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| Re: PHOTOS Valley Metro 05.04.09 (and bus movement updates) (148499) | |||
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Re: PHOTOS Valley Metro 05.04.09 (and bus movement updates) |
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Posted by roscoman1986 on Tue May 5 01:40:05 2009, in response to PHOTOS Valley Metro 05.04.09, posted by phxtusbusfan on Tue May 5 00:15:08 2009. Nice pics! Here are my comments:1 and 18. Nice catch of 4005! I haven't been on a 1994 D40LF in a very long time. I wonder how are they holding up despite lasting longer than the 1996 D40LFs? Hopefully once I am less busy I will get a chance to do a busfan excursion and get a ride on the 1994 D40LFs (although I don't know when they will disappear as I described below) 2-4. The DASH new colors look great. I haven't ridden on the 2001 E-Z Riders since they have been rehabilitated but they look great from the outside. Speaking of Phoenix E-Z Riders, would you happen to know what happened to the 2002 E-Z Riders 4173-4175? I haven't seen these buses in Tempe and I would guess that Phoenix no longer has them (it would seem odd to retire three of the newest E-Z Riders in the fleet). 5-6. The 2002 NABIs have been holding up pretty well. I rode on some of them a couple weeks ago. 7-8. I wonder if they are rehabbing any more 1998 NABIs or if they suspended the program in Phoenix due to budget cuts (I didn't see this in the budget at the Phoenix website). However it would be nice if they started to put the new logo on the buses besides the LINK. The 1998 NABI rehabs (I went on one two weeks ago) also seem to be doing well. 11-13. I haven't had the chance to ride on route 41 since it was transferred over to Phoenix-West and I have only ridden on the Phoenix-West 2007 D60LFs when they were running light rail shuttle. From what I remember (and what you said) they were not in great shape, especially in the back. Have they cleaned up these buses at all? 15. I got the chance to ride on 6647 a few weeks ago on route 72 southbound from Camelback to the Tempe Transit Center. Since they don't run them on routes 56 or 77 (as far as I know), Tempe has really been able to keep their 2008 C40LFRs clean, possibly even more so than the RPTA ones. From a busfan's perspective, the Tempe takeover of routes 72 and 81 turned out to be more diverse (in terms of buses) than when they were running under the RPTA (especially after December 2008). Now, the 72 and 81 use three types of 1998 NABI 40-LFWs, an occasional 1998 35-LFW (there are only seven left that are not used in FLASH service), 1999 35-LFWs, 1999 40-LFWs (6246-6254), 1999 40-LFW 6255, 2000 35-LFWs, 2002 40-LFWs, 2008 C40LFRs, and (reportedly) CompoBuses (on route 81 on weekends at least)! This is quite an improvement from what the RPTA was operating before on routes 72 and 81 (2001 NABI 40-LFW, 2006 C40LFR, 2007 D40LFR, 2007 D40LFR semi-suburbans until July 2008, 2008 C40LFRs after July 2008, and a handful of 1994 D40LF, 1998 40-LFWs, and 1999 40-LFWs on route 81). However, I do miss the semi-suburban D40LFRs as even the soft-seated NABIs are not as nice in my opinion (mostly because the bottom seat cushions are not firmly attached) 17. The 536 Express is interesting in the fact that it mostly uses 2006-2008 C40LFRs/D40LFRs rather than Nova Buses or semi-suburban D40LFRs (although Nova Buses appear during rush hour trips from time to time). I would guess that (1) this route is short enough to warrant a transit-seated bus (given that it is just a version of the 535 that is cut back to downtown Tempe) and (2) the Nova Buses do not run during middays at all. As far as the semi-suburban D40LFRs go I don't know if there are any left running with the RPTA in Mesa. I remember seeing 6458(?) a while back on route 30, but I would guess they traded them for Nova Buses from Valutrans, and when I went downtown a couple weeks ago I did not see any of them running on East Valley RPTA routes. So, as far as I know the only D40LFRs at Mesa are 6453-6456, which are essentially run on the same routes as the C40LFRs. Anyway, I have been quite busy so I haven't had much time to post but I wanted to add some recent Valley Metro news regarding bus movements. Bus movements: There really has not been much in terms of bus movements in Phoenix, however Phoenix-South gave some higher-numbered NABIs (up to possibly 6099) to Phoenix-West/First Transit (thanks to transitbusfan for this information) The reason for this was probably because the 2008 D60LFs came into service and allowed for Phoenix-South to give some 1998 NABIs (rather than 2002 NABIs or 2004 D60LFs as previously thought) over to First Transit. The only thing that is "unfortunate" (from the busfan's perspective at least) is that the 1996 D40LFs are probably history as transitbusfan (who reports on West Valley operations) has not seen one in a while if I recall. In addition, unless Phoenix-North is still operating 1-2 route 44 trips, some of the lower-numbered 1998 NABIs have been transferred to Phoenix-South from Phoenix-North (I hope Phoenix-South cleans these buses up). Finally (although not a "movement" per se) I have seen a couple of D60LFs on route 44 on weekend evenings (which makes no sense unless they are filling in as replacement buses). Moving over to the East Valley, Tempe has taken the RPTA's spot of having the greatest fleet diversity. The "newest" additions to the Tempe fleet are 2000 ElDorado E-Z Riders 4146-4149 and 2001 ElDorado E-Z Riders 4155-4163. This move probably happened last week as I saw 4163 last Thursday and 4146 this past weekend. These buses are ex-Scottsdale, although I don't know if Scottsdale still owns them (I would guess that Tempe now owns them) and they are finally being pulled out of "exile" in Mesa. Note that buses 4146 and 4163 are former "poetry" buses but have been repainted in the new colors (4146 has smaller titles for some reason). I would guess that the RPTA will be getting some buses back in return (possibly some of the lower-numbered 2008 C40LFRs because it would make no sense for the RPTA to have a few LNG buses). |
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