June 2009 Observations

[WES]

9328 on the T18

6027 on the L2


Just remembered,

I thought I saw 4398 on the 11Y yesterday also.

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

JUST IN: 9708 and 9726 are now RETIRED!

kill me now

[Tristan]

I just saw 9726 just a couple weeks ago.

Here today, NIMCO tomorrow...

[Tritransit Area]

Yeesh!  Metro Ds getting retired already?!  I just saw a Metro B in service last Saturday (much to my gleeful surprise).

Lol, WMATA and their non sequencial retirements.  First the 9600s (completely blindsided by that), then the Orion IIs (swept from under my feet), but the 19 year old Metro Bs are still trucking on (not that I'm complaining )

[ChristopherF]

RIDE ON:
085746 on the 10 (Twinbrook)
965378 on the 10 (Hillandale)

PRTC OMNIRIDE:
179 (Gainesville/ Linton Hall Road) with a new coat of paint
183 (Gainesville/ Linton Hall Road) with a new coat of paint

METROBUS:
6107 on the NH1
4020 on the NH1
4349 on the 28A (Tysons Corner)
4206 on the 28T (Tysons Corner Westpark)
4211 on the 28T (Tysons Corner Westpark)
4355 on the 28A (King Street Station)
4378 on the 1B
3923 on the 60 (Georgia Ave Petworth)
2102 on the K2 (Ft Totten)
2222 on the E2
2301 on the 80 (Ft Totten)
2346 on the 80 (Kennedy Center)
2623 on the 80 (Kennedy Center)
2510 on the 38B & is no longer wrapped in "Go Green On Metro"
2525 on the 3B (Falls Church Sta)
2604 on the 38B (Ballston Station)
2727 on the 5A
6158 on the F8 (Langley Park)
2801, with the ugly-looking destination signs, on the 79
2802 deadheading (NOT IN SERVICE) on South Dakota Ave
2823 on the 86 (Calverton)
5402 on the 5A, I'm very surprised that 5402 is NOT a Bladensburg bus
5414 on the R5 (Ft Totten)
6320 on the 32 (Southern Avenue Station)
6376 on the 36 (Friendship Heights Station)
6449 on the 39
IS 9310 STILL @ CET?

NOTES:
It looks like all, if not most, of the 1998 Orion Vs that previously operated out of Western are going to Royal.  As of now (6/19/2009), 4335, 4341, 4343, 4347, 4349 & 4350 have all transferred to Royal from Western.  It looks like Western is ridding itself of its 1998 Orion Vs & sending them to Royal & in return, it is receiving New Flyers.

[Scrabbleship]

Yeesh!  Metro Ds getting retired already?!  I just saw a Metro B in service last Saturday (much to my gleeful surprise).

I got 2 in less than 24 hours, one on the J2 Wednesday evening and one on the J5 yesterday morning.

[Tristan]

That likely means that Royal's stonghold on the Metro-Bs is coming to an end, and ... I wonder where these buses are going if not to CET?

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

That likely means that Royal's stonghold on the Metro-Bs is coming to an end, and ... I wonder where these buses are going if not to CET?

They seem to be going to Landover and Bladensburg...I just hope they're not going to Landover just to be transferred to the next-door CET soon

[WES]

Yeesh!  Metro Ds getting retired already?!  I just saw a Metro B in service last Saturday (much to my gleeful surprise).

Lol, WMATA and their non sequencial retirements.  First the 9600s (completely blindsided by that), then the Orion IIs (swept from under my feet), but the 19 year old Metro Bs are still trucking on (not that I'm complaining )

The 9600 (aka the nopowers) were probably a disappointment in that they really didn't clean the air as much as the EGR 50s was supposed to, also they were woefully slow, couldn't get up a hill, even if they were on steriods and there were probably a few things that were their early downfall that I didn't mention.

IMO the Ds and Es weren't built as well as the Bs, but liked them nonetheless.  It could be that some of the 9700s were worse off than some of the better Bs, so why keep buses that suck, when you can keep buses that still can run pretty decently.

Let's just say that the Flxible era in DC (make that everywhere) is coming to an end, get your pics, get your vids, get your rides, because soon the Flxes will be gone like the Macks, AMGs, Brills and Orions........wait my mistake.

[Tristan]

Piggybacking on WES, the 9600s and many later EGR S50 engines had big issues in the EGR systems.  Once, an FFX Connector official told me he wanted to dump the 2001 Orion Vs before the 1998's, because of their EGR issues.  They were a maintenance headache that didn't really reduce emissions, and...guess why they haven't made any DD50s in the last few years...

[79MetroExtraMD]

EGR was the nail in the coffin that was the Series 50s demise and CAT ending their transit bus engine operations, there's only two choices so far for transit/motorcoaches: Cummins and Volvo. I'd love to see Volvo emerge back in the U.S

[NewFlyer9736BCT]

EGR was the nail in the coffin that was the Series 50s demise and CAT ending their transit bus engine operations, there's only two choices so far for transit/motorcoaches: Cummins and Volvo. I'd love to see Volvo emerge back in the U.S

What about John Deere?

[LandoverDivision]

I just saw 9726 just a couple weeks ago.

They just retired it earlier this week. Want proof? Go to Landover and look and the far left. There are two Flx Ds with numbers scarped off them. I pass Landover almost everyday so I saw the numbers.

[79MetroExtraMD]

EGR was the nail in the coffin that was the Series 50s demise and CAT ending their transit bus engine operations, there's only two choices so far for transit/motorcoaches: Cummins and Volvo. I'd love to see Volvo emerge back in the U.S

What about John Deere?

John Deere got out of the CNG engine business in 2007.

[Tristan]

EGR was the nail in the coffin that was the Series 50s demise and CAT ending their transit bus engine operations, there's only two choices so far for transit/motorcoaches: Cummins and Volvo. I'd love to see Volvo emerge back in the U.S

What about John Deere?

John Deere got out of the CNG engine business in 2007.

I think it was an economic decision, they really didn't make a lot of units and the CNG engines were likely only used in transit anyway.