7900-series Nova LFS - Updates

[Busjack]

6 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Funny with all this fanfare at FG with the new buses, I never heard nothing when it was 74th's chance at #8000's.

Combination of (1) whether we had any commenters working there, (2) da Mare had an unveiling at 74th about 6 months before it got any (leading to posts about why the press conference was at 74th if 77th was getting the buses), and most importantly (3) all the complaining here that FG was never going to get anything (can anyone do a Barry Rozner whine) impelling some FG operators to respond.

[jajuan]

24 minutes ago, sw4400 said:

I asked a FG Operator yesterday about the new buses, and he said he didn't know if they were getting any, so I guess FG hasn't informed and/or taught all their Bus Operators of what's coming in the coming weeks/months.

You would think they would have a newsletter or notice posted on a bulletin board there...

Well that gets down to the purpose of 8197 and 8199 being there at this point. They're there to get FG operators acclimated to the next bunch of 7900s heading there.

[BusHunter]

On 5/4/2016 at 10:44 PM, BusHunter said:

Hmm.... #6729 was in service yesterday, 5/2, so what the plates were removed today or late last night? #1011, #6571, #6827 were all in service on 4/29. #6591 I traced to the last day of service on 3/13/16, so it's been at FG close to two months.  #6863 was last in service 4/28/16. And we know Andre said #6536 and #6537, #6629 were gone last month. (the dates should be on my #6400 retirement list) So where did #6622, #6633, #6634 go for the recent retirements for the 5 chicago oddballs? Towed already or perhaps driven?

#6827 is back from the 3rd lot. It's currently on the #80.

[Brandon93]

Since FG operators are training on the new Novas my prediction is about to come true. I knew CTA was going to follow the sequence of how they did the 6400's series. As far 103rd getting Novas that's clearly not going to happen because I didn't hear any 103rd operators talking about training on them. Also not all of those new Novas can't replace the old ones, so they're going to need some  more NF's to cover some of those runs.

[Sam92]

15 hours ago, Brandon93 said:

Since FG operators are training on the new Novas my prediction is about to come true. I knew CTA was going to follow the sequence of how they did the 6400's series. As far 103rd getting Novas that's clearly not going to happen because I didn't hear any 103rd operators talking about training on them. Also not all of those new Novas can't replace the old ones, so they're going to need some  more NF's to cover some of those runs.

I think 103rd would have had some of the initial 300 if they were to get some cause i remember back when the first 100 came in, I saw a training bus on 94th/Woodlawn (95E's route) but I feel that's more cause 103rd borrows so Much from 77th they felt they might as well get them trained

[ajm522]

Unrelated but 8051 is OOS at SS. For some reason it's hard drive was removed. 

[BusHunter]

On 5/5/2016 at 2:47 PM, BusHunter said:

#6827 is back from the 3rd lot. It's currently on the #80.

#6791 is back in service from the 3rd lot so I guess it did still have it's license plate. #1011's back too. If you look at one of my pictures again, there's a bus 3rd bus back that has it's bike rack removed and it's right headlight removed so that one is probably gone. I checked it's #6603 already retired, probably another parts bus.

[sw4400]

2 hours ago, ajm522 said:

Unrelated but 8051 is OOS at SS. For some reason it's hard drive was removed. 

Hard drive was removed due to it being driven too hard.....

 

[Busjack]

9 minutes ago, sw4400 said:

Hard drive was removed due to it being driven too hard.....

 

No, it had become a floppy and needed an ED medicine.

[BusHunter]

Sneaked a peek at the 3rd lot at FG and this time #8199 and #8197 was in the lot there. A bunch of other old novas have joined them. #6567, which in the picture looked to have something wrong with the roof. (maybe gone to bus heaven) #6734 is there now, #1023 was beside it. #6729 was gone and in it's spot was #6787. #6831 finally showed back up in the lot and #6833 is there along with #6718. #6571 was still there. I was kind of surprised how quick the lot changes around. All buses had there license plates. #6863 seemed gone. I couldn't take a picture because CTA personnel was patrolling the lot so I'll just have to dictate it to you. I did take this one picture of #8197 at the back of the yard before they showed up. That's #8197 below.

 

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

maybe gone to bus heaven

The usual sign for this was an X somewhere on the bus, like the back window.

[Mr.cta85]

20 hours ago, ajm522 said:

Unrelated but 8051 is OOS at SS. For some reason it's hard drive was removed. 

Not only that but it had damage on the back of it due to an accident smh. I had to sit with 8051 facing NB at Ashland &Wellington until I got another bus from Chicago garage (8139) cause a supervisor had me jump buses with the operator who was originally with 8051.

 

[Brandon93]

23 hours ago, Sam92 said:

I think 103rd would have had some of the initial 300 if they were to get some cause i remember back when the first 100 came in, I saw a training bus on 94th/Woodlawn (95E's route) but I feel that's more cause 103rd borrows so Much from 77th they felt they might as well get them trained

That makes sense to train them on Novas because they do borrow either from 77th or 74th.

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, Mr.cta85 said:

Not only that but it had damage on the back of it due to an accident smh. I had to sit with 8051 facing NB at Ashland &Wellington until I got another bus from Chicago garage (8139) cause a supervisor had me jump buses with the operator who was originally with 8051.

 

Interesting you would get a Chicago bus and a new one at that. It wouldn't have tsp so it wouldn't matter what bus you would have. Pulling it off another route would probably include it's operator. It sounds like you had a bus direct from the garage, but why not something from NP. It's closer. Unless they felt they could grab a pullin off #132. Now that might be closer.

