TripleTransit1 Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 I saw #8008 on the Western route about an hour ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Who says FG won't get any? The same was said about 74th not getting NFs but look what happened. I don't see C getting the next Novas, but if they do then I expect FG to get NFS until the option for 150 new buses gets exercised. I wonder if it's just going to be 7900-8199 and that's it..... usually, bus options are exercised so they come in yearly.... 1000-2029 D40LF: Option(s) were exercised so the buses kept coming in without any major breaks 6400-6883 LFS: Options(s) were exercised so the buses kept coming in without any major breaks The Optimas(500-544) never got their option exercised because having 125 30' buses was not plausible, but this series would've been 500-624 if all were exercised. Without the option being in the plan for 2015, there may not be a 8200-8349, despite CTA saying they intended to exercise the option.... remember the option for 900 DE60LF's that New Flyer somehow got that definitely fell through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 What's the ridership over there on the NW side? I only asked that cause maybe it's not as heavy as it is out south and they(whose ever in charge of bus assignments) don't feel like new equipment is needed as much as it is on the south side, just maybe. Or perhaps not enough people are complaining about the lack of newer buses maybe some dont care as long at theyre getting to where they need to get to on time. The operators at FG need to speak up as well cause they're the ones out in the field and have to deal with the Novas hands on so they can make change too if a lot are fed up with it. I can understand why you feel the way you do, but actions speak louder so if y'all want newer equipment speak to the right people, rattle some cages and let it be known then you'll get what you asked for. I don't understand why ever garage can't have every series of bus myself, I understand some can't handle artics based on a particular but when it comes to 40fters I don't see why we all can't have a piece of the pie. Operators should know how to operate every bus in the system is how I feel. I was a bus operator on the NW side for six of my eight years at CTA. I can say by experience, ridership is just as busy on the NW side as in any other part of the CTA service area! All of FGs E/W bus routes, #56 Milwaukee even with the Blue Line running parallel to it, continues to be a busy, heavily used bus route. The only routes from FG that do not see heavy passenger loads but still do thier fair share are the 81W, 85A and #68 is busy with the Taft HS students mon-fri. Aside from that FG is just as busy and deserves new or rehabbed equipment as the rest of the garages. I believe in being fair! Every CTA garage and rail facility IMO, should have the same amount of new or rehabbed equipment. But thats just me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Who says FG won't get any? The same was said about 74th not getting NFs but look what happened. I don't see C getting the next Novas, but if they do then I expect FG to get NFS until the option for 150 new buses gets exercised. I really hope your right! Really! I just hope CTA dosent continue to "stick it" to riders in this part of the city by sending more beat up equipment both on bus and rail. For me, seeing the same buses for the last twelve years and the same rail cars for the Iast thirty years! You dont see anything new, yet new equipment is coming online, you get tired, you get frustrated of looking at the same thingeveryday!!! Im a lifelong NW sider and while I no longer work for the CTA anymore, I still have a sense of pride for my local bus facility, Forest Glen and the rail line that serves my neighborhood. I had a good five years there! Id like to see the riders in my neighborhood riding new buses. When I travel to OHare to fly out of town, I love using the Blue Line to get there. Not many cities have the luxury of being able to use rapid transit to get to their local airport and jump on an airplane to their destination. I like to think I have pride in my transit system. But sadly Ive lost faith in riding our buses and trains in this part of the city because theres no changes or Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.cta85 Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I was a bus operator on the NW side for six of my eight years at CTA. I can say by experience, ridership is just as busy on the NW side as in any other part of the CTA service area! All of FGs E/W bus routes, #56 Milwaukee even with the Blue Line running parallel to it, continues to be a busy, heavily used bus route. The only routes from FG that do not see heavy passenger loads but still do thier fair share are the 81W, 85A and #68 is busy with the Taft HS students mon-fri. Aside from that FG is just as busy and deserves new or rehabbed equipment as the rest of the garages. I believe in being fair! Every CTA garage and rail facility IMO, should have the same amount of new or rehabbed equipment. But thats just me! I agree with you on that every garage should share the same amount of equipment, Chicago is the only garage with Novas, and NF both 40 and 60fters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I agree with you on that every garage should share the same amount of equipment, Chicago is the only garage with Novas, and NF both 40 and 60fters. Id love to see FG running artics one day, but it all depends if they are really needed there. But also unfortunately FGs maintenance facility was built at a time when CTA operated only 40ft buses. It was not designed or equipped to handle artics. They would definitely need to rebuild the shop which probably wont go well with the surrounding residents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Id love to see FG running artics one day, but it all depends if they are really needed there. But also unfortunately FGs maintenance facility was built at a time when CTA operated only 40ft buses. It was not designed or equipped to handle artics. They would definitely need to rebuild the shop which probably wont go well with the surrounding residents. They did have the hoist replacement project, but the pictures posted in the Construction Report indicated the same arrangement as in 1959 pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 I wonder if it's just going to be 7900-8199 and that's it..... usually, bus options are exercised so they come in yearly.... 