600-series Proterra BE40/ZX5 - Updates

[BusHunter]

8 hours ago, strictures said:

That Faively pantograph is a lot taller than the thin trolley poles the streetcars & trolley buses had.

The old electric buses make me wonder how they ever went under the viaducts, because the electric wires had to do the same along with the trolley poles. probably the fact that the new buses are low floor in design makes them more capable on clearance issues but the the old electric buses were high floor.

[andrethebusman]

Clearances were a big issue in TT days. About 6 to 9 inches below bridge. Many cases wires were placed close to curb so center of underpass had more clearance. Remember however that in 1940s trucks were only about 10 foot tall. 13'6" is only from about 1980s, and for years big rigs had severe restrictions moving around the city. Many had to follow very indirect routings.

[MrH345]

This is an interesting development I wonder how this will effect the CTA’s timeline 

https://whyy.org/articles/phillys-entire-fleet-of-battery-powered-buses-has-been-mia-since-february/?fbclid=IwAR3rulF89MgFyAA-uUe0YSYzUmmMs37CKyQhV-LxKHMTPAs5L7mQbX1zAnQ

[NewFlyerMCI]

46 minutes ago, MrH345 said:

This is an interesting development I wonder how this will effect the CTA’s timeline 

https://whyy.org/articles/phillys-entire-fleet-of-battery-powered-buses-has-been-mia-since-february/?fbclid=IwAR3rulF89MgFyAA-uUe0YSYzUmmMs37CKyQhV-LxKHMTPAs5L7mQbX1zAnQ

Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I returned to Philly for college only to find out I wouldn't be able to get a chance to ride. What they also don't say is that Philly's PCC streetcar fleet has been sidelined as well, although that was back in March. Philly's trolleybus fleet has also been seeing reduced usage from the couple of times I've been in the area to ride one.

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, MrH345 said:

This is an interesting development I wonder how this will effect the CTA’s timeline 

https://whyy.org/articles/phillys-entire-fleet-of-battery-powered-buses-has-been-mia-since-february/?fbclid=IwAR3rulF89MgFyAA-uUe0YSYzUmmMs37CKyQhV-LxKHMTPAs5L7mQbX1zAnQ

Cracked frames?  Maybe that's a hold on with Proterras ' CTA order.  How are the Prudential/Aon Proterras holding up?

[YoungBusLover]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Cracked frames?  Maybe that's a hold on with Proterras ' CTA order.  How are the Prudential/Aon Proterras holding up?

The Prudential shuttles seem to be holding up fine even though I haven't seen the usual number of them as of late that I normally see. I wonder if #600 is still in CTAs possession at this point. If they've been notified of these potential problems I wonder what there next move will be. 

[BusHunter]

Just as I was saying wth!! Another bus agency has electric buses, there might be a red alert about the cta  proterras here. If the picture is accurate they are being wrapped. 

 

[YoungBusLover]

33 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Just as I was saying wth!! Another bus agency has electric buses, there might be a red alert about the cta  proterras here. If the picture is accurate they are being wrapped. 

 

That would explain the recent activity i've seen as of late with #700's at south shops look like they'll be on the move soon.

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

That would explain the recent activity i've seen as of late with #700's at south shops look like they'll be on the move soon.

once they start service we will see flyers being moved to FG to knock off some 6600’s 6700’s and 6800’s

[YoungBusLover]

35 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

once they start service we will see flyers being moved to FG to knock off some 6600’s 6700’s and 6800’s

Why would FG be involved with any of this? If anything 74th should be in the conversation for moves since the midway terminal construction is practically done unlike Navy Pier. Unless 74th receives a small batch of #600's like chicago has for them to send some #8000's/#8200's back to FG I don't see the remaining 70 #6400's getting retired just like that. I'll keep my eye out for any new additions from FG though in the coming weeks if what you say becomes a reality.

[BusHunter]

Theres gonna be a catch -20 coming in the pipeline. The budget. It hasnt been released but its days away. Pace just cut 73 routes and reduced frequency  on another couple dozen. I dont see how cta gets away not cutting service. The Cook county budget today axed 500 jobs. Mostly Sheriffs. I think the #6400s might be done soon. Ridership is pretty poor. Only the red line has decent ridership but they were doing 10 minute intervals. Blue line was doing 10 minute intervals in the rush. It makes me wonder if overnight blue line service should get cut. All these feeders aren't really feeding anything. If they cut enough like when they had the doomsday budget they could cut a garage out of the picture. It wouldnt be gone but would just be on vacation or hiatus. Of course that would have a ripple effect with seniority across the garage field. Covid numbers are going up. Wisconsin is in record territory but they are north and its colder up there. We will probably run a month behind them. Its gonna make the mayor look bad but everyone is looking bad because this is alot to reign in. It's not her fault any more than its anyone else's. 

