Nova rehabs, or lack thereof

[Kevin]

Getting back to the topic of Nova rehabs (previously discussed in another thread) the following slide was in this month's President's Report (PDF) presentation:

• 480, 8 yr. old NOVA buses are 22% of Fleet
  
• Lack of Capital funds resulted in no half/life overhaul in 2006
  
• Required 4,000 mile safety/performance inspections regularly reveal significant defective components.
  
• As a result, labor hours for the NOVA series are the highest of all the fleet (28%)
  

There was no mention, at least in the slides, of the RFP for powertrain parts.

[Busjack]

Well, this Powerpoint shows that Huberman has lost credibility.

See page 10--"Clark and Lake Red Line."

Now, if someone filed a notice of claim at that location, CTA would successfully fight it as there is no such place. (It has happened.)

More to the point...

175 of the Novas were delivered in 2002, and are only 6 years old (or will be in September).

Note, also, it said no overhaul in 2006-- not no rehab at all.

If CTA were accountable, there should be an accounting for the RFP, but there won't be. Maybe staff thinks it won't keep the Novas, and will replace them with hybrds, but at at least $800K per bus, that's a risky proposition.

[trainman8119]

Well, this Powerpoint shows that Huberman has lost credibility.

See page 10--"Clark and Lake Red Line."

Now, if someone filed a notice of claim at that location, CTA would successfully fight it as there is no such place. (It has happened.)

Knowing Ron, he probably thinks he has a pic of Clark and Lake Red Line vs Green, Brown, Pink, Orange and/or Purple.....or maybe he is just color blind. Just shows his vast knowledge of the system he manages.

Reminds me of the time the Pace board was so impressed by the RTA travel planner demo which showed a routing of taking the old 209 from Woodfield to Pace HQ by walking 1/2 mile from Golf and Algonquin....even though the 606 stopped outside the door. They really knew and understood their system too !!!!

[BusHunter]

Getting back to the topic of Nova rehabs (previously discussed in another thread) the following slide was in this month's President's Report (PDF) presentation:

There was no mention, at least in the slides, of the RFP for powertrain parts.

Maybe that a defective component. They did say there was an increase in man hours regarding the maintenance of this nova fleet. There fixing something. These buses are slowly wearing out. It could be like Busjack says the motto is to keep them running until the 60 footers would replace them 5 to 6 years down the road. Save the rehab money and put it toward new buses in 12 years, (for 2012 or 13) the FTA service life.

[Busjack]

Reminds me of the time the Pace board was so impressed by the RTA travel planner demo which showed a routing of taking the old 209 from Woodfield to Pace HQ by walking 1/2 mile from Golf and Algonquin....even though the 606 stopped outside the door. They really knew and understood their system too !!!!

Going even further afield, the Trip Planner hasn't improved much, although 606 is a second choice. At least it recognized "Pace Headquarters." Why it bothered with the third option (208 to Cumberland Circle to 221 to 208 back at Cumberland Circle) is totally beyond me.

In any event, all of the examples in this thread show the government at work.

[MVTArider]

Going even further afield, the Trip Planner hasn't improved much, although 606 is a second choice. At least it recognized "Pace Headquarters." Why it bothered with the third option (208 to Cumberland Circle to 221 to 208 back at Cumberland Circle) is totally beyond me.

In any event, all of the examples in this thread show the government at work.

Well going way off topic but that trip plan reminds me of one that was spit out by the Metro Transit trip planner: Taking my route 445 to Walgreens, Options 1 and 2 board at my stop and ride 7 minutes to Denmark and Town Centre, Option 3 Board at my stop and ride to Eagan Transit and get off, wait 20 minutes for the 445 heading back, get on that one and ride 7 minutes back to Walgreens, which you would have ridden by on your way to Eagan Transit So its not just the RTA trip planner that has problems. Still you would think someone would be auditing it once in a while <_<

[Busjack]

Getting back to the topic, the 2009 budget says: "the overhaul of the Nova 6400 series began." So, true, it didn't start in 2006, but it was a red herring saying that it hadn't. It apparently has started now.

[Archon]

rehab wow here is Milwaukee we have 12 year old NF that have never been rehabbed They just fix the problems when they either fall off or the bus stops moving Just listen to the calls on any given day expecily on pull outs in the morning

[Busjack]

Any proof on this? Kevin hasn't stated any rehabs on the Novas on his bus info pages, and I believe a PDF file mentioned a while back brought up the subject of Novas needing rehabs, but no talk of actually getting them. I doubt a new logo means they were rehabbed, if that's the basis for you saying that they were/are getting rehabbed.

Coming soon, in fact the budget for next year indicates the beginning of that work. My thinking is first they want to get the novas to FG and Archer and then start the work. If you add the 211 already at Archer and the 250 needed at Fg total (They have 147 now) it gives you an extra pool of about 20 buses. These could help rotate the rehab buses in and out of garages without having a shortage. Like the up to 900 artic bid recently these things take time to come to an official status. We probably won't hear an official announcement about them until at least spring or summer.

sw, you can look at this thread for the evidence, and BusHunter is correct, except the budget said "began" (page 38 of the pdf).

What I question is why to consolidate them for rehab work? Aren't the South Shops (at 77th) for that?