CTA Bus Garage Rosters

[NewFlyerMCI]

10 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Artics are for commuting load and go type routes. And operators are often told to ignore timepoints at the end of the express zone to get back on schedule quicker. You keep stuff moving quicker you use less buses another way to free up service hours and keep bus fare low and service cuts at bay. PERSONALLY I feel 79 and 4 DOES qualify as well BUT cta has to be Willing to use more of the space 77th has available and make it more of a super garage of sorts. It has space for 470 but cta decided to keep storage as close to 250 as possible (NP also has 400 bus space) 

I mean, I don't think this is exactly true, or routes like the 22 or even the 151 to some extent, wouldn't have the amount of artics they do, or any at all.

Overall, I feel as though this is a scenario where CTA needs to either be less strict, or make up for it elsewhere, for the benefit of the passenger(s). 

10 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Want a realistic relatable example? I do doordash and have had to cut out bringing food up to people’s door when our pay got cut. The less time I’m spending in elevators the more food I can drop off and keep it moving. Otherwise I’d have to work less hours to maintain $25/hour

Hadn't seen when I responded, this does give some added perspective, so thank you.

[Sam92]

10 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I mean, I don't think this is exactly true, or routes like the 22 or even the 151 to some extent, wouldn't have the amount of artics they do, or any at all.

Overall, I feel as though this is a scenario where CTA needs to either be less strict, or make up for it elsewhere, for the benefit of the passenger(s). 

Hadn't seen when I responded, this does give some added perspective, so thank you.

To be honest even 22 and 151 count as loss and go because most of its ridership is people who get on in places after 146 runs express but yet too far from the red line to walk or take the bus to

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

I saw 1397 again and confirmed it has the F sticker now. Also saw 1354 today with a P on it.

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

3 minutes ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

I saw 1397 again and confirmed it has the F sticker now. Also saw 1354 today with a P on it.

i’ll update it right now thx for the heads up they are starting to get F’s 1934-35 have F just waiting for 1933

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

6 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

i’ll update it right now thx for the heads up they are starting to get F’s 1934-35 have F just waiting for 1933

Np. I check my vids once I come home too since I take videos of buses and once I upload them onto my computer I see the sticker

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1588 has F

[jajuan]

On 4/16/2021 at 8:53 AM, Sam92 said:

 

 

Upon closer observation the year the 4000’s retire they will be replaced on the spot so artic counts aren’t going to decrease at all but the increase to 397 still holds true by this sheet. Can you narrow down the year by any chance @YoungBusLover? Because If this is after artics were purged from Chicago then this blows a hole in the “anything over 200 artics is overkill” theory. 

They've definitely gotten better at being more efficient with artic assignments after social distancing spurred a need to spread the artics out at all garages that have maintenance facilities to handle them when repairs are needed. But I'd say we need to be cautious about taking these numbers with more than a grain of salt given that they actually have to regain the numbers lost because of the pandemic. And observing how passenger loads look on the 147 even on the 40 footers, which have become a bit more prevalent on the route than in the last pick, during the middle of PM rush shows me that CTA isn't getting there yet even with the lightening of passenger capacity limits. Heck I've even been seeing 40 footers rolling on the 6, J14 and the 26 in higher numbers compared to artics for the last few weeks with little struggle in keeping up with passenger loads. Even the Red Line is still showing very few trips that reach standing room only, and we know how it's harder to police passenger counts on the trains than on the buses. Those factors are telling me CTA's ridership is still primarily coming from essential needs of those passengers who are riding. So any thoughts of jumping to 400 artics is pure fantasy at this point and time. If they're going t get there, I see it happening far later into this current decade than the 2024 they were theoretically thinking on in this pre-pandemic report. The two counts that jump out more to me are those for the 1000s and those for the electrics. They're saying they weren't looking to increase their electric bus count beyond about 25 buses by the time 2024 gets around yet they keep telling passengers they look to be running an all electric bus fleet by 2024. And they're claiming in these pre-COVID projections that they were pushing to be down to only 300 1000s by 2024, which is concerning looking at how we now know Dorval and the other top bosses decided to look to Nova once again for more buses. Unless Nova has fixed that A/C issue or CTA also goes with another manufacturer in addition to Nova, CTA was potentially saying they're going to plague us with an extra 700 saunas in addition to the 400-plus that are already here on the roster. 