[YoungBusLover]

14 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Theres gonna be a catch -20 coming in the pipeline. The budget. It hasnt been released but its days away. Pace just cut 73 routes and reduced frequency  on another couple dozen. I dont see how cta gets away not cutting service. The Cook county budget today axed 500 jobs. Mostly Sheriffs. I think the #6400s might be done soon. Ridership is pretty poor. Only the red line has decent ridership but they were doing 10 minute intervals. Blue line was doing 10 minute intervals in the rush. It makes me wonder if overnight blue line service should get cut. All these feeders aren't really feeding anything. If they cut enough like when they had the doomsday budget they could cut a garage out of the picture. It wouldnt be gone but would just be on vacation or hiatus. Of course that would have a ripple effect with seniority across the garage field. Covid numbers are going up. Wisconsin is in record territory but they are north and its colder up there. We will probably run a month behind them. Its gonna make the mayor look bad but everyone is looking bad because this is alot to reign in. It's not her fault any more than its anyone else's. 

Routes like the 1,2,24,31,and 124 are a few that come to mind as far as reductions or eliminations are concerned. Overnight service in my opinion shouldn't get eliminated but reductions in service will have a major impact on a lot of people that rely upon it to get them to work on time and home from work if they get off late. 

[wordguy]

I think a lot depends on the outcome of this election. The Democratic House Caucus's Covid relief bill, known as the HEROES Act, contained major funding for transit. If Biden wins and the Senate flips, there may be a chance that the HEROES Act could be revived. Assuming that ridership rebounds closer to pre-pandemic levels, maybe many of the cuts could be avoided.

[$100KBusoperator]

Better pictures I just taken ??

[BusHunter]

That's a C bus, so I wonder does 74th get any claim to the pilot buses? They should have lots of room to work at navy pier getting the last charging station up cause its closed. They were supposed to test for 3 seasons before the rest of the #600s showed up. That was in 2018, so it's been about 8 seasons. They claim there is an order they want to go out to double the electric fleet of 20 to 35. Dont know if that happens after the 20 show up or what. The timing will be same as the new clean diesels that were bid out recently. Sounds like theyll need 35 for the 2 routes. Now we need a green one, but it would be cool to see all different colors. 

 

[YoungBusLover]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

That's a C bus, so I wonder does 74th get any claim to the pilot buses? They should have lots of room to work at navy pier getting the last charging station up cause its closed. They were supposed to test for 3 seasons before the rest of the #600s showed up. That was in 2018, so it's been about 8 seasons. They claim there is an order they want to go out to double the electric fleet of 20 to 35. Dont know if that happens after the 20 show up or what. The timing will be same as the new clean diesels that were bid out recently. Sounds like theyll need 35 for the 2 routes. Now we need a green one, but it would be cool to see all different colors. 

 

I'll go out on limb here and speculate that Chicago will have #600-#609 and 74th will have #610-#620. If 35 are going to be possibly delivered which routes of the two you think might get the green light. I don't know if 63rd could be one for 74th but I already know Chcicago ave will definitely have #600s on them. I always thought Archer ave would be a good place to start them on since it does go right past midway and can also serve it or maybe even use Garfield along with 59th street.

[$100KBusoperator]

Chicago has 5 of these so far only one is wrapped

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

30 minutes ago, $100KBusoperator said:

Chicago has 5 of these so far only one is wrapped

they’re getting delivered secretly i see i remember when only 2 was at SS and C

[BusHunter]

5 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

they’re getting delivered secretly i see i remember when only 2 was at SS and C

How do you know which one is which. Like wheres #602. 

[BusHunter]

8 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

I'll go out on limb here and speculate that Chicago will have #600-#609 and 74th will have #610-#620. If 35 are going to be possibly delivered which routes of the two you think might get the green light. I don't know if 63rd could be one for 74th but I already know Chcicago ave will definitely have #600s on them. I always thought Archer ave would be a good place to start them on since it does go right past midway and can also serve it or maybe even use Garfield along with 59th street.

Was ubering at Navy Pier. Unless I'm blind I really dont see any work going on there. I was going to say earlier what do you do with 63rd, put a chargerr at the beach or at stony island it has 2 east terminals. 

[YoungBusLover]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Was ubering at Navy Pier. Unless I'm blind I really dont see any work going on there. I was going to say earlier what do you do with 63rd, put a chargerr at the beach or at stony island it has 2 east terminals. 

That's a good question. I honestly don't know about the beach but Stony Island could work that's if there's no bottleneck over there if and when it may get constructed. Could the buses only last off of one full charge round trip before needing a recharge? That has yet to be seen but I'd hope not.

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

9 hours ago, BusHunter said:

How do you know which one is which. Like wheres #602. 

#600 is at C or SS 

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

26 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

#600 is at C or SS 

I remember 600 had M 224299 with plates and one of the pictures above shows the Proterra with 224299 so that's 600 and it's at C.

[John7]

I encountered this and found it strange. Is it a meter to show how much power is on the pantograph? (@ midway orange line)

[YoungBusLover]

So I found this image while reading through the newly released budget plan and here we have a #600 in action somewhere using a charging station. What boggles my mind is where could the location be and how will it be before we really start seeing them in action with only 2 1/2 months left of 2020.