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Anyone know the purpose of the S80 and S91 routes? They are only 2-4 minutes long and seem somewhat useless. I would not be shocked if these routes get canned like the George lines did in the next WMATA budget cuts. Just speaking in a logical perspective. I mean, people could just walk to the Mall from the station and vice-visa.

TAGS info: http://www.tagsva.org/about-tags/
Interesting that the website says the point of TAGS is to shuttle in the Springfield central business district but the S80 and S91 buses only go as far as the Hilton near the old Springfield Mall and then to a suburban office park near Beulah Street and Walker Lane.

I wondered the same thing. I think they used to have a dedicated paint scheme. The only VA routes with a alphabet prefix.

Now there is the W99 with a public timetable online.  W99 - West Ox Road Shuttle.  I thought the division letter and "99" meant employee shuttle.  Should the W99 really be the A99?  Was "W99" used because it was pre-programmed in the destination signs back when Arlington closed and West Ox opened?

At first those W99 buses just used the SHUTTLE sign on the destination signs.  Then a few months later you saw W99 VIENNA STATION en route to Vienna and SHUTTLE back to West Ox.  Then, several months after that, someone programmed a WEST OX RD & ALLIANCE DR destination (with the annoying small font) that could be paired with W99 so both directions of the W99 have specific destination signs. 

Okay cool, thanks! So, the Orange line goes by CET?

Best way to get there via Metrorail is to take the Orange Line to Landover Station.  Walk north along Pennsy Drive PASSING the CET building and then walk left on the Veterans Parkway bridge.  From the Veterans Pkwy bridge you can see (on both sides of the bridge) various buses and other equipment lined up.

Here they are on the dead line at West Ox.  These pics were taken from Alliance Drive and the road entrance to the Fairfax VDOT building (not the main VDOT building).

The Connector XD35s are based at West Ox Road as of now and are used to a lesser extent on routes out of Vienna Metro and to a larger extent on the newer Beltway HOT lanes routes to and from Tysons from Franconia-Springfield, Lorton VRE/Saragota, and Burke Centre.  The 17L Metrobuses finally have some company at the VRE station terminal at Burke Centre, ha.

The remaining 11 RTS buses pulled their final runs during the rush hour on May 31, 2013.  They could be found during rush hours on routes to and from West Falls Church.  I was out of town when it happened.  Connector's 1994 RTSs were the oldest in the region I beileve.  Those buses were tanks but the long express stretches on the Dulles Toll Road is probably what allowed them to stay in service so long. 

Here's an Orion V (4403) from Royal on the P19 at just before 6 p.m. along 13th Street NW.  From Thursday, June 7.  It's sporting a B30/BWI upper wrap.

The Orange Line was shut between East Falls Church and West Falls Church stations.  I saw Annex buses working the Orange Line shuttle service between East Falls Church and West Falls Church.  Some Annex buses with FMR buses.  Why the use of Annex buses?  FMR did this in the past without assistance from another division.

Fairfax Connector had 505 and 950 buses serving East Falls Church instead of West Falls Church too.

I also have a couple of questions about some of the suburban systems. First, Ride-On has proven to be a very difficult system for me to shoot due to their large service area and fleet variety. Any recommendations for where I could find frequent service, preferably with variety? Also, I know it's been asked before but I want to check if it's still accurate - is West Falls Church station the best place to find Fairfax RTS buses, and is it safe to assume they only run in rush hours? I'm also looking for yellow Orion Vs from Fairfax - last time I was there I shot their system near Springfield-Franconia and didn't see RTS buses or yellow Vs.

Fairfax Connector: you will definitely find RTS's at West Falls Church Station, rush hour is your best bet too since most routes there are rush hour only. From what I heard, there's only a handful of RTS's left but I can almost guarantee you'll find some during Rush Hour at WFC. As for the repainted Orion Vs, I could be wrong but all of the repainted ones were older and have retired by now. The Orion Vs that remain have not been repainted. Again, I could be wrong, I'm just basing it through my observations since I have not seen any repainted Orion Vs in a long time.

= = = = = = = = = =

11 Fairfax Connector 1994 TMC RTS buses remain in service.  There are two terminals where you can photograph these buses: West Falls Church (north side) or the bus terminal at Herndon-Monroe Park & Ride.  The RTS's are mostly found on the 55x-series routes and routes 585 and 980, all of which are rush period only services.  Routes 551 and 980 serve Herndon-Monroe so if you do not like the light/sun glare at West Falls Church, try Herndon-Monroe.  See the 950/980 schedule to get between WFC and Herndon-Monroe in the reverse rush direction.  There were only supposed to be 10 RTS's in service but an Orion V transferred from Huntington to Herndon lost its transmission as soon as it pulled onto the lot at Reston/Herndon Division so that Orion V was scrapped and one of the better RTS's was saved.  Long live the RTS tanks!

