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#53 Pulaski Extension

I could see a plot twist coming where someone is going to lose a bunch of 8350s for 74ths 7900s more in the fashion of a milage swap. It’s been almost a year since the FG and 7 swap with the Novas, 74ths Novas are at their 10 year mark now.

The Prudentual/Aon service was originally ran by a company called CSI ( Continental Shuttle Inc). They ran 8 MC -8 coaches. That company also had the Midway Parking Lot Shuttle. That portion of the operation and its buses were purchased from Continental Air Transport as Continental Air Transport was shifting away from buses and focusing more on Airport Express shuttle van service. In the mid 1990s, CSI was purchased by Sam Van Gander ( of Van Gander Bus in Janesville, WI) and the company was renamed Greatway. They purchased 8 Dina's to run the Prudential/Aon Service. Around 1999 Sam Van Gander sold Van Gander and Greatway to Coach USA. A roof collapse at its garage at 17th and Prairie forced the Greatway operation to move in with the Keeshin operation as Keeshin was already a Coach USA owned company. Eventually the Coach USA operation moved to 4400 S Racine . The Prudential/Aon contract led them to receive a contract from Michigan Plaza which operated 4 buses. Eventually the Prudential/ Aon Dina buses were replaced by MCI J coaches until about 2016 when Prudential/Aon people decided to go green and went electric. That is when Standard Parking got the electric buses. I also have to mention that Coach USA woynd down its Charter Operations in 2011 and wound down their contract operations in 2012 to focus on their Megabus operation. I don't recall who ran the service from 2012 to 2016. My first two guesses would be Free Enterprise and Aries Charter, but I can't recall who ran it.

It’s not, just simply just a showing of its “regular” (current) routing before next Sunday when all trips will just continue west of Lawndale on 31st to the Komensey/31st terminal.

#8890 and #8920 entered service out of Forest Glen yesterday.

Pages 62 (pdf 76) and 72 (pdf 86) of this year's budget. My 100 number seems to be off. Sounds like up to 200 of them could even get AC motors along with the 3200s. I would guess that that would only happen, though, if for some reason they cannot get more 7000s, but it is budgeted for. Reading the tea leaves, there won't be a 9000 series anytime soon, either (see this thread)--perhaps leading to this last resort move to keep 2600s running longer if needed.

Delaware Car Rental operates shuttle buses at O'Hare between the economy parking lots and the MMF; it appears this was once split between Delaware and Continental Air Transport, but it appears the latter has dropped out and handed their service to Delaware, including the buses. Delaware has some ElDorados that were delivered to them new, but the majority of the fleet are secondhand from various other operators. I've only ridden in two of Delaware's ElDorados, #3 and #25. #3 is one of the batch delivered new in 2008, and CPTDB Wiki claims #25 is secondhand but doesn't say from who, though this would track as it carries a plain white paint scheme compared to the Chicago flag livery carried by #1-#14, and #25 has different seating than #3 (#25 has cloth seats, while #3 has hard plastic). Both have similar configurations- a large luggage rack with standing room only on the low floor portion, with a few seats in the raised portion in the rear. #3 has a few seats in the front by the driver, on the left side. Aside from #1-#14, the rest are secondhand. I'll include what I managed to take photos of here, along with what information I've gleaned. 1, 3, 9, and 10 are 35 foot EZ Rider II MAX, new to the service in 2008. Two mysteries in plain white; 25 is another 35 foot EZ Rider II MAX, but of unknown history, and 52 is a 40' Gillig BRT of similarly unknown past. Delaware has two more Gillig BRTs from Metro Transit (Minnesota) and Utah Transit Authority (50 and 51, respectively) 44 and 45 were originally operated by Continental Air Transport, but now say they're operated by Delaware. They're both ElDorado Arrivos from the University of Southern California. They're both in original livery with only minor modifications. 47 is ex-Detroit Metro Airport Shuttle, 53 is ex-Boston College Campus Shuttle, and 55 is ex-Norwalk Transit. All three carry their original liveries with the only modifications being the crude removal of the original company's name. I also got this photo of a bus storage area, on the edge of Economy Lot G. 42 is ex-Intercity Transit (un-repainted), and was another bus formerly operated by Continental.

8867 entered service out of Forest Glen on the 92

one might enter service in the PM out of FG, 20 are allegedly going to F.

The buses should all be delivered and in service by now.

I thought they were all delivered, just taking time to put in service.

8949 show up yet?

Pay attention because this picture came from this post:

NP is known for trash maintenance, as far as i see NP is getting ahold of the rest of the novas with Chicago Ave. (bring 1589 back to F😏😏)

The original 1000 in the photograph had chassis number 28549 and was returned to New Flyer. The first 20 delivered (1001-1020) had chassis numbers 29081-29100. The current 1000 has chassis number 31602 which puts its delivery between 1429 (30731) and 1430 (31793) - 2nd 1000, 1429, 1430 chassis numbers from CTA official lists.

