Black window outline making a comeback

[WayneNYC]

The New Flyer D60HF was taken today.  Sorry about the (lack) quality of the photo.  Didn't have the DSLR and grabbed the point and shoot just in a nick time as the bus came along.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Thanks for sharing Wayne.  They've never done that with the D60HFs before have they?

[WayneNYC]

Oren,

You're correct.  #5693 is freshly repainted and very likely the first of the D60HFs to get this treatment.  All of the buses in this group (5510-5769) likely get this (slightly changed) color scheme.  Possibly the previous D60HF (5250-5509) group, if the TA decides to hold on to them a bit longer.  Maybe the last group of Nova RTS too (4900-5249), as it's rumored that the TA will give them another mini rehab to extend their lives.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I'm not a fan of how it looks on that D60HF though.  I think the MTA needs to bring back the stripes on the front and the black backs with the stripe going across, but it doesn't seem as if anyone from there has contacted me to solicit my opinion on the issue.

[WayneNYC]

Oh, I agree.  I'm OK with them going to the black window outline, but I can't imagine why they'd take the stripe off the front and rear end.  Also, (IMO) the black on the upper rear ends made perfect sense as it help hide the dirt.  Nowadays, any bus that has had a solid white back for some often looks horrible.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I think my objection to the black window outline here is that it extend far below the windows to the stripe.  They don't do that on the other buses unless I'm forgetting about a model.

At the rate the MTA is going, perhaps they should just not paint the buses at all. 

[WayneNYC]

I think my objection to the black window outline here is that it extend far below the windows to the stripe.  They don't do that on the other buses unless I'm forgetting about a model.

At the rate the MTA is going, perhaps they should just not paint the buses at all. 

These are the first high floor buses to get black window outline treatment.  On the D60HF the blue stripe is now a bit lower.  It's like the MTA has been slowly switching over to what we see now.  A couple of years ago, they started with the white rear ends with the blue stripe, then the blue strips started to go away (especially at MTA Bus).  I guess you can say that the Orion VII NG hybrids started with the black window outline, followed by the Nova LFS-A with both having their rear ends solid white.  Then LIB's Orion VII NG (CNG) that are now arriving are the first to be delivered with both the front and rear ends sans the blue stripe, and black window outline.

For years I always felt that they threw away lots of money repainting buses.  Since the late 80s, the TA has been known to repaint many buses only to scrap the bus soon afterward.  I also thought it was a huge waste to repaint many of the former PBL buses when MTA Bus was created.  IMO, it made sense to repaint the Orion V CNGs, but the older buses should've simply run out their remaining time with the MTAB decals in place.