City of Phoenix and Valley Metro RPTA bus fleet updates

Pink Jazz · November 3, 2014

It looks like the Phoenix City Council and the Valley Metro RPTA Board of Directors are ready to finalize the contracts with Gillig, New Flyer, and ElDorado National, and here is some information that I read about:

The City of Phoenix will be taking 80 Gillig CNGs in FY 2015. This is probably to replace the remaining 1998 and all 1999 NABI 40-LFW LNG buses.
The RPTA and/or the City of Tempe will be taking three Gillig CNGs and three New Flyer XN60s in FY 2015 for fleet expansion. This is probably just for they can get familiar with them before taking more in the future.
In FY 2016, the RPTA and/or the City of Tempe will be taking 8 additional New Flyer XN60s. This is probably to replace Tempe's 2004 NABI 45C-LFW fleet.
In FY 2018, the RPTA and/or the City of Tempe will be taking 52 Gillig CNGs and 10 New Flyer XN60s, probably to replace the RPTA's 2006 New Flyer C40LFRs and NABI 60-BRT CNGs, respectively.
All orders for the RPTA and/or the City of Tempe will be for CNG buses; it looks like only Phoenix will be getting some diesels.
The City of Phoenix will also be taking four 30-foot ElDorado buses (probably E-Z Rider II MAX), likely to replace the existing ElDorado EZ Rider IIs on Route 19C, but no date or fuel type was given. There are also options for an additional four.

BTW, I expect the three Gilligs will probably be for the RPTA and will be based at Mesa, in order to prepare drivers at the yard for the future deliveries in FY 2018 for they can get familiar with them. The three New Flyer XN60s could go either way, since both Tempe and Mesa will probably get some in the future (Tempe to replace the 2004 NABI 45C-LFWs and Mesa to replace the 2006 NABI 60-BRTs).

Now there is one mystery about the Gillgs: will the wheelchair ramp be at the front or rear door? One thing that is certain is that all three wheelchair positions will be forward of the rear door like on the 2006 C40LFRs and 2007 D40LFRs, since Gillig refused to move the rear door forward one position to have two wheelchair positions aft of the rear door. Currently, most Valley Metro buses have their wheelchair lifts in the rear door, however, the Scottsdale Trolley Gillig hybrids have them in the front door.