The Inquirer basically called it. The difference (now) is that the popular regional rail lines are cut due to funds owed to Amtrak ($65mil). This alone might pressure Shapiro to move the needle. Source (2) WHYY

Bumping as this seems to be "the thread" for Aries Charter buses. I've been able to photograph a fair number running routes in The Loop, a bunch seem to be running from 300 E Randolph, which makes Randolph & Michigan a great bus-spotting corner, as you can see a nice mixed fleet between CTA buses, the Aon-Pru BYDs, and Aries' Gilligs. I've included 302 here as an example, it's a 2007 Gillig BRT, secondhand from LYNX in Orlando, FL

I wouldn't say they're done for, C still has them on the active roster. However they're currently housed at 77th awaiting materials (Parts/other Miscellaneous) to be delivered. The ZX5s for whatever reason seem to be easier to work on and maintain than the BE40s. I dont know why that is though. HFE and HFM is what they're being held for. (Hold for Materials - Hold For Engineering). Every now and then they'll move them out of the bays to other parts of SS.

There's a new story today from Mass Transit magazine about the transit agency in Roseville, Ca, receiving a new Phoenix EV transit bus...check it out.

Not for nothing, those Phantoms assigned to the commuter service are either retired or mothballed...

...and from where do you think Mass Transit got its story?

I also checked out the Roseville Transit website...also, have a press release about it.

You could have provided a link. Here it is. Nothing but a press release. At this rate, CTA and Pace will get their 22 buses each by 2135, assuming they don't declare a default by then. In other fairly irrelevant news, Phoenix EV is branching out intp 25 mph maximum pizza delivery low speed vehicles.

The N201 operated on Sundays although not during the daytime....

All #8350s were delivered a few months ago no later than April. There is less than 47 buses to enter revenue serivce so we're pretty much at the finish line for them. Now as I've stated before the last 48- 56 buses should get split up between C,K,74th and possibly FG. Ive noticed over the last several months C in particular has always gained a new #8350 after recently retiring a #1000. The buses are scattered all over SS.

I already reported seeing 2232 on a flatbed going east on Touhy Ave in Lincolnwood last week.

Whatever happened to rest of the 8920's and 8940's the were supposed to be in service? Not yet delivered?

Nice pics for all of this. Wild to see a Flxible with roof a/c components. Never saw that before on a Flxible and I've ridden a ton of them in the past for various transit agencies. Curious, bus numbering, what's the E stand for? I assume from a specific garage?

A nod back to when the Ravenswood typically had hand-me-downs before the arrival of 3200s/ booming Lakeview ridership bought modernization to the Brown 🤗

They're twice the size of the older unit. I assume by then of the year they'll be ready for service.

#1879 is at SS on the vault lane where buses pull in at. Looks like it may have been towed there to await maintenence. Still has its farebox as well.

Continuing with this one for 100 NFI XE60 delivery update including the new 4th bus division construction in Homestead, One of the other new units were delivered from few weeks ago at MDT bus yard; Photo credit belongs to John T. Gamble, used with his permission. Painted in CNG livery instead of Metro Express Livery from few months ago; Unit E24542 with 4-door configuration for South Dade BRT with clear frameless Thermoguard windows similar to Broward County Units. Numbers started at #E24539 and up. Part of 60 bus order for South Dade BRT numbered #E23500s, E24500s. And #E25518 with 2 door configuration assigned for local use in South Miami Dade with clear frameless Thermoguard windows similar to Broward County Units. Part of 40 bus order numbered in #E25500s. And the 4th new bus division will be completed by next year. Hope I can get some photos of new units when I go to Miami sometime this year.

2200-series: Two cars have made a comeback to become a member of the heritage fleet, which will soon become limited to only ten cars. Two 2600s were swapped in exchange of those for scrap. Rode by on the yellow line and saw 2232 on a flatbed in the entrance on the west end of the shop awaiting to be unloaded. 2231 is parked in the yard awaiting inspection and maintenance. Credits to confirmed information on a post on Facebook. The locker room cars can now be scrapped 2600-series storage: 2607-08, 2789-90 and more cars visible. Can’t see the numbers 5000-series storage: 5271-5272: unit 5272 will soon be sent to Delaware for repairs as it sustained significant body damage in a incident, the amount is not to exceed more than $591,704.00.

2611-12 2615-16 2621-22 2625-26 2645-46 2649-50 2655-56 2663-64 2667-68 2669-70 2671-72 2675-76 2679-80 2681-82 2683-84 2687-88 2689-90 2699-00 as well, these should be scrapped already along with some 2700s. They’re retiring whatever’s cars are in worst shape regardless of which year. There are newer 2600s that were swapped off the blue line as well as right now that are being stored instead. CTA needs to figure out what to do with besides letting the sit and rot in the yards for over a year just taking up space. Those vandals have tagged every last 2600.

2231 and 2232 have been acquired for CTAs heritage fleet according to a post on Facebook.

