Pace Bus Moves

[rotjohns]

20 minutes ago, busfan2847 said:

In addition the following buses were at South Holland for disposal on 10/14;

2629, 2630, 2667, 2687, 2718, 2719, 2768, 2773, 2780, 2814, 2817 and 2820

Total 12

So 2621 and 2627 are the last original Fox Valley buses left and if they go down, I doubt they'll be replaced.  Now if the other 2600s  up there retire, then that may be a different story.  

River appears to be set for now until more 22500s come in later since the transfers to them compensated for the loss of some of their buses.

SW and NW:  I didn't see any replacement 2600s so I'm guessing they're going all in on the 40 foot El Dorados.  And since the original route cuts from 2020 appear to be permanent, there's a surplus of those so any more that retire, likely won't hurt too much.

[busfan2847]

49 minutes ago, rotjohns said:

So 2621 and 2627 are the last original Fox Valley buses left and if they go down, I doubt they'll be replaced.  Now if the other 2600s  up there retire, then that may be a different story.  

River appears to be set for now until more 22500s come in later since the transfers to them compensated for the loss of some of their buses.

SW and NW:  I didn't see any replacement 2600s so I'm guessing they're going all in on the 40 foot El Dorados.  And since the original route cuts from 2020 appear to be permanent, there's a surplus of those so any more that retire, likely won't hurt too much.

The 2600s that have appeared in service on the bustracker since June this year are

Niles    2601, 2640-2649

Pace Fox Valley    2621, 2627, 2675-2677, 2688, 2700, 2701, 2704-2706, 2766

Highland Park    2631, 2632-2634, 2636-2639

River     2651-2654, 2658, 2659, 2696, 2702, 2703, 2707-2717, 2720, 2722-2726, 2736-2741, 2765 :- (2714/36 last out in July, 2651 last out August)

Pace North Shore    2655-2657

MV Batavia    2670, 2727-2730, 2732, 2808, 2812

Pace SouthWest    2674, 2785-2789, 2791, 2792, 2815, 2816, 2818, 2819, 2821-2825 :-(2783/8, 2822 last out July, 2823 last out August)

Pace Heritage    2744-2748, 2750-2756, 2758-2764 :-(2746 last out August, 2693 seen out in July as a trainer))

Pace NorthWest    2769, 2771, 2772, 2775-2779, 2781-2784, 2797, 2801 :- (2772 last out June, 2783 last out July)

Pace Heritage    2697, 2698

That is 127 buses out of 223

[Busjack]

33 minutes ago, busfan2847 said:

That is 127 buses out of 223

The other question is how many were assigned to FT and MV for feeders. Other than those on 711, 715, and those reassigned to Divisions, they are sitting somewhere. I haven't closely tracked them, but that has to be 50 something, pretty low mileage.

[busfan2847]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

The other question is how many were assigned to FT and MV for feeders. Other than those on 711, 715, and those reassigned to Divisions, they are sitting somewhere. I haven't closely tracked them, but that has to be 50 something, pretty low mileage.

Pretty close! On the Active Roster for 9/3/2022:-

Naperville FS S2    2600, 2635, 2660/3/4/5/6/8/9, 2670/1/2/3/8/9, 2680/1/2/4/5/7/9, 2691/2/4/5 - 26; (2674 > Pace South West, 2693 > Pace Heritage)

Westmont FS S2    2602/3/4/5, 2650, 2690, 2767, 2793/4/5/6/8/9, 2800/2/3/4/5/6 - 19; (2797, 2801 > Pace North West)

Roneoville MV    2809, 2810/1 - 3; (2807/8/12 > Batavia MV)

TOTAL 48

[rotjohns]

2697 and 2698 are on the 715.  So they've been booted out of Heritage.  Sounds like 2727-2732 are heading to the scraper soon, although 2727 is out now.

 

 

 

 

[rotjohns]

2674 is now at River.  Currently on 548.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

6477 has moved to southwest

[rotjohns]

2744 is on the 715. The Heritage purge is on now.

UPDATE: 2747 also on 715 per Pace tracker. Plus several former Heritage buses have been at SW routes throughout today.

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, rotjohns said:

2744 is on the 715. The Heritage purge is on now.

UPDATE: 2747 also on 715 per Pace tracker. Plus several former Heritage buses have been at SW routes throughout today.