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, jajuan said:

They've definitely gotten better at being more efficient with artic assignments after social distancing spurred a need to spread the artics out at all garages that have maintenance facilities to handle them when repairs are needed. But I'd say we need to be cautious about taking these numbers with more than a grain of salt given that they actually have to regain the numbers lost because of the pandemic. And observing how passenger loads look on the 147 even on the 40 footers, which have become a bit more prevalent on the route than in the last pick, during the middle of PM rush shows me that CTA isn't getting there yet even with the lightening of passenger capacity limits. Heck I've even been seeing 40 footers rolling on the 6, J14 and the 26 in higher numbers compared to artics for the last few weeks with little struggle in keeping up with passenger loads. Even the Red Line is still showing very few trips that reach standing room only, and we know how it's harder to police passenger counts on the trains than on the buses. Those factors are telling me CTA's ridership is still primarily coming from essential needs of those passengers who are riding. So any thoughts of jumping to 400 artics is pure fantasy at this point and time. If they're going t get there, I see it happening far later into this current decade than the 2024 they were theoretically thinking on in this pre-pandemic report. The two counts that jump out more to me are those for the 1000s and those for the electrics. They're saying they weren't looking to increase their electric bus count beyond about 25 buses by the time 2024 gets around yet they keep telling passengers they look to be running an all electric bus fleet by 2024. And they're claiming in these pre-COVID projections that they were pushing to be down to only 300 1000s by 2024, which is concerning looking at how we now know Dorval and the other top bosses decided to look to Nova once again for more buses. Unless Nova has fixed that A/C issue or CTA also goes with another manufacturer in addition to Nova, CTA was potentially saying they're going to plague us with an extra 700 saunas in addition to the 400-plus that are already here on the roster. 

Well yeah I know that COVID changes things (this is assuming if covid never happened) and all but what I was getting at (hence my asking for the date) was is this report from before Chicago and 77th lost artics or after cause the push to go to 400 after deciding we have excess contradicts what we all thought on the forum. 

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, jajuan said:

They've definitely gotten better at being more efficient with artic assignments after social distancing spurred a need to spread the artics out at all garages that have maintenance facilities to handle them when repairs are needed. But I'd say we need to be cautious about taking these numbers with more than a grain of salt given that they actually have to regain the numbers lost because of the pandemic. And observing how passenger loads look on the 147 even on the 40 footers, which have become a bit more prevalent on the route than in the last pick, during the middle of PM rush shows me that CTA isn't getting there yet even with the lightening of passenger capacity limits. Heck I've even been seeing 40 footers rolling on the 6, J14 and the 26 in higher numbers compared to artics for the last few weeks with little struggle in keeping up with passenger loads. Even the Red Line is still showing very few trips that reach standing room only, and we know how it's harder to police passenger counts on the trains than on the buses. Those factors are telling me CTA's ridership is still primarily coming from essential needs of those passengers who are riding. So any thoughts of jumping to 400 artics is pure fantasy at this point and time. If they're going t get there, I see it happening far later into this current decade than the 2024 they were theoretically thinking on in this pre-pandemic report. The two counts that jump out more to me are those for the 1000s and those for the electrics. They're saying they weren't looking to increase their electric bus count beyond about 25 buses by the time 2024 gets around yet they keep telling passengers they look to be running an all electric bus fleet by 2024. And they're claiming in these pre-COVID projections that they were pushing to be down to only 300 1000s by 2024, which is concerning looking at how we now know Dorval and the other top bosses decided to look to Nova once again for more buses. Unless Nova has fixed that A/C issue or CTA also goes with another manufacturer in addition to Nova, CTA was potentially saying they're going to plague us with an extra 700 saunas in addition to the 400-plus that are already here on the roster. 

Basically I was wondering if before the pandemic, did cta somehow find a use for 400 artics before the current crisis?

[jajuan]

17 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

Basically I was wondering if before the pandemic, did cta somehow find a use for 400 artics before the current crisis?

Yeah and I'm wondering if CTA really sees improvements in Nova's A/C issues on the 7900s because if not, they theoretically could be looking to add 700 saunas to the roster on top of the over 400 they already have.?

