New Eldorados?

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:28 PM, artthouwill said:

I agree the Eldorados are ugly, but these, along with the other Pulse buses and the Suburbans are better looking than the the red of the Axxess fleet.  The oldest if the 6323s just made 7 years old, so we are stuck with them for awhile.  Whether the next order is CNG or clean diesel, here's hoping for New Flyers or even Gillugs.

Pace with some BRT style Gilligs like MVTA or Sound Transit would work really well

[artthouwill]

10 hours ago, John7 said:

They may be ugly but they operate better than the NF's. Haven't seen any eldo's catch fire unlike the new flyers that cta owns. 

That's not a function of bus manufacturers per se.  That's more of tires or brake issues.  Most manufacturers do have a fire suppression system around the rear tire area to at least contain a fire should one occur.  Once those electrical fires spread  it will burn the bus down to the frame. 

It was coincidences those CTA fires occurred with NF buses, though yoy haven't heard of any such incidents in years.

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

That's not a function of bus manufacturers per se.  That's more of tires or brake issues.  Most manufacturers do have a fire suppression system around the rear tire area to at least contain a fire should one occur.  Once those electrical fires spread  it will burn the bus down to the frame. 

It was coincidences those CTA fires occurred with NF buses, though yoy haven't heard of any such incidents in years.

That's what I figured too, I just didn't have the knowledge and words to explain

[John7]

There is now a shield for the driver. Chargers are under the seats

[Gil]

So now that the 2600s series will be replaced by the new 30ft El dorado National axess 

[Tcmetro]

Here's an update on the 30 foot bus order in the Dec 2020 RTA Project Management Oversight Update.

Page 62 of this PDF: https://rtachicago.org/sites/default/files/documents/businessandfinance/Project-Management-Oversight-Dec-2020.pdf

• 5 year contract awarded in Sept 2019
• Minimum purchase of 67 buses, maximum purchase of 164 buses
• 23 buses ordered to date
• 5 have arrived, the remaining 18 expected by end of 2020
• A new order of 44 buses will be submitted, bringing total ordered and delivered to 67.
• Buses expected to serve Fox Valley and MV Batavia.

[RJL6000]

11 hours ago, Gil said:

So now that the 2600s series will be replaced by the new 30ft El dorado National axess 

No. The 30-footers will still be the EZ Rider II's, but in an updated design. The Axess is still officially available only in the 35- and 40-foot lengths.

And more than half of the 2600s will be replaced. Buses 2728-2735 (2727 has been retired) will likely be moved from MV Batavia to the Niles service, replacing the 2600s that have been operating there.

And one final note: The heavy-duty bus company is now no longer going by the ElDorado name, after the REV Group sold off the cutaway bus division along with the ElDorado National brand name to another company. The REV Group retained the heavy-duty bus division, which the EZ-Rider II and the Axess fall under, and the REV division now goes by the ENC brand name.

[BusHunter]

3 hours ago, RJL6000 said:

No. The 30-footers will still be the EZ Rider II's, but in an updated design. The Axess is still officially available only in the 35- and 40-foot lengths.

And more than half of the 2600s will be replaced. Buses 2728-2735 (2727 has been retired) will likely be moved from MV Batavia to the Niles service, replacing the 2600s that have been operating there.

And one final note: The heavy-duty bus company is now no longer going by the ElDorado name, after the REV Group sold off the cutaway bus division along with the ElDorado National brand name to another company. The REV Group retained the heavy-duty bus division, which the EZ-Rider II and the Axess fall under, and the REV division now goes by the ENC brand name.

Well if there are 23 new buses in Fox valley they"ve done a fine job of hiding them. Alot of the buses in the #2600 fleet Pace wont really need cause you have the contractors being cut. That opens up alot of high numbered #2600s. Then you have services being cut at nw and sw. I have barely seen a #2600 at those garages. Once nw gets its cngs, all the eldorkos there will have been replaced by 40 footers. So really the 3 outlying garages and a few places like niles and highland pk will be all that need the eldorkos. It's too bad those municipalities wouldnt help spring some alternative fuel buses. Highland park did do it once but a small cng fleet couldnt hurt. 

[Gil]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Well if there are 23 new buses in Fox valley they"ve done a fine job of hiding them. Alot of the buses in the #2600 fleet Pace wont really need cause you have the contractors being cut. That opens up alot of high numbered #2600s. Then you have services being cut at nw and sw. I have barely seen a #2600 at those garages. Once nw gets its cngs, all the eldorkos there will have been replaced by 40 footers. So really the 3 outlying garages and a few places like niles and highland pk will be all that need the eldorkos. It's too bad those municipalities wouldnt help spring some alternative fuel buses. Highland park did do it once but a small cng fleet couldnt hurt. 

I might have a feeling that the new buses that are coming soon will be the #20600-#20764 series Am I Right or is it going to be a different Number?

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1 hour ago, Gil said:

I might have a feeling that the new buses that are coming soon will be the #20600-#20764 series Am I Right or is it going to be a different Number?

