mel bernero Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 CTA has wrapped another Nova, 8116 for Northwestern Medicine. Here it is at Grand-Nordica Terminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 On 8248, the rearmost seats are now upholstered but the other seats are still all plastic. And no, I didn't photoshop this...lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 18 hours ago, dann said: On 8248, the rearmost seats are now upholstered but the other seats are still all plastic. And no, I didn't photoshop this...lol! Possibly a sign that eventually 8200-8249 will get cloth inserts in the future... we'll have to wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 3 hours ago, sw4400 said: Possibly a sign that eventually 8200-8249 will get cloth inserts in the future... we'll have to wait and see. All that it would take is changing the inserts, not the shells. The strange thing here is that the shell is gray, not blue, so something else happened here. Compare to the usual Freedman Gemini seats on CTA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethebusman Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Rear seat was replaced for some reason. Maybe shell cracked. whatever. Entirely new shell plus inserts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethan2226 Posted August 27, 2017 Report Share Posted August 27, 2017 The grey shells are the proprietary Nova Bus molded thermoplastic seating area above the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel bernero Posted September 10, 2017 Report Share Posted September 10, 2017 Nova 8144 has been given a partial wrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 Board to consider "Option 2" tomorrow for additional buses. This should be for 25 more buses. http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/agendas_minutes/Oct2017_-_FAB_Web_Agenda.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 1 hour ago, Tcmetro said: Board to consider "Option 2" tomorrow for additional buses. This should be for 25 more buses. http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/agendas_minutes/Oct2017_-_FAB_Web_Agenda.pdf To wait over a year to vote on approving 25 40' buses is completely stupid. That would be like CTA ordered 6400-6859 and decided to get 6860-6883 in late 2003 for 2004 instead of 2002. Personally, I hope it's dropped. If it was 100 buses, it would be prudent, otherwise it's a waste of taxpayer money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 Well at least fg can retire a few more #6400s. They aren't getting any newer and who knows when cta is getting electric buses. Maybe the fire on #700 has something to do with this if we want to read tea leaves. Perhaps the electric bus procurement is delayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted October 10, 2017 Report Share Posted October 10, 2017 I think that this purchase has been planned for a while, the timing is probably due to funding flows and retirement schedules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 11, 2017 Report Share Posted October 11, 2017 6 hours ago, Tcmetro said: I think that this purchase has been planned for a while, the timing is probably due to funding flows and retirement schedules. It was in both the 2016 and 2017 budgets, and nothing happened. Even if the procurement were posted tomorrow, nothing would be received until 2019. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/10/2017 at 9:17 PM, Busjack said: It was in both the 2016 and 2017 budgets, and nothing happened. Even if the procurement were posted tomorrow, nothing would be received until 2019. I'm guessing this would have to do with getting CTA added to the existing production schedule amidst the other TAs that would be on NOVA Bus's schedule since this being an option, they would not have to go through the contract bid phase of the the procurement process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/10/2017 at 2:29 PM, BusHunter said: Perhaps the electric bus procurement is delayed. 2 hours ago, jajuan said: I'm guessing this would have to do with getting CTA added to the existing production schedule amidst the other TAs that would be on NOVA Bus's schedule since this being an option, they would not have to go through the contract bid phase of the the procurement process. I'm presuming that the antecedent is "electric bus," in which the existing contract with Nova is irrelevant. You might be referring to the Nova contract being for 450 buses and only 425 ordered, and while it was indicated in the 2016 budget that CTA might order those buses, it was not indicated in the 2017 budget.Clearly, any electric bus would have to go through the procurement process. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER. Something just happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Busjack said: I'm presuming that the antecedent is "electric bus," in which the existing contract with Nova is irrelevant. You might be referring to the Nova contract being for 450 buses and only 425 ordered, and while it was indicated in the 2016 budget that CTA might order those buses, it was not indicated in the 2017 budget.Clearly, any electric bus would have to go through the procurement process. