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New Eldorados?


artthouwill

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I'm guessing a 150 option of them.

I was going to say that Pace never got that many in a year, but in 2003 it got the 99 6162s and 84 6600s. At the time they had announced only 71 and 42, respectively.

If I were going back to 2012 budget numbers, I would say somewhere to about 6460, but I really don't think that far. However, I also think they have to get rid of the 2000 Orion VIs (about to 6087) before getting the CNGs. At least we know there are 91 of the latter.

Rarely, though, has Pace said how many it was getting (the instances above, and the 69 of 6323-6391).

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So its been a little over two weeks since 6430 has been spotted. Is that the last delivery for this batch?

If we look at the 2014 budget, only 43 new fixed route buses are in it, so that would put us close to that. (#6390's - #6430's)

The 2015 budget , I think has 156 buses in it, so possibly they will continue the order or there will be a pause in the delivery. It seems to me a matter of is Eldorado National building buses now for later or building in 2014 with the promise of payment in 2015? It seems that they could do the 2nd choice as long as there is a firm contract Pace cannot back out of.

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If we look at the 2014 budget, only 43 new fixed route buses are in it, so that would put us close to that. (#6390's - #6430's)

The 2015 budget , I think has 156 buses in it, so possibly they will continue the order or there will be a pause in the delivery. It seems to me a matter of is Eldorado National building buses now for later or building in 2014 with the promise of payment in 2015? It seems that they could do the 2nd choice as long as there is a firm contract Pace cannot back out of.

So you are saying the 2014 budget will take us to about 6433.

As for the 156 buses in 2015, are you including the 91 CNG buses for Pace South? If so that would leave 65 of the regular Axxess buses which would start the retirement process of the Orions and should make NW completely Eldorados NW's higher numbered Orions would probably then go to SW, and when South gets its CNGs, the NABIs will start heading back to West and retire their remaining Orions

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If we look at the 2014 budget, only 43 new fixed route buses are in it, so that would put us close to that. (#6390's - #6430's)

The 2015 budget , I think has 156 buses in it, so possibly they will continue the order or there will be a pause in the delivery. It seems to me a matter of is Eldorado National building buses now for later or building in 2014 with the promise of payment in 2015? It seems that they could do the 2nd choice as long as there is a firm contract Pace cannot back out of.

All I can figure out is that the 91 CNGs were Build Illinois money and was in the 2013 budget, even though that won't be spent until late 2015 and into 2016, since that project has unexplainably been delayed by 18 months (first deliveries were supposed to be in June 2014).

The 2013 Suburban Capital Program totals $111.680 million. The program contains $76.740 million for the purchase of 108, 40’ fixed route replacement and expansion buses (both Diesel and Compressed Natural Gas - CNG)... (page 4).

If the budget somehow corresponded to what was purchased in 2013, all that was received was 6392-6399 (8 buses).

You are correct that the 2014 budget is for 43 buses, of which maybe 20 6400s were received in 2014.

I'm going back to the 2012 budget, which said 172 buses, including the OTRs for 755/855. But a lot of that depends on state money. State money gets confused by such things as "suddenly the $45 million of Illinois Jobs Now money for the South Campus" appeared after the 2015 budget.

Thus, as I previously indicated, I can't guess anymore.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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This picture of #6407 is all the NW side sees in the way of new transit equipment!  This isnt saying much!!!

Edited by Guest
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Maybe random Pace but....

I saw 6424 last night. The front and rear signs properly had 210 Express/Skokie/Yellow Line, but the right side sign had TO GARAGE. How does that happen?

Headsign malfunction. This has been the case for a few of the new buses, rather a (minor) software oopsie.  Ive seen buses with two different routes (I.e. A 606 front/back with 230 side after an interline).

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It's saying something.   It's new equipment.   It beats a Nova.

​Pace of course mainly is for suburban service. Theres really no comparison between an area that sees on occasion a new Pace ElDorado on the 225/226 0r 270 as opposed to areas that have service everyday with new Nova buses, rehabbed New Flyers and new 5000 series L cars!  

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​Pace of course mainly is for suburban service. Theres really no comparison between an area that sees on occasion a new Pace ElDorado on the 225/226 0r 270 as opposed to areas that have service everyday with new Nova buses, rehabbed New Flyers and new 5000 series L cars!  

