Pace Bus Moves

[BusHunter]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

N isn't running school trips now.

 

You seem to have missed all the blue NABIs still running there, as well as a number of 6600s. Look at Webwatch (or directly) during a weekday rush hour.

I did. Maybe I missed the tri state flyer but that's not 30 buses. 

So north only uses the #6162's for school trips? Interesting then what replaces those #6600's. Eldorkos? Ultimately those are next on the horizon to go, but it seems to have slipped Pace's mind that they still have orions. 

[Busjack]

7 hours ago, BusHunter said:

I did. Maybe I missed the tri state flyer but that's not 30 buses. 

The appearances of 6162-6261s are down, but the inventory shows 21 of the 6268-6320 range assigned to S, and those are still reflected on Webwatch.

pace 6268s.xlsx

Take what 6162s and 6600s are still shown on Webwatch for S, and 30 is certainly in reach.

7 hours ago, BusHunter said:

So north only uses the #6162's for school trips?

Not directly what I said, but it not being school time reflects the following:

• The big buildup of buses at N about 2011 was because the school district agreed to buy bus passes. Prior to that, Pace had cut routes such as 566 and 573, but reinstated those routes and put all the school trip notations on the other schedules only because of that agreement.
• Pretty much the only demand for a bigger bus would be for Great America. Mitigating that need are the G trips only between Great America and Downtown Waukegan.

7 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Interesting then what replaces those #6600's. Eldorkos

The budget said 35' and 40' buses, but like most inexplicable things these days, the year is over half over and about nothing has been done as indicated in the 2017 budget (either to move on that procurement or the small buses to displace the 30 foot ones).

[Busjack]

On 7/22/2017 at 6:47 PM, BusHunter said:

Funny though if South still has 40 CNGs coming what do they need them for? Really they probably only need 10 more.

As I indicated, look at WebWatch as I just did. It reflects the following:

S NABIs.xls

Doesn't look exhaustive of what has been out recently, but reflects 24 NABIs.

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, Busjack said:

As I indicated, look at WebWatch as I just did. It reflects the following:

S NABIs.xls

Doesn't look exhaustive of what has been out recently, but reflects 24 NABIs.

Hmm... where did you get that list. It looks official. Those 24 were in service or is that some type of document saying what's at south? Cause I swear I saw under 10 in service. 

[Busjack]

12 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Hmm... where did you get that list. It looks official. Those 24 were in service or is that some type of document saying what's at south? Cause I swear I saw under 10 in service. 

Where I said I did.Where I twice said I did.

[Busjack]

On 7/13/2017 at 11:21 AM, rotjohns said:

Checking Webwatch during the 5pm rush yesterday, these 6162s and 6600s were not out at South based on the latest roster there:

6162, 6163, 6165-66, 6171-72, 6176, 6178-6181, 6183-84, 6187, 6190-91, 6193 (this bus I physically saw last Saturday so I know it's still around), 6194, 6196-98, 6200-6202, 6205, 6207 (wonder if this is still a Sox wrapped bus), 6209, 6212, 6215, 6221, 6241 (saw this one physically on Saturday also), 6245, 6250.

6600s - 6622, 6642, 6646, 6649, 6663, 6676.

Think it's safe to assume that 6245 and 6250 are still out there, they're newer than the rest.  Some of these obviously would be spares (every single 15500 and 17500 were out yesterday including 17528), but I'd wonder if this is the beginning of the end for most of these buses?

 

Edit:  6646, 6649, 6181, & 6207 are out today (Friday 7/14 at 5:30 rush).  Surprisingly, no 6245 or 6250.  Interesting.

19 hours ago, Busjack said:

As I indicated, look at WebWatch as I just did.

