7900-series Nova LFS - Updates

[Chicago Transit Fan]

My name is Darius Miles im a big transit geek over CTA Nova Buses I travel From Cincinnati , Ohio Just to come see CTA nova buses and i stubbled across the 8200s last weekend.

 

I am 6"7 so i can stick my arms up and get pictures of the buses in the fence!!

Lol?

[The CCRailway Shop]

Clever Device personal install  Clever Device  systems. The  8200 should be  up and Running  before  the Summer  pick

[BusHunter]

By then they could have 25-30 buses at SS. I wonder what's taking so long? If true this puts #8198's 45 day record at SS out the window.

[BusHunter]

I think I figured this out. If they don't release the #8200's this week the last week of May they'll just call "The Doc" and start the whole month over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0kswK2aI08

[pudgym29]

On 5/16/2016 at 4:37 PM, artthouwill said:

Who will be the first to post a picture of a 7900 series Nova on a FG route? 

 

On 5/16/2016 at 4:41 PM, BusHunter said:

More like when will fg put one out on a route? Interesting. I wonder if #8203 and below are still at south shops? Something may be happening soon. South shops probably doesn't want another delivery too soon. That's 11 now at ss. 

I'm ready and waiting. I'm doing Chicago Craft Beer Week this week. Every day, I go out to Belmont Ave. I just suspect (without any inside information) that #77 Belmont will get these new Novas, if not for an Owl run {which I am quite likely to need at some point}, at some time during this week. Perhaps when extra buses are called for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

[sw4400]

Got done talking to a FG Operator tonight(a Line Instructor). He said that they are still training the Operators. He said they do the training in groups of 6 at a time and there are over 500 Operators at FG to be trained. So, it might be a few more weeks before the buses see active service as all Operators need to be trained first.

[BusHunter]

12 hours ago, sw4400 said:

Got done talking to a FG Operator tonight(a Line Instructor). He said that they are still training the Operators. He said they do the training in groups of 6 at a time and there are over 500 Operators at FG to be trained. So, it might be a few more weeks before the buses see active service as all Operators need to be trained first.

You do realize at that pace that's almost 100 days!!

BTW, I just checked #8200 has now been at SS for 39 days. Only 6 days to beat #8198. Someone better call Guinness, but wait a minute I think Pace has them beat, now going on 4-6 months with the CNG's.

[ajm522]

I want to see if they can find a way to make the air/fans quieter. They are so loud. For some reason the 8100's are quieter inside then the 7900's. 

[sw4400]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

You do realize at that pace that's almost 100 days!!

BTW, I just checked #8200 has now been at SS for 39 days. Only 6 days to beat #8198. Someone better call Guinness, but wait a minute I think Pace has them beat, now going on 4-6 months with the CNG's.

That's the words from the FG Line Instructor driving the bus told me last night. He said the process is quick. I asked if it would take a few months, and he said under a month, so a matter of weeks.

[jajuan]

16 hours ago, sw4400 said:

Got done talking to a FG Operator tonight(a Line Instructor). He said that they are still training the Operators. He said they do the training in groups of 6 at a time and there are over 500 Operators at FG to be trained. So, it might be a few more weeks before the buses see active service as all Operators need to be trained first.

 

1 hour ago, sw4400 said:

That's the words from the FG Line Instructor driving the bus told me last night. He said the process is quick. I asked if it would take a few months, and he said under a month, so a matter of weeks.

Maybe less depending on how quick that quick process is, not to mention it's not clear how many operators have already been trained. Plus given how few buses are here for them so far, it may be possible for those that are here to be sent out with operators that have already been trained. But wait you posited the thought that all operators have to be trained first. Did the line instructor actually say they all have to be trained before the 8200s here so far can be sent out? Or is that just an assumption you made? Buses are still coming in, and there's only so much space at South Shops to store these buses. 

[Busjack]

26 minutes ago, jajuan said:

Buses are still coming in, and there's only so much space at South Shops to store these buses. 

Given that they could store about 150 NABIs, I don't think that is the issue, but sw might have got the real one, which was training. Nobody really said how many buses were locked up at 74 or C before they went out, but, unlike FG, not all buses are conspicuous in open yards.

The countervailing consideration is the one raised by BusHunter--if FG is running the oldest ones (which would be the 6470s) and they are springing leaks, they need to be replaced posthaste.

[sw4400]

1 hour ago, jajuan said:

 

Maybe less depending on how quick that quick process is, not to mention it's not clear how many operators have already been trained. Plus given how few buses are here for them so far, it may be possible for those that are here to be sent out with operators that have already been trained. But wait you posited the thought that all operators have to be trained first. Did the line instructor actually say they all have to be trained before the 8200s here so far can be sent out? Or is that just an assumption you made? Buses are still coming in, and there's only so much space at South Shops to store these buses. 

