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| Re: Photos from Recent Trip to Los Angeles and Phoenix Areas (80675) | |||
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Re: Photos from Recent Trip to Los Angeles and Phoenix Areas |
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Posted by phxtusbusfan on Wed Dec 19 17:08:46 2007, in response to Re: Photos from Recent Trip to Los Angeles and Phoenix Areas, posted by roscoman1986 on Wed Dec 19 12:28:01 2007. During the summer of 2002 I worked in downtown Phoenix in the mornings (carpooled with my dad) and then would take Valley Metro to go home from Central Station to 90th St./Shea. For the first few weeks I would take the Blue Line to Paradise Valley Mall and connect to the 106 to take me from Paradise Valley Mall to 90th St./Shea. Occasionally if a 0 line bus came before a Blue Line bus I would take the 0 to Sunnyslope and then connect to the 106 at Sunnyslope. I did both the 0 and Blue Line combinations for about a week or two until I looked for alternatives as by the time the 0 or Blue Line got to Brophy/Xavier/Central High the bus would fill with students and would become almost unbearable. I remember that the buses on the blue line tended to be either 1999 NABI 40LFWs or 1996 D40LFs whereas the buses on the 0 were almost always 1998 NABI 40LFWs or the occasional 1988/1989/1990 TMC RTS. The 106 buses at the time were almost always 1994 D40LFs (except for one time where I got on a 1989 35' RTS). However, to avoid the Brophy/Xavier/Central High mess I started taking the 12 from Central Station to Sunnyslope (and then would catch the 106 there). This allowed me to ride the 70XX 1985 MAN artics on a daily basis (as the run on the 12 I took ALWAYS used MAN artics). I know the MAN artics would do 12 and than the 541 Chandler express as there was always a 541 sign sitting near the windshield.In 2002 I do recall a bus operator getting upset when people leaned up against the touch tape on the D40LFs (sometimes the guilty party fell asleep and their head hit the tape). I recall riding on 1996 D40LFs in 2003 when I would commute downtown in the mornings and carpool with my dad in the afternoons, as many Blue Line trips were on the D40LFs but in the summer of 2004 they were either all NABI 40LFWs (1998/1999/2002) or TMC RTSs (1988/1989/1990) wheras the 106 started running 1996 D40LFs in 2004 (although the majority of my trips were still on 1994 D40LFs). When the 1996 D40LFs were operated by Veolia-Phoenix (at that time ATC-Phoenix) I thought that they were in better shape than the Laidlaw 1994 D40LFs. However when both were operating at Laidlaw I thought that the 1996 D40LFs were just as bad, if not worse. The one advantage of the 1996s vs. the 1994s was that they had pull cords as opposed to push tape. I also recall that 4072 was one of the worst looking 1994 D40LFs with large sections of paint missing from the area around the engine as well as the side. There was also a Laidlaw operated 40XX that had what appeared to have it's rear A/C vent replaced by something that looked like a fence/cage (i know it's not the best description). It looks like something was put there just to prevent there from being a large opening in the rear of the bus. In the summer of 2006 I recall seeing 3727 operating on Route 30-University. I listened intently to its engine and it appeared to sound almost identical to the Detroit Diesel Series 50G engines that Sun Tran has on the 1996/1997 C40HFs as well as the 2001 Novas. I haven't seen it since early summer 2006. |
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