I'll add, combining the two comments, especially @rotjohns's red, is that the only correct inferences are that it takes at least 72 buses to run S local routes at 5:00 p.m., and probably more as 362 isn't going yet, 355 is building, and OUT OF SERVICE and TO GARAGE don't register on WebWatch. One curious thing is that when I looked at 355, first there was one and a few minutes later two buses, but I had already accounted for the second elsewhere.

One also has to figure that the spares are NABIs, as the CNGs appear all out, as you noted, and hence the spare ratio undoubtedly exceeds the usual 15%. One would also have to figure whether the UPS trip buses were back.

I'll attempt to approach @BusHunter by saying that it may be up in the air whether the 91 buses include moving the 8 express buses to another division. I tend to doubt it, but who knows?

 

[BusHunter]

Yeah but we are now going into the discussion of whether they need 91 new buses. Do you need a high spare ratio now? 71 should do them fine but they'll have 91. They'll probably get them all because no one else has a cng facility. I don't think they'll keep the express buses. Probably North shore will end up with them for the #626 and future Edens BOS service. #6600's or other NABI's there could become retirement/trade bait

Didn't Busjack say #6250 was sold or something. (I really need to update this roster)

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Probably North shore will end up with them for the #626 and future Edens BOS service. 

If I were doing any betting, to I-55 so as to send the Pulse buses to Pulse.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Didn't Busjack say #6250 was sold or something. (I really need to update this roster)

It was on the recent list.

[BusHunter]

Yeah, the Pace roster has been updated with those changes. Many of those buses on the list were on my junk list as already junked but there were a few surprises. 7 orions gone from nw, 3 orions from west, but they are still hanging on to quite a bit with just 40 Axess' remaining.

[Busjack]

2686  was on 554 at NWTC, so  it must have been moved from FV to R.

[qwantae]

On 7/27/2017 at 6:10 AM, BusHunter said:

Yeah, the Pace roster has been updated with those changes. Many of those buses on the list were on my junk list as already junked but there were a few surprises. 7 orions gone from nw, 3 orions from west, but they are still hanging on to quite a bit with just 40 Axess' remaining.

So how many are left of Orions at West and NW at this point?

[busfan2847]

16 hours ago, Busjack said:

2686  was on 554 at NWTC, so  it must have been moved from FV to R.

Yes it has been there at least since January 2017.

[BusHunter]

12 hours ago, qwantae said:

So how many are left of Orions at West and NW at this point?

According to my roster 13 left at nw, 29 left at West. Don't know how they'll replace nw's orions, (maybe with eldorkos from somewhere or Axess from West) Maybe west gets 40 nabi's from south.

[Busjack]

34 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

According to my roster 13 left at nw,

That, though, would mean that getting 6514-6521 meant nothing, which is possible. Last time we took count, 6510-6521 and 6566-6572 would have taken care of it.

[rotjohns]

On 7/29/2017 at 6:16 PM, Busjack said:

2686  was on 554 at NWTC, so  it must have been moved from FV to R.

Could this be the beginning of the end for the 6600s at River and they're moved somewhere else or retired?  Interesting.

I also noticed 3 strange sightings last Wednesday.  In the Glen Ellyn area, came across #2814 running the #895 around 5:30pm with not a single person on it on I-355.  Is that normal for those buses to run on 355 when they are empty?  

Then, about 2 hours later, came across #2730 heading to a garage on Roosevelt Road, also in Glen Ellyn.  Isn't that bus at River?

Then, an hour later, #2701 was running "not in service" on 22nd street in Lombard heading to Yorktown Mall.  I followed it to see if it was going to change to a route that would've shocked us all as that bus is from FV, but then it left Yorktown and headed back West on 22nd street, continuing to state "not in service."  It wasn't a training bus and only one driver was on board from what I saw.  Not sure what to make of that either.

[Pace831]

1 hour ago, rotjohns said:

Could this be the beginning of the end for the 6600s at River and they're moved somewhere else or retired?  Interesting.