[jajuan]

3 hours ago, Mr.cta85 said:

Not only that but it had damage on the back of it due to an accident smh. I had to sit with 8051 facing NB at Ashland &Wellington until I got another bus from Chicago garage (8139) cause a supervisor had me jump buses with the operator who was originally with 8051.

 

And you hit upon another reason 74th will want to get its NF roster finalized and TSP equipped ASAP. Ashland can be a potential death trap for CTA buses from folks driving like idiots who don't know the rules of the road or as if buses don't exist on that Street because they're so much of a freaking hurry. I remember, shortly before 74th got the newer Novas, being on a NB #9 bus that had its left side mirrors ripped off while stopped at Augusta for passengers. A truck had whizzed past too close from the truck's driver treating the width of the bus the same as that of a car. And that driver never stopped to see what he hit unfortunately. 

[Mr.cta85]

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Interesting you would get a Chicago bus and a new one at that. It wouldn't have tsp so it wouldn't matter what bus you would have. Pulling it off another route would probably include it's operator. It sounds like you had a bus direct from the garage, but why not something from NP. It's closer. Unless they felt they could grab a pullin off #132. Now that might be closer.

Chicago was the closest garage with novas I guess and all the new novas came with tsp so I guess that's probably another reason. But I ended up just pulling 8139 in the garage which was fine by me.

[BusHunter]

4 hours ago, Mr.cta85 said:

Chicago was the closest garage with novas I guess and all the new novas came with tsp so I guess that's probably another reason. But I ended up just pulling 8139 in the garage which was fine by me.

Ah, sometimes the devil is in the details. All #7900's have TSP? If that is so (and you should know) then that would explain why #8000's run Ashland exclusively. Because there hasn't been an installation yet at all. Did you personally see the device or use this on #8139? I suppose if someone digs at the nova specs they could find out if indeed they do come with tsp. Technically then all buses could use this at IDOT intersections because the emergency vehicles use it or maybe not if they run at different frequencies.

In your experience with tsp how far can the bus signal reach from an intersection?

It is kind of interesting, Clever Devices claims it has TSP built right into the clever device and guess what fleet they show on the page. If this is how this is done, then all buses should have this. 

http://www.cleverdevices.com/products-traffic-signal-priority.htm

Only thing with that is why aren't the #1000's capable?

 

[Busjack]

7 hours ago, BusHunter said:

I suppose if someone digs at the nova specs they could find out if indeed they do come with tsp.

Usually the spec is that leave the place to plug in the gps. Question is how many tsp devices has the RTA paid for.

 

7 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Clever Devices claims it has TSP built right into the clever device and guess what fleet they show on the page. If this is how this is done, then all buses should have this.

No, it doesn't. It says "Clever Devices’ IVN® onboard controller provides a TSP solution." It also provides a whole lot of stuff in the left column, but CTA doesn't have all of them, and was late to get CAD.

Note also what they say about the modular nature of the IVN.

[garmon757]

After all the commotion at Forest Glen, #8198 is finally in service while on #72.

[BusHunter]

12 minutes ago, garmon757 said:

After all the commotion at Forest Glen, #8198 is finally in service while on #72.

Well it was in service last weekend for a whole 2 1/2 hours!! We'll see how long it lasts today.

[BusHunter]

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

Usually the spec is that leave the place to plug in the gps. Question is how many tsp devices has the RTA paid for.

 

No, it doesn't. It says "Clever Devices’ IVN® onboard controller provides a TSP solution." It also provides a whole lot of stuff in the left column, but CTA doesn't have all of them, and was late to get CAD.

Note also what they say about the modular nature of the IVN.

Interesting. Right here on chitransit.org it is stated that CTA buses contain an IVN controller

http://www.chicagobus.org/operations (look under technology)

Whether that is a complete one with TSP, remains to be seen. But you would think with us having a recent Clever Device upgrade it might and we have an operator on here that claims all #7900's do. I guess it remains the question of the hour for now, but it would explain some things like why is Ashland a sea of Novas. It seems unusual to make that route have all the new buses on purpose. It just seems to me a system of circumstance. 

[jajuan]

Guys, Mel Bernero's post from about three weeks ago with the linked notice from the chief transit officer to all 74th operators who work the #9 and #X9 already explained why Ashland has been Nova central for the past month almost, because the new Novas assigned at 74th are the only buses at that garage so far to have TSP. The only question is if this applies only to those Novas or to all 7900 series Novas. Apparently Mr CTA85's statement that all of them do may have truth to it if Chicago lent one out to replace one that had to be taken out of service. As for BH's question of how the equipment works and what the operators have to do, the notice explains that too. And the answer to that is operation is automatic, and the operators have to do nothing extra other than log on at the wheel as they normally do. The system automatically requests signal priority at relevant TSP equipped intersections for NB buses that at 90 secs or more behind schedule and for SB buses that are 60 secs or more behind. The notice says because the operators are doing anything extra, most times operators won't notice the difference in green light duration even though they have in fact may have been given the longer green.

[BusHunter]

Yeah i was reading about some algorithm which stated that the tsp through computerization decides to change the signal based on the bus' speed relative to it's distance. Can't seem to find the formula though. It's something like a bus doing 15 mph 150 feet from an intersection gets a tsp response 100 feet from the intersection.

I don't really see what the other buses could be missing from the #7900's if they all have updated clever devices and an IVN.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

...

I don't really see what the other buses could be missing from the #7900's if they all have updated clever devices and an IVN.

A device to transmit to the receiver on the traffic light standard.

[jajuan]

Well the new Novas didn't have total control of Ashland this morning. There was a small mix of of NFs in place, mainly through the #X9 runs from what I was able to observe. All the Ashland locals still looked to be nothing but Novas.