1000-2029 D40LF: Option(s) were exercised so the buses kept coming in without any major breaks 6400-6883 LFS: Options(s) were exercised so the buses kept coming in without any major breaks The Optimas(500-544) never got their option exercised because having 125 30' buses was not plausible, but this series would've been 500-624 if all were exercised. Without the option being in the plan for 2015, there may not be a 8200-8349, despite CTA saying they intended to exercise the option.... remember the option for 900 DE60LF's that New Flyer somehow got that definitely fell through? Two flaws with your argument that CTA might be blowing hot air on the option, First one is they never even awarded a contract on the up to 900 artics because Chicago not getting the 2016 Summer Olympics (or whichever future games the city bid for) erased this fantasy that somehow Chicago would have a use for 900 articulated buses. You can exercise an option for a contract you don't have. And second, the retirement of the 900s along with things like CTA experimenting with returning weekend service to the 39 along with the fact that they still have 400-plus 6400s to retire points to a definite need for all 450 Smart Buses. Unless you think they can cover all those details with only 300 buses. Oh and by the way guys, I spotted 8019 on the #9 this morning on a pullin SB trip in case no one has reported seeing this one in service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 #8012's on the #48 this morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Just wondering, did anyone ever find out why CTA started the series with 7900 instead of 8000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Just wondering, did anyone ever find out why CTA started the series with 7900 instead of 8000? No I don't think anyone has as far as I heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 No I don't think anyone has as far as I heard. My only guess was that the rail cars were not going over 7846. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Two flaws with your argument that CTA might be blowing hot air on the option, First one is they never even awarded a contract on the up to 900 artics because Chicago not getting the 2016 Summer Olympics (or whichever future games the city bid for) erased this fantasy that somehow Chicago would have a use for 900 articulated buses. You can exercise an option for a contract you don't have. And second, the retirement of the 900s along with things like CTA experimenting with returning weekend service to the 39 along with the fact that they still have 400-plus 6400s to retire points to a definite need for all 450 Smart Buses. Unless you think they can cover all those details with only 300 buses. Oh and by the way guys, I spotted 8019 on the #9 this morning on a pullin SB trip in case no one has reported seeing this one in service. They are not exercising the option according to the budget for 2015, which would create a pocket in deliveries. I don't know the base order and option(s) for the 6400's, but since there were 484 of them, I presume the base was 200 Novas, with 1 or 2 options totaling 284 more. But the CTA exercised the options in succession with the option(s) in 2001 so the buses would continue to be delivered in 2001 and into 2002. If the CTA doesn't exercise the option for 150 in 2015, then 8200-8349 won't be built and delivered until summer or late 2016. Nova will build the buses, but if they have orders for SEPTA, MTA, or whomever else elects for their business, then CTA's order will be on the back burner while they work on those first. Ok, the Novas(6400's) looked like this.... Base order of 150 Option for 160 buses Option 2 for 174 buses(originally up to 450, but CTA must've added another 34 buses onto the order) Press Release Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 My only guess was that the rail cars were not going over 7846. Yeah that's about as far as I can figure too since in service rail cars and buses very rarely have the same fleet numbers at the same time. Either way we can all agree it still makes for an odd spot to start off a new set of bus fleet numbers. Heck even 9000 would have made a good spot to start off that was less odd than 7900 given we currently have no revenue vehicles in the 9000-9999 range either with the Fishbowls and D901s gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 They are not exercising the option according to the budget for 2015, which would create a pocket in deliveries. I don't know the base order and option(s) for the 6400's, but since there were 484 of them, I presume the base was 200 Novas, with 1 or 2 options totaling 284 more. But the CTA exercised the options in succession with the option(s) in 2001 so the buses would continue to be delivered in 2001 and into 2002. If the CTA doesn't exercise the option for 150 in 2015, then 8200-8349 won't be built and delivered until summer or late 2016. Nova will build the buses, but if they have orders for SEPTA, MTA, or whomever else elects for their business, then CTA's order will be on the back burner while they work on those first. Anyone on the forum know of the 6400's deliveries? Was it a Base and one or two options? And were they exercised in succession? We still don't know whether there will be a break between delivering 8000-8099 and 8100-8199. And where the heck are you getting summer 2016 to get started on 8200-8349? Are you working in CTA Headquarters or Nova's manufacturing division now? Your thought processes on this is still flawed especially when you consider that there was that pocket before that last batch of 6400s destined for FG which was the reason for that move of remaining former 74th and 103rd Americanas being assigned to FG for a few months once the last D901 Flyers were pulled from service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 We still don't know whether there will be a break between delivering 8000-8099 and 8100-8199. And where the heck are you getting summer 2016 to get started on 