bus I'm guessing on Delivery and they stopped by to tell PAT about the new Offerings Gillig is putting out from what I was told the Vice President of Gillig was with this bus Earlier that Day I kinda missed out on this bus myself so this pictures are Courtesy of an operator I know all credit to him;





only thing I dont approve of is the Window Frames thats MUNI type shit I wouldn't want to have.

I finally get to enjoy my off day for once and I managed to have a good day Transit Wise There was a purpose of going to Manchester Earlier..But I missed out on it by a Few Hours unfortunantly, still got to see what was going on down at the Main House;




I was waiting for this bus to show up Down there and I got my wish..hopefully they can fix it to the point where it will run for a few months and not a week, this bus got bullied today check out the video below!

Whats this doing down here? last time I rode this bus it ran like a champ...who knows.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRXKH7_feHY
5323 getting pushed around for a little bit...

AT LAST!!!!!!!! I've been wanting interior shots of this bus for years now and I finally got It ran pretty well and the seats are pretty cool..These are Freedman style seating rather than the Typical American Seating that PAT orders for almost every Bus in the fleet It felt so odd sitting forward of the front Wheel Well rather than to the side of it as usual The only thing I disagreed about was the Leg room very little in some spots while in the rear there is plenty (and most of the regular Neoplans are cramped to begin with!) heres the oddball, Video at the end;

New Kensington After a long day on the 77B/77A








Where I sat most of the time..it was cramped due to that damn wheel being there other than that not a bad ride..kinda felt like I was sitting in a STV due to the fact that Neos dont ride too great to begin with lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhH3Ug3-Kck

I dont have an Answer to that this was '96 so anything is Possible I can't see them ordering buses without A/C though I know the classic is big in Canada but we're not Canada our weather is Bi-Polar.

The "Classic" NovaBus--Say Hello to 2623,

I haven't got out like this in a while heres a few quick captures from today;






5709 caught me off guard in Upper St. Clair

"Big Red"

Those artics look so mean, good shots as always.

Those were the days! lol