Surprisingly (maybe not so), most of the EZ-Riders on R routes are former NS, although I physically saw 2655 in Wilmette. Also, even more surprisingly, most buses in the morning on 606 are 30 footers, and not the single door 40 footers.

[artthouwill]

30 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Surprisingly (maybe not so), most of the EZ-Riders on R routes are former NS, although I physically saw 2655 in Wilmette. Also, even more surprisingly, most buses in the morning on 606 are 30 footers, and not the single door 40 footers.

30 ft buses in 606?  What times we live in?    I suppose we could see them pop up on the 600 eventually too.

[rotjohns]

11 hours ago, artthouwill said:

30 ft buses in 606?  What times we live in?    I suppose we could see them pop up on the 600 eventually too.

Two potential conclusions: All the Schaumburg businesses must be downsizing or keeping their workers at home either permanently or via hybrid scheduling so ridership is down. Also, isn't it time for midlife rehabbing all of the 6300s at SW and NW? Could be why we're seeing why we're seeing so many 30 footers moving around.

[Busjack]

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

30 ft buses in 606?  What times we live in?    I suppose we could see them pop up on the 600 eventually too.

Probably not. 600 is out of East Dundee, while 606 (except for NW runs) is out of Elgin garage.

46 minutes ago, rotjohns said:

Two potential conclusions: All the Schaumburg businesses must be downsizing or keeping their workers at home either permanently or via hybrid scheduling so ridership is down. Also, isn't it time for midlife rehabbing all of the 6300s at SW and NW? Could be why we're seeing why we're seeing so many 30 footers moving around.

Again, probably not. Although the various electric transition and facilities reports are ambiguous and preliminary, there are still plans to replace the NW fleet by 2026 and certainly the N fleet by then, so there isn't much point to rehabbing 2015 or 2017 year buses. Also, nothing about rehabs has been said at any board meeting, nor has there been any solicitation for rehab components.

[OneofthewillsNW]

NW has had a backlog of problem buses that keep getting thrown into the east lot only to cycle back in service with the same problems.  I could give a laundry list of faults I have encountered on the road in the last two weeks. but I do feel like they are throwing more of the 30's out just to cover for the backlog of work orders and dot inspections. most of the thirtys do work well though the seats are trash for driving. that being said, I have seen a few new buses for the garage, as in they showed up so clean that you could see your reflection on the ceiling.  think they came from west. dont remember the numbers from them though.  I do know that the trip sheets for 606 show 40 ft buses still.  they also just took a few buses out of service to add the new wraps like panara bread or the felco windows. 

[artthouwill]

17 minutes ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

NW has had a backlog of problem buses that keep getting thrown into the east lot only to cycle back in service with the same problems.  I could give a laundry list of faults I have encountered on the road in the last two weeks. but I do feel like they are throwing more of the 30's out just to cover for the backlog of work orders and dot inspections. most of the thirtys do work well though the seats are trash for driving. that being said, I have seen a few new buses for the garage, as in they showed up so clean that you could see your reflection on the ceiling.  think they came from west. dont remember the numbers from them though.  I do know that the trip sheets for 606 show 40 ft buses still.  they also just took a few buses out of service to add the new wraps like panara bread or the felco windows. 

When you say new buses from West,  are you referring to the 6323s ( which are actually OLDER) or the 20400 series New Flyers?    

[OneofthewillsNW]

4 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

When you say new buses from West,  are you referring to the 6323s ( which are actually OLDER) or the 20400 series New Flyers?    

ya they are still 6xxx series axies. with the old gages. we did not get any Flyers at our garage. 

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

ya they are still 6xxx series axies. with the old gages. we did not get any Flyers at our garage. 

For the most part the 6323s have been getting some rest at West since the majority of the buses there are New Flyers. Add to that the driver shortage and that's a recipe for fixing up the 6323s.  Plus all of the buses are kept indoors. 

Maybe Pace should consider swapping W and NW Axxess buses.  Maybe NW will be in line for N 6700s when they go electric  assuming all goes well up there...

[OneofthewillsNW]

21 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

For the most part the 6323s have been getting some rest at West since the majority of the buses there are New Flyers. Add to that the driver shortage and that's a recipe for fixing up the 6323s.  Plus all of the buses are kept indoors. 