8200-8349? Are you working in CTA Headquarters or Nova's manufacturing division now? Your thought processes on this is still flawed especially when you consider that there was that pocket before that last batch of 6400s destined for FG which was the reason for that move of remaining former 74th and 103rd Americanas being assigned to FG for a few months once the last D901 Flyers were pulled from service. No, but CTA approved the 2015 budget(here) and it only mentions completing the delivery of 300 Nova Buses, nothing about the 150 option in this years budget. The Board approves the fiscal year budgets in the 4th Quarter of the year, as evidenced by this one being approved in late November, 2014. So the next one, which should include the option for the 150(if the CTA decides to exercise it) won't be approved until November, 2015. Once Nova gets the funds and notice to proceed, then the buses will be built and delivered to Chicago. They won't deliver with a promise to pay later.... As far as starting times for build and delivery, you have to remember that Nova may have other orders to build at the time. There was a short break in the 7900's and a little one in the 8000's as they are working on SEPTA at the same time... they only have so large a manufacturing plant and work staff to construct the buses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 No, but CTA approved the 2015 budget(here) and it only mentions completing the delivery of 300 Nova Buses, nothing about the 150 option in this years budget. The Board approves the fiscal year budgets in the 4th Quarter of the year, as evidenced by this one being approved in late November, 2014. So the next one, which should include the option for the 150(if the CTA decides to exercise it) won't be approved until November, 2015. Once Nova gets the funds and notice to proceed, then the buses will be built and delivered to Chicago. They won't deliver with a promise to pay later....... Your analysis is wrong. For starters, the money in the 2015 budget is only for expenditures to be made in 2015, and the budget seems to acknowledge that the deliveries of the base order of 300 are expected to continue into the first quarter of 2016. Secondly, they definitely do deliver with the promise of being paid later. We went over the payment schedule before. A contract was made in 2012, binding both sides to the base order, but Nova doesn't get paid for a bus until each bus goes through the stages outlined in the payment schedule in the contract [drivable in the factory, released by the inspector for delivery, put into revenue service, etc.] CTA definitely did not appropriate the full $150 million for the 300 buses in 2012, and in fact didn't pay anything until 2014. Similarly, it can exercise the option in 2015 without needing to pay anything until 2016. The money is in the 5 year capital plan, though. If you want to get on or off the track, remember that CTA got 226 NABI buses, but never was contractually obligated to pay the last $13 million for them (as apparently they never got to the final acceptance stage). Now, on what date CTA exercises the option and what production schedule Nova provides in return are matters of conjecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.cta85 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 It would've been cool if they were called the 9400 series lol get it? If you flip the 9 upside-down its a 6 lol yeah that woulda been great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 It would've been cool if they were called the 9400 series lol get it? If you flip the 9 upside-down its a 6 lol yeah that woulda been great. There is something reminiscent of the albino 9400s coming without the 9s and getting bigger ones later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 #8010's on the #9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Got us some shots of #8010 and #8019. I will post later. Just missed a ride of one on belmont even if it was for four blocks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyerMCI Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Slightly related, what 77th routes have gotten the 7900's. I've only seen the 1, 2, 3, 4. Haven't seen the 79 or 87 or anything like that. Thought I'd make a full list UPDATE: (8:40 am Est, 2/13/15) 8000: N/A 8001: 55 (to MSI) 8002: 67 (to St. Isd) 8003: 62 (to Harlem) 8004: N/A 8005: 165 (to Harlem) FINALLY! Now we are waiting for 75 8006: 48 (to 97th) 8007: N/A 8008: 63 (to St. Isd) 8009: 9 (to Irv. Pk) 8010: 48 (to 97th) 8011: 9 (to Irv. Pk) 8012: 55 (to MSI) 8013: 47 (to Arch/Cic) 8014: 48 (to Wst. OL) 8015: 9 (to 74th) 8016: N/A 8017: 55 (to St. Louis) 8018: 63 (to St. Isd) 8019: N/A 8020: N/A 8021: N/A 8022: N/A 8023: N/A 8024: N/A 8025: N/A Winner for 2/13/15 AM Peak is........... tie! Between 55 and 48! Also, first sighting on 165! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfan2847 Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Slightly related, what 77th routes have gotten the 7900's. I've only seen the 1, 2, 3, 4. Haven't seen the 79 or 87 or anything like that. When I was checking the allocations last week they were on:- 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 8A, 24, 43, 53A, 79, 87 Just about all of 77's routes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Damn I missed #8013? I don't know about #8013 but #8014 is on #47 right now down by calumet. #8011's also on the #44. We need to have polar vortexes more often!! (Did I just say that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicagos_D Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Slightly related, what 77th routes have gotten the 7900's. I've only seen the 1, 2, 3, 4. Haven't seen the 79 or 87 or anything like that. Thought I'd make a full list (7:45 Est) 8000: N/A 8001: 9 (to 74th, coming from 95th or 104th) 8002: 55 (to MSI) 8003: 59 (to St. Isd) 8004: N/A 8005: N/A 8006: 48 (to 97th) 8007: N/A 8008: 48 (to 97th) 8009: N/A 8010: 44 (to Hal. OL) 8011: N/A 8012: N/A 8013: 47 (to Arch/Cic) 8014: N/A 8015: N/A 8016: N/A 8017: N/A 8018: N/A 8019: 49 (to 79th) 8020: N/A This morning I saw 8000 on 54B Cicero but only to Central/77th, and 8020 was on 55A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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