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

[Busjack]

I saw 2652 on the 210 Friday I am suprised to see it running on that route. They will use the 2600s on regular routes and use the REAL buses orions and classics on the shuttle bugs that does not make sense to me.

If you were up here, it would make more sense. 210 was about killed during the North Shore restructuring. On the other hand, some of the Shuttle Bugs (especially 631 Discover/Wolters Kluwer) run about full. With North Shore having (in 2006) fewer 2500s than they used to, there probably are some shuttle bugs that run a larger bus than they need, and we will have to see if that changes in the next few months. On the other hand, as I previously mentioned, routes like 422 and probably 210 probably don't need anything larger than a 2600 (except for school trips). Maybe even 421 and 423 (a full sized bus is way too big to go down Elm Street in Winnetka). If we extrapolate from other posts that North Shore gets 2650 to 2665, that is too few by my standards, but I had previously surmised that it would get more 6600s, such as from Highland Park.

If you wanted to see a real motley group of buses, it was 215 in about 2003. A 2500 would be followed by a Classic and then an Orion.

Another weird sighting--2125 on a Braeside Shuttle Bug, but it looked pretty full.

[Busjack]

Today's Moving into the Future says, as part of its Naperville improvements with financial support by that city, that new blue 30-foot buses are an upgrade from the school buses being used on feeder routes in Naperville. Will have to check that out.

[Busjack]

I saw 2652 on the 210 friday I am suprised to see it running on that route.

Seen it on various routes up here the past couple of days. On Tuesday it was on 624 Glen Shuttle, and today it was on 422 (on the run that usually has a 6262).

[jesi2282]

As of this Monday the 2600's will now be used on routes in Naperville!!!

[Archon]

Here guys there 30 ft??Elsorado are here.Fox valley Has 3 so far in serivice.

Will there be Eldorados on route 81W at night? souch a short route and not very busy

[jesi2282]

No, the #81W is a CTA route, not a Pace route.

[CTA 9537]

I saw 2655 on one of the Lake Cook shuttle bugs today.

[pace2322]

Knock on wood Niles should be getting their 2600s soon

[Busjack]

As I previously indicated, I knew someone in Niles who wouldn't ride the Free Bus to the library or to the Dominick's going out of business sale, the excuse (since it couldn't be the fare) was that "I can't climb the stairs" (not true, but whatever). That should soon be eliminated, but I am waiting for a new one.

[Busjack]

Attached are some pictures in Naperville. They had buses in the range of 2668 to 2693 (no assurance from me that this is inclusive).

A political quandry: A notice was posted on the station door that the Naperville City Council had scheduled a meeting for March 3, 2007 to decide whether to appropriate funds for Pace to improve the Fort Hill Express and local service, and if it passed, Pace would be providing new buses on April 2. I wonder about the "if it passes" contingency, since Pace already had the buses.

Also, if Naperville is getting about 26 buses, that doesn't leave that many to replace what's left of 2000s and the like. Of course, Highland Park is still owed 3 (2633, 2635 (r.i.p.?) and 2636), still having as of last Friday 6679 and 6684. 2656 to about 2665 are not accounted for yet. Niles should get 10 (2640 to 2649) and McHenry about 8 to replace the 1920s.

A quick aside: Naperville also had 2318.

[pace2322]

Naperville has ten or more 2300s. All of them were the south ones i know there have 2317 there i want it back so much. Also there not alot of 2600s left at south holland there about 25 or less there now.

[Busjack]

2636 now in HP, apparently in trade for 6684. 6679 still on its p.m. run, apparently waiting for 2633.

[Busjack]

2633 is in HP, so depending on 2635's fate, that is about it for HP.

Also, the storage cage at the Lake Cook Metra station is back up, and 2651, 2652, 2658, 2659, 2663, and 2664 were in it at various times.

[Busjack]

Might have spoke too soon; 6679 is still in HP.

[pace2322]

Well it looks like niles is getting there buses now.

[pace2322]

West also has 2665.

[Busjack]

From what i been told North Shore has some 2600s. ... .As for river getting them there will be the last.

From the prior post, the allocations seem to be sorting out; however, not as expected.