Maybe Pace should consider swapping W and NW Axxess buses.  Maybe NW will be in line for N 6700s when they go electric  assuming all goes well up there...

ya, I hopefully we can get more of those to NW, though I will not hold my breath, we are basically running on ducktape and prayers. two buses in two weeks with out working speedos, and many other mechanicals.  also one of the older drivers got stuck in davis for four hours cause of a flat. and one of Thursdays evening 270 full's got delayed cause almost all of the taxis where out of gas and we got sent out late with a spare bus. but the pay is good and everyone is nice to work with so idm for now, more worried  about the customers though. 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

Maybe Pace should consider swapping W and NW Axxess buses. 

Probably at some point, but not clear if it should be now or 2026. (Compare to the Orion VIs, which went from NW to SW to W, instead of more directly.)

As I previously mentioned, if the multicolored signs are an essential part of Pulse branding, they probably have to send a couple of NFs to NW.

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

 Maybe NW will be in line for N 6700s when they go electric  assuming all goes well up there...

That's  not likely, because, at least according to the last transition report, Wheeling garage should open by then, with half CNGs and half BEBs. If the BEBs are not yet available, that may leave open @BusHunter's speculation that NW will have to be split between Wheeling and Des  Plaines garages, but at least 40 some buses would be removed from Des Plaines

1 hour ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

 one of Thursdays evening 270 full's got delayed cause almost all of the taxis where out of gas and we got sent out late with a spare bus

The public comment at the April Pace Board meeting was that the last scheduled SB Pulse bus did not show up, but the rider flagged down the NB bus, which was supposed to go OOS at Golf Mill, and the driver agreed to take him to Jeff Pk. Apparently, Pace has trouble scheduling the missed trips.

[OneofthewillsNW]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

 

The public comment at the April Pace Board meeting was that the last scheduled SB Pulse bus did not show up, but the rider flagged down the NB bus, which was supposed to go OOS at Golf Mill, and the driver agreed to take him to Jeff Pk. Apparently, Pace has trouble scheduling the missed trips.

ya  its pretty rough, thursday  got swapped from 210 to 221 to cover the school trips to maine west which was a good thing cause the second southbound from W and P was standing load when we got them to school.

[alphabetlore1044]

On 4/22/2023 at 2:39 PM, OneofthewillsNW said:

ya  its pretty rough, thursday  got swapped from 210 to 221 to cover the school trips to maine west which was a good thing cause the second southbound from W and P was standing load when we got them to school.

Aw Okay

[Railguy]

What about the #210 passengers did the trip run?

[OneofthewillsNW]

10 hours ago, Railguy said:

What about the #210 passengers did the trip run?

for that timeslot from 540ish to 830 was around 3 to 4 passangers vs the 130 ish pax from the route I picked up though it took one extra hour.

[artthouwill]

16 minutes ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

for that timeslot from 540ish to 830 was around 3 to 4 passangers vs the 130 ish pax from the route I picked up though it took one extra hour.

O believe Melinda Metzger said Pace was still some 200 drivers short, with the largest shortages at NW, W, and SW ( in no particular order).  She didn't break down how short they were at each garage.  I'm certainly surprised that S wasn't on that list considering CTA'S biggest shortages are at 2 if it's 3 south side garages .  Seems like NW has more than driver shortages on its hands.

[Busjack]

4 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

O believe Melinda Metzger said Pace was still some 200 drivers short, with the largest shortages at NW, W, and SW ( in no particular order).  She didn't break down how short they were at each garage.  I'm certainly surprised that S wasn't on that list considering CTA'S biggest shortages are at 2 if it's 3 south side garages .  Seems like NW has more than driver shortages on its hands.

That's about right.

28 minutes ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

for that timeslot from 540ish to 830 was around 3 to 4 passangers vs the 130 ish pax from the route I picked up though it took one extra hour.

That's also the case. In the last two restructurings, Pace proposed dropping 210, but didn't. What might have saved those 210 passengers was that NS does half of 210.

In retrospect, I'm surprised that when Pace made the COVID cuts, including cutting fixed routes 320, 372, and 382, that it didn't cut 210 and the north parts of 422 and 423, but I suppose there were political reasons for not doing so.

Clearly, Pace makes its money off school trips, so it is not going to cut them.

[Railguy]

Keep this up and 210 passengers will go away them cut route.   Cut the trips you cant operate.  Publish realistic schedules, dont take passengers for granted. They could care less if school mids get pref over a senior.  Borders on discrimination