​Yeah that may be about Pace being the suburban service, but let's still be real here. Pace also now provides a good chunk of bus service on the far northwest side with CTA having axed the 56A and trimmed out the number of trips on several other routes in that area through combinations of starting service later, ending it earlier and increasing the service headways. So he was trying to give you a way to see the brighter side of the overall situation given those current service conditions, sheesh. :) And don't forget before the Eldos, Pace was also giving it to that part of town up until recently by having nothing but old beat up retirement age Orions up that way. So yeah it would be better if CTA was also putting younger equipment out that way than just old beat up retirement age Novas, but until that happens Pace is at least putting something newer and fresher out there. And again are you sure you're really that anxious to have 5000s out there when those cars have such crappy seating? Yeah the 2600s are showing their age but you guys have it better than the rest of us in terms of being able to ride a train and be less likely to get a seat on a train during rush hour and having someone's butt or crotch right in your face.9_9

Edited by jajuan
Fixed up some errors from having made this post on my cell phone
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These Orions out at NW are disappearing. I only saw 2 or 3 this week and I've done alot of driving in the NW suburbs. The #606 seems to have gone from short buses to long eldos which makes me believe they only ran them there before cause it was a new bus. Even the new eldos have reached #326 and it usually gets the old buses. I haven't really seen much short eldos in service out of nw, just a few on the #240. Some could possibly get shipped off somewhere else.

They are going gangbusters on the nw tollway adding a lane on both the inbound and outbound at the same time which is unusual for road construction. I forgot if the I-90 express pace service was to use the inner or outer lanes, but hopefully it's not all rumble strips in the bus lane because the bus will use these lanes heavily as I-90 is always backed up. They need to get those cubs roundtrippers on there also.

Up at North, practically all the buses are wrapped with the new bus Pace livery wraps. I didn't really see any that were not done. These buses with the old livery are really getting scarce not just at North but everywhere else. Seems the last good place to find the old liveries in any good number are out at SW.

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These Orions out at NW are disappearing. I only saw 2 or 3 this week and I've done alot of driving in the NW suburbs. The #606 seems to have gone from short buses to long eldos which makes me believe they only ran them there before cause it was a new bus. Even the new eldos have reached #326 and it usually gets the old buses. I haven't really seen much short eldos in service out of nw, just a few on the #240. Some could possibly get shipped off somewhere else.

They are going gangbusters on the nw tollway adding a lane on both the inbound and outbound at the same time which is unusual for road construction. I forgot if the I-90 express pace service was to use the inner or outer lanes, but hopefully it's not all rumble strips in the bus lane because the bus will use these lanes heavily as I-90 is always backed up. They need to get those cubs roundtrippers on there also.

Up at North, practically all the buses are wrapped with the new bus Pace livery wraps. I didn't really see any that were not done. These buses with the old livery are really getting scarce not just at North but everywhere else. Seems the last good place to find the old liveries in any good number are out at SW.

​At least on Webwatch, there's plenty Orions still out there at NW.  But I'd wonder if they are now limited to mostly rush hour.   As far as the 30 foot Eldos, I'm not sure where you'd be able to ship them at this point unless they'd go to West or Southwest since the 03 Nabis are going to be around for a little while.

I hope the buses at North that are wrapped with the new Pace livery look better than the ones at South.  I saw 6221 a couple weeks ago wrapped and it honestly looks like it was slapped together and thrown out there.  It looks so ugly it's a travesty. 

Edited by rotjohns
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These Orions out at NW are disappearing. I only saw 2 or 3 this week and I've done alot of driving in the NW suburbs. The #606 seems to have gone from short buses to long eldos which makes me believe they only ran them there before cause it was a new bus. Even the new eldos have reached #326 and it usually gets the old buses. I haven't really seen much short eldos in service out of nw, just a few on the #240. Some could possibly get shipped off somewhere else....

​At least on Webwatch, there's plenty Orions still out there at NW.  But I'd wonder if they are now limited to mostly rush hour.   As far as the 30 foot Eldos, I'm not sure where you'd be able to ship them at this point unless they'd go to West or Southwest since the 03 Nabis are going to be around for a little while.

...

​There seems to be plenty of 6000s still on the street on NW routes. I don't have exact numbers, but with 19 2700s (down from 26) and maybe 45 Axess buses, there probably are over 60 left. Routes like 423 (NW portion) have gone from something else to mostly Orion VIs.

The apparent decrease is of 2700s, as 2767 went to the Lisle-Downers Grove contract, and 2787-92 to SW.

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Not all 6000's are being retired 1:1. Some of them were repowered in the last few years, and are still maintained to the point of functionality (that last point is subjective).

​All formerly 160 wouldn't be, but it seems like some of the oldest, such as in the 600Xs are on the road the most. That might explain it. And, from what BusHunter said, maybe someone listened to Heather Armstrong and put 40 foot buses on 606, about 3-1/2 years later (4 Axess and 2 6600s on Webwatch at the moment).

But maybe BusHunter is more at the "panhandle" than say on 208 or 250.

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