Line Instructor said all Operators must be trained before the 8200's will hit the streets for service. So if they move them to FG for more room at SS, they'll just sit there parked.

[Busjack]

7 minutes ago, sw4400 said:

Line Instructor said all Operators must be trained before the 8200's will hit the streets for service. So if they move them to FG for more room at SS, they'll just sit there parked.

There probably, though, are some limits to the sweep of that statement. May be a reappraisal after the next big rain storm.

[sw4400]

35 minutes ago, Busjack said:

There probably, though, are some limits to the sweep of that statement. May be a reappraisal after the next big rain storm.

There could be workarounds while training of all 500 Operators occurs, but in the meantime the 8200's will have to be on specific routes only and those Operators trained on the new buses will have to be assigned to work and relieve those Operators on there.

[Busjack]

37 minutes ago, sw4400 said:

There could be workarounds while training of all 500 Operators occurs, but in the meantime the 8200's will have to be on specific routes only and those Operators trained on the new buses will have to be assigned to work and relieve those Operators on there.

There are always rush hour trippers, although I don't know how interested the dispatcher is in that.

[garmon757]

I've went to the shop about an hour ago and #8204 #8205 and #8209 are nowhere to be spotted. Also, #8064 is OOS.

[BusHunter]

Don't tell me I need to look at the glen for some. As far as sw's point they could be taking out multiples of 6. How long can a training session be anyway?

[jajuan]

28 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Don't tell me I need to look at the glen for some. As far as sw's point they could be taking out multiples of 6. How long can a training session be anyway?

The last part of your statement is part of what came to mind and more what I was getting at when I said maybe sooner than the few weeks time that sw was surmising. That's also why I made the point that we don't know many of FG's operators have already gone through training so far. Your other point about some of the remaining oldest of 6400s springing leaks is another factor to why they may want to expedite that few estimate for FG putting its first Smart buses out on the road. I'll grant space may not be as much a deciding factor, but there still is a limit to how much they can shift the D40LFs around to squeeze out more for FG's use in the interim. At a certain point, you run into that factor of the other garages getting shorted if too many NFs are shifted out to FG. Busjack has questions about whether FG's dispatcher may want to do this, but if I remember correctly, 74th's and C's first Smart buses started out only being seen during rush periods on a regular route's peak trippers. 

[BusHunter]

Well that storm was one in a million odds so that probably doesn't always happen. But the rust shows it's not nothing new so it is what it is. Also that is among the oldest buses so it's 15 years old and counting. When the vehicles get really old they start getting even the littlest things wrong with them.

[jajuan]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Well that storm was one in a million odds so that probably doesn't always happen. But the rust shows it's not nothing new so it is what it is. Also that is among the oldest buses so it's 15 years old and counting. When the vehicles get really old they start getting even the littlest things wrong with them.

Ha ha no the storms aren't an everyday occurrence, but we're still in that time of year where the weather easily gets unsettled and rain comes at the drop of a hat without it having to be a bad thunderstorm. And we know how leaky buses are with any type of rain, not just thunderstorm rain. Either way, at least it can be said that FG operators and riders can finally say they're approaching the threshold of that transition away from having the mass majority of buses available being beyond retirement age.

[BusHunter]

We hope anyway!! I still don't quite understand this delay at FG with the #8200's going online. 74th and Chicago didn't have these delays. i think I remember though 77th had a bit of a delay but that is to be expected, the buses were new. The bus model is not new now just to FG and we have operators from the glen like express flyer that drove them from Chicago, so why train the already trained?

[andrethebusman]

As of 5/26 Thursday. only 8200 is showing in the computer, at SS, which means the other ones at SS have not been accepted yet.

[BusHunter]

On 5/27/2016 at 1:38 AM, andrethebusman said:

As of 5/26 Thursday. only 8200 is showing in the computer, at SS, which means the other ones at SS have not been accepted yet.

That's alot of buses unaccepted. This gets more mysterious the longer it goes on.

[Johnny 5]

When is the new arrival of the 8200s come in? I can't wait to experience it!

[BusHunter]

10 hours ago, Johnny 5 said:

When is the new arrival of the 8200s come in? I can't wait to experience it!

Just go to South Shops and you can have a mega experience!! There are two at FG but they are #8100's. Probably when the time comes for the first day of service they'll be many at FG as SS has quite a few (11) and sources say before the summer pick they'll go in service which is around the 3rd Sunday in June.