[NewFlyerMCI]

7 hours ago, jajuan said:

They've definitely gotten better at being more efficient with artic assignments after social distancing spurred a need to spread the artics out at all garages that have maintenance facilities to handle them when repairs are needed. But I'd say we need to be cautious about taking these numbers with more than a grain of salt given that they actually have to regain the numbers lost because of the pandemic. And observing how passenger loads look on the 147 even on the 40 footers, which have become a bit more prevalent on the route than in the last pick, during the middle of PM rush shows me that CTA isn't getting there yet even with the lightening of passenger capacity limits. Heck I've even been seeing 40 footers rolling on the 6, J14 and the 26 in higher numbers compared to artics for the last few weeks with little struggle in keeping up with passenger loads. Even the Red Line is still showing very few trips that reach standing room only, and we know how it's harder to police passenger counts on the trains than on the buses. Those factors are telling me CTA's ridership is still primarily coming from essential needs of those passengers who are riding. So any thoughts of jumping to 400 artics is pure fantasy at this point and time. If they're going t get there, I see it happening far later into this current decade than the 2024 they were theoretically thinking on in this pre-pandemic report. The two counts that jump out more to me are those for the 1000s and those for the electrics. They're saying they weren't looking to increase their electric bus count beyond about 25 buses by the time 2024 gets around yet they keep telling passengers they look to be running an all electric bus fleet by 2024. And they're claiming in these pre-COVID projections that they were pushing to be down to only 300 1000s by 2024, which is concerning looking at how we now know Dorval and the other top bosses decided to look to Nova once again for more buses. Unless Nova has fixed that A/C issue or CTA also goes with another manufacturer in addition to Nova, CTA was potentially saying they're going to plague us with an extra 700 saunas in addition to the 400-plus that are already here on the roster. 

I also see the Nova decision as CTA being afraid to go with new buses. Since 2000, only 4 buses have been something other than New Flyer or Nova: The MAN Artics (which lasted 3 years), the NABI 45C-LFW & NABI 60-LFW (both bungled by NABI) and the Optima Opus (the only ones on this list to stick around for a while). Outside of those buses, every bus has been a variation of a standard 40-ft Nova or a standard 40-ft or 60-ft New Flyer. Other than that, it's only been the electric buses, which don't exactly have the best track record in terms of delivery and usage while here.

You'd think with Pace being right next door, CTA might've consider Eldo (wouldn't have been my first choice) although I don't know who all bid. I'm also not even sure Gillig is a blip on CTA's radar. CTA is also one of the largest agencies without a fleet of Xcelsiors too, which makes me think even more that CTA is just resistant to change (in terms of bus fleets)

[jajuan]

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I also see the Nova decision as CTA being afraid to go with new buses. Since 2000, only 4 buses have been something other than New Flyer or Nova: The MAN Artics (which lasted 3 years), the NABI 45C-LFW & NABI 60-LFW (both bungled by NABI) and the Optima Opus (the only ones on this list to stick around for a while). Outside of those buses, every bus has been a variation of a standard 40-ft Nova or a standard 40-ft or 60-ft New Flyer. Other than that, it's only been the electric buses, which don't exactly have the best track record in terms of delivery and usage while here.

You'd think with Pace being right next door, CTA might've consider Eldo (wouldn't have been my first choice) although I don't know who all bid. I'm also not even sure Gillig is a blip on CTA's radar. CTA is also one of the largest agencies without a fleet of Xcelsiors too, which makes me think even more that CTA is just resistant to change (in terms of bus fleets)

I see it as resistance to change as well. It's pretty shameful really that Pace and even Champaign-Urbana's MTD both have a significant number of Xcelsiors and CTA only has a paltry two. The two electrics that they acquired to conduct their first tests of the viability of all electric battery powered buses in regular bus service.

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, jajuan said:

I see it as resistance to change as well. It's pretty shameful really that Pace and even Champaign-Urbana's MTD both have a significant number of Xcelsiors and CTA only has a paltry two. The two electrics that they acquired to conduct their first tests of the viability of all electric battery powered buses in regular bus service.

 

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I also see the Nova decision as CTA being afraid to go with new buses. Since 2000, only 4 buses have been something other than New Flyer or Nova: The MAN Artics (which lasted 3 years), the NABI 45C-LFW & NABI 60-LFW (both bungled by NABI) and the Optima Opus (the only ones on this list to stick around for a while). Outside of those buses, every bus has been a variation of a standard 40-ft Nova or a standard 40-ft or 60-ft New Flyer. Other than that, it's only been the electric buses, which don't exactly have the best track record in terms of delivery and usage while here.