We know that Aurora has 2600 to 2631, Highland Park received 2632-2639 (except 2635 pending it being repaired or whatever), there is a Niles logo on 2640-2649, 2650 to 2664 are for North Shore, 2665 and 2666 are at West, and approximately 2668 to 2693 are in Naperville. Both Moving into the Future issues of October 19, 2006 and February 1, 2007 said that McHenry is supposed to get some; to replace their RT-52, it appears that most of the remaining ones would go there.

The Feb. 1 one said that Des Plaines was due for replacements, but they didn't mention North Shore, and probably don't know the difference.

There might be one or two to replace 2500s on routes such as 674 or 712, but I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.

Based on the above, I have serious doubt that any other divisions (such as River or Heritage) will be getting them. If North Shore gets 15, that will probably free up some of their 2272s or 6600s, as that would be about as many 2600s as 2500s they had at their peak, but not recently, as full sized buses replaced many on the shuttle routes.

[pace2322]

The Niles 2600s are running now.

[Busjack]

The Niles 2600s are running now.

I'll have to check it out; they weren't on Saturday (around noon).

[Guest metralink]

From the prior post, the allocations seem to be sorting out; however, not as expected.

The Feb. 1 one said that Des Plaines was due for replacements, but they didn't mention North Shore, and probably don't know the difference.

please explain what you mean? who doesn't know the differnence between NS and Des Plaines? I'm taking it you mean Northwest Division?

[Busjack]

I mean whoever writes the Moving into the Future newsletter. While the newsletter said Des Plaines was in line for replacement buses, Northwest Division, which is in Des Plaines, apparently didn't get any 2600s (and the only place where Northwest previously ran an ElDorado on a route still in existence was Mt. Prospect on 694). On the other hand, the newsletter never mentioned any town served by the North Shore garage. If they didn't want to give the impression that the new buses were going into Evanston where the North Shore garage is located, they could have mentioned that the Shuttle Bug routes in the Deerfield area were due to get some 2600s.

This is the second time that Pace's PR flacks ignored North Shore. They said in 2003 that the first blue (NABI) buses were going to West division, but 6262-6267, which were the first, went to North Shore.

Those brains also said in the first release about 2600s that Highland Park was in north Cook County instead of Lake, but I think someone here had a way to finesse that.

P.S. When you quote, be sure to copy both the beginning and end tags.

[trainman8119]

I go through Niles every day, and still haven't seen anything but Chance's.

That is not to say they (2600's) aren't there, possibly getting further prepped, but they

definitely (as of today) have not been operational there.

[Busjack]

Not there as of 3:50 today. The flip signs on the 3 1920s were all broken.

[Busjack]

Both the banter and the Pace press releases were wrong about when Niles and Highland Park would start operating [2600s], and we'll see again this afternoon if they are in operation in Niles yet.

Nope, as of 1-2p.m. today. In fact, Niles is running some Chances that do not have Niles decals: 1923, 1924 (what a soot bucket) and 1926. Thus, if the ones Colonial received had "Niles Free Bus" decals, Pace must have swapped those buses for the ones indicated--not 2600s.

[Busjack]

As I mentioned elsewhere, I rode 2658 on a run (route 423) that is usually covered by 2274s. It seemed to do the job fine. One advantage of the 30 foot bus is that it only has one Transit TV. A disadvantage was that when I got on and off, there was someone else doing the opposite, which means someone has to wait because there is only one door.

I also noted that the buses have a plexiglas panel on the inside of each of the lower windows. This was noticeable because the bottoms had partially popped out. The idea seemed similar to a storm window; do other series have this?

I also verified that the top of the front wheel well was at a similar height as the seats that lift for the wheelchair positions, and hence could have been used for additional seats, bringing the capacity to 33. However, the left wheel well cover was used for the driver's locker, and the right one as a place for the schedule rack and to place a recycling bin (a good idea).

One of the gears sounded a bit raspy.

Also strange was that the IBS public service announcement was for the drivers to check the bus for lost items when reaching the terminal. The IBS display hung from the ceiling, instead of being mounted above the windshield on the headsign access panel.

It still feels strange that one doesn't have to step up when boarding the bus. It was also strange that the first two blue vehicles I saw were a Dodge Sprinter and a semi truck, but the third one, with the orange near the top, was my bus.

Finally, 1936 was at the bus stop at Niles (the no change message is admittedly repetitive).