OK, so what's the transit scene like in DC now?

[Tritransit Area]

Hey all!

I hope to make a trip down there again...sometime soon...(when finances permit it ).  I just had a few questions to clarify what's going on in DC.

WMATA:
Flxibles...are basically off the streets, right?  Bs, Ds, and Es (man, how time flies!).   If so, are most of the Orion Vs (42/4300) essentially relagated to weekday only service?  Also, if any Flxes break out, where would they run?

NABI 60-BRTs: I see they are running on the X2 now.  Is this full time, weekends included?

American Ikaruses:  Are these now gone?  If not completely gone, where do they roam?

DE60LFAs: Did these essentially take over for the NABIs?  Will I find them on the Q2...er...Q1, 2, 4, or 6?  Is the F4/6 running any of them?

40 foot New Flyers:  Are they dominating the Montgomery and Landover scene, especially those LFAs?

Ride-On:

Are the Phantoms still running out of Silver Spring division, and if so, is it rare?

Am I correct in my reading that the 40 foot Orion V CNGs are only available on weekdays? I guess the same goes for the M11 Orion Vs.

ART:

Is there any rhyme or reason to where they are assigning the 31-LFWs?

Thanks for your input!  I hope to make it down there soon!

[Tritransit Area]

Oh, I forgot one thing!  Where can I find the new Circulator buses?  Do they tend to run on any specific routes?

[Antozilla]

Go to Ballston for ART or to the ART House near FMR

[WayneNYC]

Well... as you can imagine, the LFA has replaced the Flxibles as the most common bus in the fleet. 

The Metro-Ds are long gone.  Those remaining in reserve are Metro-Bs and Es. 

Very few American-Ikarus 436s left and all are at Bladensburg, so you'd likely find them on the X2.

I was hoping that WMATA would expand their artic fleet, but it looks as though the NABI-60 BRT and DE62LFAs will replace the 436s.

Landover and Montgomery are probably the most diverse WMATA divisions.  Montgomery had '97 Orion V (4300s), D40LFR, DE40LF, Orion VI, DE62LFA and DE42LFA.  Landover doesn't have any artics and also has DE40LFRs.

   

[Scrabbleship]

I was hoping that WMATA would expand their artic fleet, but it looks as though the NABI-60 BRT and DE62LFAs will replace the 436s.

Wasn't this the plan to begin with, only to be thwarted by the reconstructions of Benning Road and H Street NE delaying putting the 60BRT's on the X2?

I have an odd feeling that when the 4200's end up meeting their retirement, part of them will be replaced by artics. With new depots to play around with and increasing ridership, it might be the wisest move to possibly prune some redundancy in DC and add capacity in Arlington and PG.

[RideOn5905]

Most of Ride-On's 1995-96 Phantoms are still at Silver Spring, but a few of them have moved to Nicholson with the '97 & '99 ones. In terms of their (SS) rarity, unfortunately, I can't help you; I live in Germantown. As far as the Nicholson Phantoms go, try the 8. That's where I find most of them.

The big Orion V CNG's... well, I rarely take Ride-On on weekends, but I think that they do run on weekends.

As for the '96-98 Orion V's, I haven't seen any of those in forever; in fact, I'm inclined to believe that they only run during rush hour.

[Scrabbleship]

Most of Ride-On's 1995-96 Phantoms are still at Silver Spring, but a few of them have moved to Nicholson with the '97 & '99 ones. In terms of their (SS) rarity, unfortunately, I can't help you; I live in Germantown. As far as the Nicholson Phantoms go, try the 8. That's where I find most of them.

The big Orion V CNG's... well, I rarely take Ride-On on weekends, but I think that they do run on weekends.

As for the '96-98 Orion V's, I haven't seen any of those in forever; in fact, I'm inclined to believe that they only run during rush hour.

I know a couple of the '96-98 Orion V's were over at Nicholson earlier this year around the time the Chumpions started to reenter service. I think they might do well there to finish up their years once the '95-96 Phantoms meet their retirement.

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

WMATA:

-Flxibles are getting harder and harder to find each day.
-NABI 60-BRTs: I think they run on weekends as well, but I could be wrong. Although they are on the X2 now, they can still be found on the R1, R2, and maybe U8 as well.
-American Ikarus: There's still plenty of them running on the X2. But that's the only route where you'll find them on. I'm not sure if they run weekends. There's also supposedly one at Western Division (5205) but none of us have seen it in person yet.
-DE60LFAs: Yes they pretty much did take over the American Ikaruses at Montgomery and the few that were at Northern. Although they are still mostly on the Y line for Montgomery and 70/71 for Northern. You can still find some on the J line, Q line, Z line, S1, and maybe others, but it's harder to find.
-40 ft New Flyers: Yes they pretty much dominate most divisions now, not only Montgomery and Landover. Specifically, Montgomery, Landover, Northern, and Western are taken over by the DE42LFAs. Bladensburg (as always) has C40LFs, Annex has nearly all the D40LFRs (ALL the 6100s to be exact, Montgomery still has 6200-6211 and Landover with 6212-6217). As for Virginia, it's still mostly Orion VIIs, but besides FMR, West Ox has mostly 4200s and some DE42LFAs as well, and Royal now mostly consists of 2100s (as of now they have 2100-2146).

Ride On:


-The Gillig Phantoms are at Nicholson for the most part. Each day it's getting harder to find one on a Silver Spring route.
-The 40-ft Orion V CNGs can still be seen running on the weekends. I still see them all the time. As for the 1996 and 1998 Orion Vs, I think the 1996s are retired since I haven't seen them in several months (maybe a year), and the 1998s I haven't seen in a couple of months, so I'm afraid to say that their time is up.

ART:

-Can't answer this one =\

[Tristan]

You got a lot of answers for your other questions so I won't chime in on those but in terms of ART, I've seen the 31s on just about every route I catch regular sight of, INCLUDING THE 41, go figure...but I would say your best chances are on their quieter routes, i.e. 51, 53, maybe 75, and the new 45.  Most of their routes hit subway stations on one end so none of them should be hard to get to.

[79MetroExtraMD]

You got a lot of answers for your other questions so I won't chime in on those but in terms of ART, I've seen the 31s on just about every route I catch regular sight of, INCLUDING THE 41, go figure...but I would say your best chances are on their quieter routes, i.e. 51, 53, maybe 75, and the new 45.  Most of their routes hit subway stations on one end so none of them should be hard to get to.

Try the 77 and 87 as well. Those two are pretty nice routes (although the 77 is a weekday only route). The 87 I think gets an older LFW and a restyled LFW but it's been a little while since I've ridden the 87. I think eventually, they are going to phase out the cutaways once they get another order of buses. They are slated to get Designlines next year.

[Tritransit Area]

Cool, thanks for the advice everyone!  Wow....my head's kind of spinning about the fact that the place I used to visit to ESCAPE the New Flyer dominance is now dominated by New Flyers!

Not thrilled with the ISL/Allison Gillig Low Floor domination of Silver Spring (with sealed windows!!!) but Gaithersburg should still be fun and diverse!  I think the 2001 Orion Vs are all in Silver Spring as well if things haven't changed.

Wow, what routes run out of Annex?  The 6100s were my favorite non-Flxible buses in the area.  I shall also try for the NABIs on ART.  I've been wondering how a 31 foot NABI would handle.   Did ART get rid of those hideous Champion CTS FEs already?  Seems like just yesterday they appeared...