August 2008 Observations

[79MetroExtraMD]

This is from a couple days back, but I saw a 601x on the J4 back on Friday. First time I've seen a hybrid (or any sort of New Flyer) on the route given how Flxible heavy (with a dash of Orion and artic) it is.

I've rarely at times seen a D40LFR or a DE40LF on that line. The one time I got a D40LFR was on a run with a good former bus operator of mine when she was running late. We expressed from College Park to Langley Park. The only rare time something nice on the J4.

[WayneNYC]

Since the J4 started it has almost always used mostly old stuff with occasional newer bus showing up there.  I'd bet the fact that it's a rush hour route is a factor.

[79MetroExtraMD]

That's true. Then, there's the occasional tic sighting. I know exactly the guy who gets that run. He always wants a tic to run on that.

[ChristopherF]

My list of bus sightings for 8/26/08 are as follows:

RIDE ON:
975409, with the -paint scheme that can never, ever, ever be changed at any time-, on the 20 (Silver Spring)
A few Orion V teenage buses from 2001-02 now have the Benjamin Franklin banner on top; this is seen on the buses' right side

METROBUS:
2016 on the F8 (Cheverly Station), freshly rehabbed
2078 on the K6 (Ft Totten), remains unrehabbed
2093 on the C8 (College Park Station), remains unrehabbed

[WayneNYC]

9483 heading into DC at Key Bridge - M Street on the 38B.  Before today, I hadn't seen the 35-footers on the 38B in several years

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Irreplacable silver scheme?  If I were a betting man, I wouldn't be surprised if 5409 and 5410 received normal colors again when the new exterior ad friendly paint scheme gets designed and if it is applied to older buses.

[Scrabbleship]

Two from this morning, though numberless:

Ride On: A high 5100 series cutaway, in the Van Go scheme, on the 2(!!). Why would Nicholson be doing a Silver Spring run?
WMATA: A 5200 on the Z6. I think that outside the Laurel Z's this is the one Z I hadn't seen an artic on before.

[Perry]

When you need service, you get buses from wherever you have.  Probably not a good idea to miss a trip on a route that services a garage.

[LandoverDivision]

6149 and 6160 now has the PGCC ad.

[rideonrulez]

When you need service, you get buses from wherever you have.  Probably not a good idea to miss a trip on a route that services a garage.

Especially when it is basically the "employee shuttle" for Silver Spring 

[ChristopherF]

RIDE ON:
995410, with the -paint scheme that can never, ever, ever be changed at any time-, on the 15 (Langley Park)
915520 (totaled in wreck) is gone
9155nn on the 20 (Hillandale - Holly Hall)
025593 on the 10 (Hillandale)

METROBUS:
6139 on the NH1
6107 on the NH1
6110 on the NH1
9371 remains @ Landover.
9408 remains @ Montgomery.
9770 remains @ Montgomery.
9772 remains @ Bladensburg.
9776-9785 remains @ Northern.
(UPDATE: 9778 is back @ Bladensburg with a "B" block)
4262 remains @ Northern.
4286 is now rear-wrapped in the PGCC ad
4343 on the 30s & is now wrapped in the MINI Cooper Clubman ad, just like 4311, 4360 & 2111
4349 on the 30s & later on the 66
2003 on the F4 (New Carrollton Station), freshly rehabbed
2005 on the F4 (Silver Spring Station), freshly rehabbed
2016 on the F8 (Cheverly Station), freshly rehabbed
2068 on the Z8 (Silver Spring Station), remains unrehabbed
2069 on the J2 (Montgomery Mall), remains unrehabbed
2071 on the Y8 (Montgomery General Hospital), freshly rehabbed
2078 on the Q2 (Shady Grove Station), remains unrehabbed
2092 on the C4 (Twinbrook Station), remains unrehabbed
2093 on the C2 (Wheaton Station), remains unrehabbed
2538 on the 23A (Crystal City) & is now in the NGV wrap
2619 on the 38B (Farragut Square)
270n on the 5A (L'Enfant Plaza Station) & is now in the NGV wrap
2822 on the R4 (Brookland Station)
2403 on the 80 (Kennedy Center)
IS 9610 STILL @ CET?

[79MetroExtraMD]

I went by CET on the train and saw a string of no-powers at the south end yard.

My observations

Metrobus
2801 79 B771 (TTT Archives)
*For some reason, the TTT can't seem to go away even though the Clever Devices shows 79

Ride On
728 and 730 on the 38 going toward Montgomery Mall on Rockville Pike

There are three Gaithersburg buses at a collision and body shop on Hanover St. in Baltimore. I saw one Orion 5 CNG and two O7s. I couldn't get the numbers because I was on the 64. There is also a Miami-Dade Optima Opus w/ customized front there as well.

[OrionFlyer]

What is TTT. I've seen it in a couple of WMATA photos like the one below.

[79MetroExtraMD]

From what I was told, its a "route" that stores alot of the P/R codes, special routes, and NOT IN SERVICE. I think it's set to where the vehicle can still be tracked in the system although it is out of service. I have no idea why they chose TTT. I've been asking around and alot of people don't know why that. Also, most of the time, the signs, if not set to change over to another trip, should automatically set to NOT IN SERVICE and clear out the route when the bus goes past a preset mark in the system. Once it goes past this mark, the signs should change over to NOT IN SERVICE. However, if any kind of deviations are made, the signs might still show your current destination, so TTT might solve that problem to where the signs will be set to NOT IN SERVICE if selected. Now, for some reason, TTT comes up on the sign even thought it's not supposed to. 2801 on the 79 shows TTT now whether going to Archives or Silver Spring. There might be some kind of communication problem between the sign controller (Luminator) and the Clever Devices IVN system.

[Tristan]

Not sure if anyone is familiar with WMATA's destination sign setup, but unlike many transit systems, the route and destination are entered separately; on CDs, I think if you put in a route, it'll pull up all the destinations that route serves or you can override that with any destination code (I'm not 100% sure about the override ability).

So, they use TTT as a route, and when the operator enters that, all the stuff shows up.  I would say 79ME's theory makes sense but I can't figure out the times it works vs. the times it doesn't; my best shot at an explanation is that WMATA's Clevers also have a separate PR menu (there is a P/R button on the screen) that operators could use if they knew how (or if they decided against whatever other motivation drove Metro to using this "TTT" setup in the first place).

"TTT" in and of itself doesn't mean anything, it's just that on a Clever controller, to select letters and numbers, you have to arrow through a grid of letters and numbers and select the characters you want, so they just picked a character and did it three times...why "T" I don't know, but on that token, why not?