WMATA's 3900's get a new lease on life....

[rideonrulez]

Ride On is planning to accept 30 ex-WMATA 3900's in the next couple of weeks to remove the troublesome Champion low floor cutaways. They will definitely run them until summer (2013) when Ride On recieves an order for 29 new baby Gilligs and possibly longer until 2014 when the next order comes in. Be on the look out!!

[DCAreaTransitFan]

this is great will they have ride ons paint?

[WayneNYC]

this is great will they have ride ons paint?

This is good news that will help Ride On tremendously.  I wouldn't be at all suprised if Ride On uses them for 2 full years.  The thing I really like is that they give Ride On flexibility with their use since they're 30 footers.  In regards to a repaint... That seems to be serious $$$ and I think Ride On shouldn't invest too much into cosmetics.  I think the most Ride On should do is to remove the red stripes and possibly paint over the blue areas to lessen the possibility of them being mis-identified as WMATA buses.  Of course they'd add Ride On logos/lettering.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

How long were the WMATA baby Flxibles used by Ride On about 10 years ago or so?  Those got a repaint and then a second one back into the latest WMATA scheme after they finished their stint as Ride On buses. 

[RideOn5905]

This is so cool. I'm looking forward to seeing them here in Germantown doing the 97 and 98. Will they be renumbered?

[Tritransit Area]

Awesome news!  I can't wait to see them on Ride On duty.  I would love to see them in the Ride On scheme as well (preferably the blue and white, but I'd be curious to see them in the Green/Yellow/Blue scheme as well).

[rideonrulez]

I heard they would be wrapped not painted and not sure if they will renumber. But from what units are going over there, I think the original unit numbers will remain.

Oren, I remember the 12 baby Flxibles that were painted for Ride On. But that was written in the contract when Ride On hired WMATA to run those services.

[Tritransit Area]

Wait, WMATA operated those services?  What routes were these? I think one may have been the Bethesda 8?

[WMATAGMOAGH]

The 92 was operated by WMATA for awhile, and later on the 36 was (which is noteworthy from a historical perspective since the predecessor of the 36 was Metrobus route T1).  Not sure what other routes but there were definitely others.

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

This is great, does my heart good to see these babies still in service, especially since they'll be much closer to me this time

[WayneNYC]

I heard they would be wrapped not painted and not sure if they will renumber. But from what units are going over there, I think the original unit numbers will remain.

Oren, I remember the 12 baby Flxibles that were painted for Ride On. But that was written in the contract when Ride On hired WMATA to run those services.

Cool.  I didn't think of the obvious and I imagine wraps would cost a lot less than repainting.

[Flxible]

Ride On is planning to accept 30 ex-WMATA 3900's in the next couple of weeks to remove the troublesome Champion low floor cutaways. They will definitely run them until summer (2013) when Ride On recieves an order for 29 new baby Gilligs and possibly longer until 2014 when the next order comes in. Be on the look out!!

Oh, snap!  This is GREAT news.  So good to hear the 3900s will get a new lease on life! 

[Flxible]

How long were the WMATA baby Flxibles used by Ride On about 10 years ago or so?  Those got a repaint and then a second one back into the latest WMATA scheme after they finished their stint as Ride On buses.

From what Tristan tells me, those units were returned to WMATA and rehabbed in third scheme around Fall 2001.  We have 5172 at the CC&T in Roanoke, which is my current avatar for this site.  You can still see remnants of Ride On blue underneath a paint chip on the tailgate.

[WES]

Well they were already rehabbed when they went into service for RIDE ON, but they were returned to WMATA and painted into the third scheme.  While they were waiting to be repainted they were actually in service on WMATA's routes.  It was funny to see a RIDE ON painted Flxible on the F2, I bet people were confused when they saw a strange blue and white bus arriving at their stop that said RIDE ON, then again they were in service from Landover, nuff said.

I believe it was 5166-5176 I believe someone else may know better.

It is good to see that the baby Orion Vs are getting a little more useful life.  The FFX ones are long gone except for one saved one , and WMATA's would have been next.  Thank goodness for crappy truck buses that burst into flames like a Pinto(aka disposable buses)

[79MetroExtraMD]

This is good news. They needed to get rid of those crappy Champions a long time ago. After all of those fires and whatnot, it was no point in chancing things. I can't wait to see them running around in the county.