You'd think with Pace being right next door, CTA might've consider Eldo (wouldn't have been my first choice) although I don't know who all bid. I'm also not even sure Gillig is a blip on CTA's radar. CTA is also one of the largest agencies without a fleet of Xcelsiors too, which makes me think even more that CTA is just resistant to change (in terms of bus fleets)

I hear you guys but as a business man I don’t blame them for sticking with the familiar. New flyer can get a HUGE number of buses out but still give a good quality and nova outside of the a/c issues produces reliable products as well so it’s a smart move. Especially as a city that barely has enough buses to handle the growing demand as is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see flxibles if the company was still alive. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

19 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

 

I hear you guys but as a business man I don’t blame them for sticking with the familiar. New flyer can get a HUGE number of buses out but still give a good quality and nova outside of the a/c issues produces reliable products as well so it’s a smart move. Especially as a city that barely has enough buses to handle the growing demand as is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see flxibles if the company was still alive. 

Sticking with the familiar would be one thing if CTA actually acquired some Xcelsiors en masse, a bus that's been tried and tested across all of North America. Something tells me if the D40LF were still being made, CTA'd find a way to get some more of those. CTA has one of the most homogenous fleets out of the large operators. WMATA is the other one, I'm thinking of, it's all Xcelsiors now, bar both the last NABI 42-LFWs and last Orion VII NGs ever made. Ultimately, I can't truly fault them (CTA) as it does make sense from a business standpoint (parts, training drivers, etc), but it can't last forever. I also feel like a complaint of bid impropriety is going to crop up sooner than later as well, continuing at this pace, but that's just errant speculation on my part.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

Wonder what cta’ll be like with gillig. Rode some at Disney and had awesome A/C

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

 

I hear you guys but as a business man I don’t blame them for sticking with the familiar. New flyer can get a HUGE number of buses out but still give a good quality and nova outside of the a/c issues produces reliable products as well so it’s a smart move. Especially as a city that barely has enough buses to handle the growing demand as is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see flxibles if the company was still alive. 

To @NewFlyerMCIpoint, Xcelsiors ARE New Flyers.  The Nova design is virtually unchanged.   The specs CTA has almost make it impossible for anyone other than New Flyer or Nova to have a chance to win.  On the one hand,  having a  homogeneous fleet has benefits in terms of training,  parts.   But if something major happens luke with the NABIs, you have a  big problem.   Fortunately for CTA, they were already receiving New Flyer artics when the NABIS went down   Heck, Southwest Airlines has all Boeing 737s, and the MAX fiasco almost made them start to order Airbus planes. 

Would i like to see a little more variety?  Yes, but I would like modern looking equipment more.  

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 hours ago, artthouwill said:

To @NewFlyerMCIpoint, Xcelsiors ARE New Flyers.  The Nova design is virtually unchanged.   The specs CTA has almost make it impossible for anyone other than New Flyer or Nova to have a chance to win.  On the one hand,  having a  homogeneous fleet has benefits in terms of training,  parts.   But if something major happens luke with the NABIs, you have a  big problem.   Fortunately for CTA, they were already receiving New Flyer artics when the NABIS went down   Heck, Southwest Airlines has all Boeing 737s, and the MAX fiasco almost made them start to order Airbus planes. 

Would i like to see a little more variety?  Yes, but I would like modern looking equipment more.  

I know Xcelsiors are New Flyers, but they aren't the D40LFs or variants. That what I meant when I said if CTA could get some more of the latter, the would.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1383 with F

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

2 minutes ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

1383 with F

1382 1383 1552 1360 i seen today i added them to the list 

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

Just now, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

1382 1383 1552 1360 i seen today i added them to the list 

Cool

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

List as of 5/17/21

1053 F

1054 F

1055 F

1345 F

1346 F

1347 F

1348 F

1349 F

1350 F 

1351 F

1352 F

1353 F

1354 F

1355 F

1356 F

1357 F 

1358 F

1359 F

1360 F

1361 F

1362 F

1377 F

1379 F

1380 F

1381 F

1382 F

1383 F

1395 F

1396 F 

1397 F

1398 F

1400 F

1402 F

1403 F

1404 F

1406 F

1552 F

1555 F

1557 F

1585 F

1588 F

1600 F

1601 F

1934 F

1935 F

Edited May 18, 2021 by Mr.NewFlyer1051
1354 1602 added

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

Nice, now it’s in numerical order   ?

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

1406 has F

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

1 minute ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

1406 has F

was just boutta tag you to see if it has a F thanks i added it to the list 

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

4 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

was just boutta tag you to see if it has a F thanks i added it to the list 

Yw