In simple terms, were allowed to run ahead at the scheduled time on our run paddles at that particular time point. So for example. On Halsted at Belmont were allowed to run early at the scheduled time point indicated for us and also at 74th Street. I believe certain routes have this implemented into the running time on our paddles system wide. Now to answer your second question about the potential effects on passengers this is where frequency comes in based on overall demand throughout the course of the day. Which is why the control center has been cracking down so much on operators maintaining schedules properly no matter what time of day it is. It's gotten to the point where they're making sure we pull in to the garage at the scheduled time to make sure that the last runs of the evening aren't running ahead of schedule before pulling in. We're pretty much back to pre pandemic guidelines as far as enforcement and tolerance for transit operations. The CTA cut everyone some slack during the pandemic. Here's some examples shown below from 77th. Notice how only certain routes have early time allowance while others don't.

They do but I remember stating this years ago that the amount of coverage they have to monitor at certain times of the day is difficult to manage at times. The head manager of supervision will occasionally have supervisors do special checks for upwards of 30 mins to an hour on key routes that have numerous service delays. Normally for the #22 they'll sit at North Ave and Clark and turn buses around to either deadhead NB to the relief point or continue in service NB from North Ave , for the #77 they'll sit between Halsted and the Blue Line, for the #4 they'll sit at 35th/King Dr and or 79th. There's only so much the Control Center can do along with supervision. I'll put quite a bit of the blame on certain operators that bus bunch on purpose behind there leader that is delayed, some operators don't know how to operate the streets properly which then causes more delays. This is what the control center will send to us at times during the course of a work day. We have so much going on 24/7 and there are times when certain individuals aren't team players which in return makes it harder on everyone else.

The control center doesn't seem to do anything with the bus tracking info it already has. Does the control center also know approximately how many people are on a specific bus? because when they are bunched, the first one is always jammed with people & the followers aren't. If they do have approximate numbers, what I wish they would do is instruct the driver of the overcrowded bus to not stop at the actual bus stops, but on the opposite corners, so they just drop off people, speed up that run & let the followers pickup the new passengers.

Applicable to several recent posts, someone said to me today: “The past is in your head. The future is in your hands.” Besides that, the questions are (1) why were the Proterras retired after only at most 8 years, and (2) when were the BYDs acquired, which is relevant to (3) how did JLL get them, when Congress barred BYD? I was going to say that we won't get answers unless someone from JLL posts here, but clicking links brought up that RIDE is an American spin-off of BYD. So, maybe it's a RIDE bus. But the House Homeland Security Committee is still investigating.

And again, you're missing the gist of my original comment. I sad that it's sad that they didn't lean in the direction SOON ENOUGH, as in before they became the unworkable rusted out hulks of junk they are now. There's no way I'm saying that they should attempt to do any restoration on them now. Let's be serious. 😂

Here's the updates: https://www.miamitimesonline.com/news/local/miami-dade-eyes-replacing-metromover-system-amid-rising-costs-frequent-shutdowns/article_3295ef32-7fe7-4425-b4e1-4e8149a487c1.html Metromover systems soon to be replaced https://floridapolitics.com/archives/743060-another-delay-miami-dades-upgraded-south-corridor-service-now-expected-to-roll-in-late-summer/ South Dade BRT pushed back this coming fall https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/video/tri-rail-train-collides-with-miami-dade-transit-bus-in-opa-locka/ And one unit was involved in accident by tri rail train in Opa Locka.

1103 oos due to a crash. Not my pics. The advertisement came true ?

It's still there in the back yard along with #1553, #4323, and some retired 900s.

I searched this thread. I didn't see any note of this. Bus 2019 has been rehabbed and is in service on Chicago garage routes.

#1463 is rehabbed on the #74. It has this real loud rumble on idle. It's like your in a souped up car.

I also remember with the optima 500 series you could turn the headlights on and off as well.

So except for a second pair purchased in 1987 with SEPTA 476-479 and scrapped, we've accounted for all 6000s sold and located all 14 survivors. Vintage Electric Streetcar hopefully wanted to especially use the trucks, motors, and PCC electrical components in new cars but so far that hasn't come to be. 6079/80 to 480/481; 6089/90 to 482/483; 6139/40 to 484/485; 6151/52 to 486/487; 6161/62 to 488/489. 6109-6110 scrapped 6xxx-6xxx second pair scrapped 6069/70 to 476/477 6175/76 to 478/479 Also all still exist:- Middletown & Hummelstown 476/7 Vintage Electric Streetcar 478-81, 484-9 (these are the cars at Windber PA) SEPTA 482/3 (the two cars in the yard at Philly)

Stop the presses.....Stop the presses! Google Windber, PA, its south of Johnstown, PA. Locate 19th Street. There are strings of PCC streetcars off in the woods....and....and....what looks like the rest of the Norristown ex CTA 6000s. Have we found all ten??? Eight here and two in Philly?? Remember two were scrapped at the get-go. Still haven't answered the renumbering down to 876. http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&q=windber,+pa&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89cb053816023d1d:0xa0ddaecf95fbf859,Windber,+PA&gl=us&sa=X&ei=1velUZ3eFJO88wShxIDADg&ved=0CHoQtgM

Me niether I can't wait till they get rid of them completely I drove that bus once in training and thank God that was the only time lol.

To see so many Nova RTS buses still running and looking like they are in good shape is great! Great pics! I have always loved the Nova RTS buses.