I think the 20XXX represents the 2020 series so that means I predict the fleet for this will be 21100-21264

[Gil]

6 minutes ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

I think the 20XXX represents the 2020 series so that means I predict the fleet for this will be 21100-21264

Are you sure if that's the right one, I'll check on Wikipedia and I'll record some videos on youtube.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1 minute ago, Gil said:

Are you sure if that's the right one, I'll check on Wikipedia and I'll record some videos on youtube.

I was just predicting, since we're not sure what the fleet numbers are yet.

[Gil]

36 minutes ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

I was just predicting, since we're not sure what the fleet numbers are yet.

I'll check and see, it's going to take months.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

Just now, Gil said:

I'll check and see, it's going to take months.

True

[rotjohns]

On 1/2/2021 at 1:38 PM, BusHunter said:

Well if there are 23 new buses in Fox valley they"ve done a fine job of hiding them. Alot of the buses in the #2600 fleet Pace wont really need cause you have the contractors being cut. That opens up alot of high numbered #2600s. Then you have services being cut at nw and sw. I have barely seen a #2600 at those garages. Once nw gets its cngs, all the eldorkos there will have been replaced by 40 footers. So really the 3 outlying garages and a few places like niles and highland pk will be all that need the eldorkos. It's too bad those municipalities wouldnt help spring some alternative fuel buses. Highland park did do it once but a small cng fleet couldnt hurt. 

It's definitely time for the early 2600s at Fox Valley to go.  If they replace 2605-2629, that's 25 buses so 2 of them would end up staying unless Pace just cuts them all since several routes have been cut due to COVID.  That would leave the higher 2600s, 2700, 2701, 2704-2706, and 2826-2829 (all of which have seen heavy rotation in recent months) for at least the first few months of 2021.

[Gil]

36 minutes ago, rotjohns said:

It's definitely time for the early 2600s at Fox Valley to go.  If they replace 2605-2629, that's 25 buses so 2 of them would end up staying unless Pace just cuts them all since several routes have been cut due to COVID.  That would leave the higher 2600s, 2700, 2701, 2704-2706, and 2826-2829 (all of which have seen heavy rotation in recent months) for at least the first few months of 2021.

At least the joliet buses #2742-2764 are staying and the Elgin buses from #2702,#2703,2707-2741 too, but the lisle-Westmont buses from #2767,#2793,and #2800-#2812, What are they going to do to the lisle-Westmont buses and the Rest?

[BusHunter]

Funny not all contractors are gone if MV in batavia is getting new buses. I'm surprised they are jumping ahead and putting a contractor ahead of it's own fleet especially with them having 2700s. Niles is stuck with 2600s. Unless like someone else said they are getting the mv buses. A few 2600s are still scattered at ns and other places. Guess they are banking on cngs to displace them but that order is at least 2 years away from getting started in earnest. 

[Gil]

I call #2704 (The Cousin bus)

#2705 (The Brother Bus)

And #2706 (The Sister Bus)

I imagine coming soon if I see the new buses some can be a ghost bus you know what I'm saying. I'll see what I can give a nickname to it.

[rotjohns]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:33 AM, Gil said:

At least the joliet buses #2742-2764 are staying and the Elgin buses from #2702,#2703,2707-2741 too, but the lisle-Westmont buses from #2767,#2793,and #2800-#2812, What are they going to do to the lisle-Westmont buses and the Rest?

For now they are, UNLESS they take those feeder buses and send them there to retire them also.  They've been around since 2008-2009 so they're about to hit that retirement age too and although I haven't seen Elgin buses lately, Joliet's buses have probably been running heavy too, especially on the 834, it's longest route by far.  

[andrethebusman]

20300s and 20500s starting to come in. Not all in as of 1/11, most still at Acceptance

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1 hour ago, andrethebusman said:

20300s and 20500s starting to come in. Not all in as of 1/11, most still at Acceptance

Are those the fleet numbers of the 30 footers fleet?

[artthouwill]

17 hours ago, andrethebusman said:

20300s and 20500s starting to come in. Not all in as of 1/11, most still at Acceptance

 

16 hours ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

Are those the fleet numbers of the 30 footers fleet?

I'm guessing that the 20300s are the 30 ft Eldorado EZ Riders, and the 20500s are Axxess buses.  The question with the Axxess buses are whether they are diesel or CNG?  If CNG, will they eventually head to Wheeling?  How many CNGs are actually arriving?

[rotjohns]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

 

I'm guessing that the 20300s are the 30 ft Eldorado EZ Riders, and the 20500s are Axxess buses.  The question with the Axxess buses are whether they are diesel or CNG?  If CNG, will they eventually head to Wheeling?  How many CNGs are actually arriving?

Got news for you...20500 is on Route 364 right now.

UPDATE:  Several 20500s are in the south suburbs right now per Webwatch.  So either they are testing them there first and then move to Wheeling or they are staying at Markham and maybe 15500s are on the move?

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

2 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Got news for you...20500 is on Route 364 right now.

UPDATE:  Several 20500s are in the south suburbs right now per Webwatch.  So either they are testing them there first and then move to Wheeling or they are staying at Markham and maybe 15500s are on the move?

That fleet entered service in September, so he probably meant 20506+

 

[andrethebusman]

First 4 20300s are in Aurora, so quite sure they are small.