As for the repainted Orion V's (the "yellow" Orion V's), I wish I could help you.  A few are in the grave yard line at West Ox Division, visible clearly from Alliance Drive off West Ox Road.  Huntington only has about ten Orion V's (including 30', 35', and 40'); not sure how many Herndon still has in service but I still see an occasional white Orion V at WFC.

I hope I attached four pics from West Ox properly somewhere in this post.

Yesterday I saw 7133 on the Q6, Im starting to think Western does a Q run during PM rush

West Ox
All 7700 series 2012 NF Xcelsior's (white large side LED sign).

Actually Herndon has some 7700s Xcelsiors as well, yesterday I saw 7718, 7707, and some others at W Falls Church

That could be, but the 425 and 427 serving West Falls Church are West Ox routes.  They were moved from Herndon last year.

Ah ok, that explains it, yeah the ones I saw were all on the 425/427.
Also I remember what seemed about a month ago seeing some 7700s at Huntington and Franconia-Springfield Stations, that was a pretty quick move. Question about the Xcelsior 7700s: how many are there? Highest I saw I think was 7737

The weekday Route 310, passing through Franconia-Springfield, is a West Ox route.  Huntington operates the 310 on weekends.  I'm not sure how high the Xceslior 7700 series buses go.  I will see if I can see at the division.  You will see 7700 West Ox buses along Franconia Rd and Old Keene Mill Rd on the 310 on weekdays.

Yesterday I saw 7133 on the Q6, Im starting to think Western does a Q run during PM rush

West Ox
All 7700 series 2012 NF Xcelsior's (white large side LED sign).

Actually Herndon has some 7700s Xcelsiors as well, yesterday I saw 7718, 7707, and some others at W Falls Church

That could be, but the 425 and 427 serving West Falls Church are West Ox routes.  They were moved from Herndon last year.

From yesterday
4321 on the A12
4317 on the B22
7163  on the F4
62622 was seen on the 34 so it means that 62617-22 are 29footers, need to find 32 and or 31 to round out what is 29 foot and what is 35 foot.

From today
Fairfax Connector 9631 and 9638 was seen on the 171 and if I am correct the 171 doesn't interline and also if I am correct these were from the Herndon garage.
Also saw 3 REX buses in a row turning onto Huntington Avenue from Jeff Davis Hwy.

FFX 171 does not interline with any other route.  There was a major fleet swap among the system about three weeks ago.  Here is what everyone got:

Huntington
9600 series 2009 and 2010 NF D40LFs.
Kept the original small number of 9700 series 2007 NF D40LFs.
Some of the 1999 and 2000 Orion V's were retired.
All of the El Dorado's were retired.
Has some 30' Orion Vs and 2008 Orion VIIs.

Herndon
All 9600 series 2011 NF Xcelsior's (amber standard side LED sign).
They kept some of the 9600 series 2010 NF D40LFs.
They kept some of the RTSs and Orion Vs.
Most of the RTSs and Orion Vs were or are being retired.
Some Huntington Orion Vs were swapped to Herndon.
Only about 10 of the 1994 RTSs will remain for about another year as their numbers are thinned.
Has some 30' 2008 Orion VIIs

West Ox
All 7700 series 2012 NF Xcelsior's (white large side LED sign).
All 2009 and 2010 9600 series NF D40LFs were sent to Herndon or Huntington.
Received some of Herndon's 2007 9700 series D40LFs.
Has 4 2008 30' Orion VIIs.


Only Herndon and West Ox have the new DEF diesel additive tanks which is why the Xcelsior's are only at Herndon and West Ox.  Huntington got a lot of the newest 9600 series standard diesel D40LFs as a result.  Huntington has not yet been outfitted with a DEF tank.

For most of winter/spring 2012, West Ox had all of the newest 40' Xcelsior's in the fleet due to West Ox being only division with DEF (along with 4 30' Orion Vs).  At that time Herndon got most of the 2009 and 2010 9600 series D40LFs while Huntington received some of the better Orion Vs and retired some of the more run down Orion Vs.  This was prior to the fleet swap about three weeks ago.

West Ox is (and has been) an all low floor fleet with the oldest buses being from 2007.  During winter/spring 2012 the oldest 40' West Ox buses were from 2011, due to the DEF tank issue.

Catch a ride on a 1994 TMC RTS out of West Falls Church during rush hours while you can.

I drove by CET today and the lot that I could see from Veterans Parkway was filled with Orion VIs.

What buses were sent to West Ox, Montgomery, and Landover to replace the Orion VIs?

Any idea how many 1998 Orion Vs might already be out of service? 

Well over a hundred. In fact, I've been keeping track of them (via Nextbus, of course), and there are about 74 units still in service; most of them are 4200s and 4400s.

Incidentally, Metro's website says that there was another fire about a week ago; it was on I-66, and the bus involved was #2028.

I saw the Orion VI parked, burned badly, on westbound I-66 near the Vienna Metro.  The fire burned the entire rear half of the bus.

You should e-mail the governor of Virginia and suggest cutting all Metrobus service in Va. and farming it out to the local operators to save taxpayer funds.