I also noticed 3 strange sightings last Wednesday.  In the Glen Ellyn area, came across #2814 running the #895 around 5:30pm with not a single person on it on I-355.  Is that normal for those buses to run on 355 when they are empty?  

Then, about 2 hours later, came across #2730 heading to a garage on Roosevelt Road, also in Glen Ellyn.  Isn't that bus at River?

Then, an hour later, #2701 was running "not in service" on 22nd street in Lombard heading to Yorktown Mall.  I followed it to see if it was going to change to a route that would've shocked us all as that bus is from FV, but then it left Yorktown and headed back West on 22nd street, continuing to state "not in service."  It wasn't a training bus and only one driver was on board from what I saw.  Not sure what to make of that either.

First one: It is common for the express via 355 trips to have few if any riders. I've suggested before they should either all stop at Rosemont or add stops along 22nd in the Oak Brook area.

Second one: Both BusHunter's roster and Andre's inventory show that bus at MV Batavia.

Third one: I don't have an explanation. Do you mean it just turned around and went back the same way it just came from? Did it spend any length of time stopped at the mall?

I'll add my three "strange" sightings:

Tuesday 7/18, 2:45 PM: 2751 getting off NB I-55 to go north on Weber Rd, "Not in Service", run 604, driver wearing a maroon shirt. 2751 was running on 832 two days later.

Thursday 7/27, 11:15 AM, a 30' bus EB on Schweitzer Road approaching IL 53 in Joliet. Only plausible explanation I could think of is a 504 driver missed the turn onto Laraway and had to turn around.

Friday 7/28, 11:00 AM, Either 6370 or 6570 EB on I-80 near Harlem Av, destination sign said "Maintenance". Possibly going from Chandler to South Holland. I did see a "63??" at Chandler recently so maybe that was it.

[rotjohns]

Regarding 2701, yes it was stopped at Yorktown for about 3 minutes before it headed back west on 22nd.

2730: I just realized that is one of the buses that runs 709, 711, or 715. It probably was coming from Addison. 

[Busjack]

11 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Could this be the beginning of the end for the 6600s at River and they're moved somewhere else or retired?

It would be more a function of 6390-1 and 6559-63 on 606 and 616, but there's still 6623 at the moment. Maybe more a function that 2702-2741 are probably due for rehab.

11 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Then, about 2 hours later, came across #2730 heading to a garage on Roosevelt Road, also in Glen Ellyn.  Isn't that bus at River?

2727-2735 have always been MV, on the Wheaton-Lombard contract (674-709-711-715).

11 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Then, an hour later, #2701 was running "not in service" on 22nd street in Lombard heading to Yorktown Mall.

That and 2700 are shown on the inventory as  FV. Was transferred from Downers Grove (First Student Westmont) as part of the DuPage Restructuring, so, undoubtedly was on 722.

.

[rotjohns]

On 7/29/2017 at 6:16 PM, Busjack said:

2686  was on 554 at NWTC, so  it must have been moved from FV to R.

2610 has also moved to River.  It's on the #540 right now on Webwatch.

[Pace831]

Monday at 12:50 PM I saw 6511 WB on I-80 approaching I-355, said "Training Bus"

[rotjohns]

12 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

Monday at 12:50 PM I saw 6511 WB on I-80 approaching I-355, said "Training Bus"

Look at Webwatch now, it's on Route #850.

[Pace831]

2 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Look at Webwatch now, it's on Route #850.

Not surprising that it's in servicetoday, I was actually wondering why it was there for "training" since that isn't the usual deadhead route. I suppose they could have been avoiding traffic.

[ethan2226]

Bus #6510 (Pulse Bus) is on the 208. Moved from Heritage to Northwest.

[Pace831]

6 hours ago, ethan2226 said:

Bus #6510 (Pulse Bus) is on the 208. Moved from Heritage to Northwest.

I thought I saw it in person earlier so thanks for confirming. Undoubtedly it has been replaced by the new MCIs.