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They're Here (30 ft ElDorado low floors THE 2600s)


pace2322

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My guess, is that for the most part, the new buses may be found on the 907....which is the Oswego-Aurora Metra Shuttle. They have been using vans which have been overloaded and were promised some type of bus because the demand is high.

Aurora never had Chances...Elgin did (at one time). Elgin it seems has dumped the Chances (since the NABI's have come in) and in the meantime have gone back to a having couple of El Dorado's on hand.

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My guess, is that for the most part, the new buses may be found on the 907....which is the Oswego-Aurora Metra Shuttle.

Since this seemed to make sense, I checked it out, but this was being operated using a paratransit vehicle (at least the 5:31 p.m. run today). As far as I could tell, the 4:57 didn't even run.

I guess I'll wait for either the official announcement or a sighting in Niles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys from what i been told.Just about everone will get the new ElDorados. West has line 3 so far and fox has some.South might get 4 of them that whai i been told and northwest will will 5 or so.Just donr forgot this is what pace wants to do with them as of today.U knowhow that is. Who know there might send all of them to south lol.And as if now there are 19 of them.

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We need more details on what routes they are on, since this is now just chasing a "needle in a haystack." Not rumour where they will be.

Also, if Pace has received 19, that is in excess of the budget [2006 Budget, page 47], but that isn't the first time that has happened.

Any fleet numbers yet?

And what about replacing the Chances and contractor 2000s?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I remember Grover (or was it the Cookie Monster) playing the There...Here game on Sesame Street. After making two trips to the Fox Valley area, I can report the following observations:

  • Were they on the 907 Oswego shuttle? No, that is covered by either a paratransit bus or a VIP van.
  • Were they on the 921 Geneva shuttle? No, that was covered by a 6600 (in fact 6600 today).
  • Were they on the 535 Fox Valley Shuttle? No, that is apparently covered by paratransit vehicle 5514, which has a bike rack (it isn't marked as such, but pulls into Fox Valley Mall at the scheduled times, although it didn't seem to have any passengers the two times I was there).
  • Is it on something else that is in regular Aurora service at the Transit Center? No, as DSorrell mentioned, that all seems to be 6600s.

    • Are they in the South Holland yard? No, as of 6/24, when I saw the scrap Orion VI there (as well as 8723 still being around), although I have no way of knowing if they were stored on the inside.
    • Are they in Niles to replace the Chances? No as of last weekend.
      I don't want to get hot like I did with sw, but I wonder about the veracity of this report. I don't live in Aurora, but I think they should have showed up somewhere if they were in service.
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  • 2 weeks later...

My guess, is that for the most part, the new buses may be found on the 907....which is the Oswego-Aurora Metra Shuttle. They have been using vans which have been overloaded and were promised some type of bus because the demand is high.

The last Pace newsletter (last week) stated that since Route 907 has been so successful that 2 35 footers will be used on the route starting next month. More than likely NABI's and not El Dorado's, but better than the vans currently being used.

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While possibly NABIs (see more speculation under Pace bus shuffle) might also be left over 2000s, since Route 714 is also starting on August 7, and while the schedule indicates 5 buses will be needed, the description on Naperville's site is clear that they do not want to run it with school buses. CMAQ is paying for this, but it is not now clear whether this will be a contractor route or what equipment will be used.

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NABI's would be the bus, as the Oswego route is run out of Fox Valley and they don't have any more Orions.

All of the Naperville routes are operated by Vancom, which is why, I am sure it was specified by that the powers that be that they don't want school buses. Pace has given Vancom Naperville a few 2000's and they can be seen running on the Parking Lot Shuttle route (from the 95th street church lot to the Route 59 Station). I would imagine that Pace would just dump some of the crummiest stuff they have down there to run the route. That is what they do any way....all the buses that the contractors have are beat up and are barely maintained....always have been. Some of the 2050 series buses that were at some of the Vancom facilities running on the feeder routes were the worst buses in the Pace fleet !!!!!! I don't think that'll change much.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The new posting for 714 says that it is being run by Pace Fox Valley Division. I guess we'll have to wait until Monday to see what they run, but it is hard to see how Fox will come up with 7 more buses for 714 and 907, unless the cutbacks in the restructuring process were that severe.

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I went on a bus hawk trip to Wheaton today, and can report the following:

* 714 is being run with a combination of 2500s and 6600s. The three I saw were 2521

post-14-1168983655_thumb.jpg,

2553, and 6608. None with working electronic signs, although 2553 had a paper one.

*715 also seems to be using buses transferred from elsewhere--2273 and 2299

post-14-1168983746_thumb.jpg

are still running here.

pace2322: Maybe you can inform your friend at Fox that there is a difference between getting 3 recycled white and yellow ElDorado 2500s from North Shore and saying that the new, blue 2600s are at Fox.

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  • 2 months later...

Moving into the Future finally says:

Pace has started to take delivery of 222 thirty-foot ElDorado E-Z Rider II buses that will be used throughout the six-county service area.  Riders can start looking for the new buses in the Aurora area as soon as next week. ... After the initial rollout in the Aurora area, the second set of new ElDorados are headed for north Cook County, including Highland Park and Niles, as well as McHenry County, later this year.  The entire delivery should be complete by March 2007.
Apparently Pace does intend to replace the Chances in Niles and McHenry, but also is going to move some 6600s (if mentioning Highland Park is any indication). Whether the 2600s will be used in Aurora on current routes displacing more 6600s, or to permanently equip 714, we'll have to see. But apparently not River, at first. Your Aurora source was only 4 months premature.

A couple of other goodies:

The newsletter has a picture of the seats with Pace's logo in the fabric, so your rear is in for a treat.[attachment=193]

The newsletter also contained a link to Bus Ride Magazine, which says that:

As of now Pace is beginning to take delivery of the first of 102 new 30-foot E-Z Rider II buses from ElDorado National, Riverside, CA. The agency says it will take 20 to 25 weeks for the full order to be delivered.
That's a few more than the 96 of the base order, but based on the budgets, there are only funds for about 56. Where the mystery capital money developed is beyond me.
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