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER. Something just happened. Ah I see where we're getting our wires crossed. Tcmetro's post above that this present string of responses revolve around appeared to be speaking of the option for the up to 25 extra buses that would bring the 7900s roster up to 8349 from the present last bus 8324. The electric buses were only mentioned as far as their possibly being delayed to answer the immediate unspoken question of why the CTA board now has those last 25 Novas on its present agenda for consideration. In that case it shouldn't take until 2019 to get them since we'd still be talking about the current Nova contract and not the yet to be bidded and awarded electric bus contract as you were thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 1 hour ago, jajuan said: since we'd still be talking about the current Nova contract Going back, the contract was awarded in Jan. 2013, so, theoretically the 5 years to exercise that option hasn't expired yet. However, unlike Pace, it appears to take CT Board approval to exercise an option, which hasn't been put on the board agenda yet. Thus, while it is theoretically possible, the advertisement for the electric buses indicates that CTA is going in a different direction. Maybe the 2018 budget will shed some light on this. Update: In light of @Tcmetro's post below and that it was on the Oct 11 agenda, I must have missed it.* ______ *Being out of town, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 Press release says late 2018 delivery. http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?Month=&Year=&Category=2&ArticleId=3703 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Busjack said: Going back, the contract was awarded in Jan. 2013, so, theoretically the 5 years to exercise that option hasn't expired yet. However, unlike Pace, it appears to take CT Board approval to exercise an option, which hasn't been put on the board agenda yet. Thus, while it is theoretically possible, the advertisement for the electric buses indicates that CTA is going in a different direction. Maybe the 2018 budget will shed some light on this. Update: In light of @Tcmetro's post below and that it was on the Oct 11 agenda, I must have missed it.* ______ *Being out of town, I guess. Yeah CTA is waiting for the latest possible moment to buy those 25 buses from Nova. I have said and I still say it had budget problems cause the electrics are expensive, they are the Rolls Royce of buses. 25 buses is at least 30-35 million. 25 buses from nova are probably 15-20 million. Now they will have buses that are newer than 90 percent of that fleet. If they are retired together they are wasting money there. Let's just hope the electrics don't go up in smoke literally. They had two buses, one caught on fire, now they have a 1500 percent increase that it might happen again. (Due to the 15X multiplication of the electric fleet) CTA needs to think this through and maybe if it's built right they'll be OK, but a million dollars is alot of kindling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 24 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Yeah CTA is waiting for the latest possible moment to buy those 25 buses from Nova. The confluence of the two developments (ordering the 25 buses and putting out the request for the electric buses) only indicates to me that CTA finally decided to go ahead on what they said about 18 months ago. What delayed them, I don't know, unless it was to be either the diesels or electrics, but it turned out to be both. 24 minutes ago, BusHunter said: I have said and I still say it had budget problems cause the electrics are expensive Not wholly relevant, as the CMAQ grant pays the difference between the cost of a diesel and an electric bus. Again, why CTA waited 18 months or so to act on the CMAQ grant, I don't know, but obviously the CMAQ grant was for a specific purpose, and this became a use it or lose it situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 I don't know cta has been dragging its feet on a lot of bus contracts lately. The #4000's still are not rehabbing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 20 minutes ago, BusHunter said: The #4000's still are not rehabbing? That contract was let on 5/10/17. Why don't you go to NPower and see what's going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 So #8305 lost its cubs wrap. This is a bad omen (for tonight) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 18, 2017 Report Share Posted October 18, 2017 20 hours ago, BusHunter said: Yeah CTA is waiting for the latest possible moment to buy those 25 buses from Nova. One thing illustrated here is the cost of waiting, due to the price escalator in the contract. The Novas were originally $488K each. Taking the number in the press release ($14 million), these come to $560K/bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny 5 Posted October 18, 2017 Report Share Posted October 18, 2017 You think it would be the new LFSe, LFS HEV or LFS Artic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 18, 2017 Report Share Posted October 18, 2017 39 minutes ago, Johnny 5 said: You think it would be the new LFSe, LFS HEV or LFS Artic? The same thing as the previous 425 buses. It is the same contract, the procurement for artics went nowhere, and the press release said clean diesel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.