And the next garage to get New Flyers is...

[sw4400]

Today's observations:

1645 apparently had been in service on 12 Roosevelt earlier. When I spotted it, it was sitting at the westbound Roosevelt/Kedzie stop being hooked up to a wrecker in preparation to be towed!

it was weird seeing 1645 brand spanking new with shiny new wheels and everything already having engine problems that would require it to need a tow so soon into its service life.

I hope everybody's seen the 'Star Trek' movies, because I'm about to quote from one here....

"Let's see what she's got said the Captain, and then we found out, didn't we!"

Seriously though, unfortunately some new vehicles do have their little kinks to get worked out occasionally. I bet before Sat. you Kedzie Garage riders will see 1645 back on a route.

[jajuan]

I hope everybody's seen the 'Star Trek' movies, because I'm about to quote from one here....

"Let's see what she's got said the Captain, and then we found out, didn't we!"

Seriously though, unfortunately some new vehicles do have their little kinks to get worked out occasionally. I bet before Sat. you Kedzie Garage riders will see 1645 back on a route.

Of that I have now doubt. Having studied engineering in college, that's one thing you get taught. With any new machine there's going to be kinks to work out, especially when there is one or more modification made to that machines specifications as is the case with this newest option of Flyers.

[trainman8119]

I spotted 1653 on the 145 tonight on the Inner Drive north of Addison. It was dark (8:30) and it had no tail lights, even though it looked like the headlights were on in the front. I have been noticing a number of New Flyers without working taillights lately.

[Guest]

I spotted 1653 on the 145 tonight on the Inner Drive north of Addison. It was dark (8:30) and it had no tail lights, even though it looked like the headlights were on in the front. I have been noticing a number of New Flyers without working taillights lately.

Thats not a good thing. Hopefully there wont be a rash of rear end collisions because of this.

[jajuan]

I spotted 1653 on the 145 tonight on the Inner Drive north of Addison. It was dark (8:30) and it had no tail lights, even though it looked like the headlights were on in the front. I have been noticing a number of New Flyers without working taillights lately.

Looks like New Flyer is rolling them out a tad too fast. 1645 had engine kinks last week, 1641 is missing its bus number on the right side, and 1649's rear LED display wasn't working yesterday when I saw it on the #7. Are they looking at these buses closely enough on their final checks before shipping to Chicago? I know some of these are minor when looked at alone for each individual bus, but when you look at 4 buses out of 24 (about 16% or 17%) just delivered (that's assuming all buses within this numerical sequence up to 1653 are here) have some type of flaw already no matter how small, it makes you wonder if New Flyer is doing thorough final inspections on this newest option before sending them here.

[busfan2847]

1654 on 8 this morning

[geneking7320]

When some of the Archer Garage 1000's went to Chicago Garage someone forgot to take the "A" decal off the windshield on the #70 Division bus I was on last night. I guess CTA will get around to it.

Gene

[Guest]

When some of the Archer Garage 1000's went to Chicago Garage someone forgot to take the "A" decal off the windshield on the #70 Division bus I was on last night. I guess CTA will get around to it.

Gene

I run past FG almost every night and the Flxs parked along the fence on Elston, you still see some 6000s from 74 with the "6" still on the windshield.

[ryanbytes]

I run past FG almost every night and the Flxs parked along the fence on Elston, you still see some 6000s from 74 with the "6" still on the windshield.

I saw one of those going westbound on Montrose this afternoon. I was confused for a second then chalked it up to the bus dance going on. It's interesting to see what shows up where.

[nflyer22]

I saw Flyer 1648 and 1652 on the 8 Halsted today, and I was on the 62 Archer at the time when I passed both, and got a glimpse of the LED lights inside, looked kinda cool, yet weird, like dealing with a long string of Christmas lights inside the tube . (By the way, you can ignore this post, just telling of my observation today , nothing interesting)

[jajuan]

I saw Flyer 1648 and 1652 on the 8 Halsted today, and I was on the 62 Archer at the time when I passed both, and got a glimpse of the LED lights inside, looked kinda cool, yet weird, like dealing with a long string of Christmas lights inside the tube . (By the way, you can ignore this post, just telling of my observation today , nothing interesting)

Thanks for the observation no matter how small you think it is. Considering sparse observations have been the past few days, it's something.

[BusHunter]

Thanks for the observation no matter how small you think it is. Considering sparse observations have been the past few days, it's something.

Here's something for you guys. #1657 was on the #121 yesterday. It had no advertizements on the exterior and looked pretty new. I was actually surprised how many #1600's were on Halsted yesterday. nflyer22 says he saw #1652 and #1648. I saw #1637, #1640, #1641, #1647 also. This route seems to be a hot spot for seeing the new #1600's from Kedzie.

[jajuan]

Here's something for you guys. #1657 was on the #121 yesterday. It had no advertizements on the exterior and looked pretty new. I was actually surprised how many #1600's were on Halsted yesterday. nflyer22 says he saw #1652 and #1648. I saw #1637, #1640, #1641, #1647 also. This route seems to be a hot spot for seeing the new #1600's from Kedzie.

Another hot spot for Kedzie's new 1600s seems to be the 12 Roosevelt, especially during the weekdays. I also see at least two on the 52 Kedzie/California almost every day.

[BusHunter]

Another hot spot for Kedzie's new 1600s seems to be the 12 Roosevelt, especially during the weekdays. I also see at least two on the 52 Kedzie/California almost every day.

Yesterday's Halsted 1600's were numerus. There was #1657, #1656, #1655, #1650, #1649, #1647, #1638, #1637 and #1634. Also it's strange to me that on Halsted every last bus is a New Flyer. I was kind of interested to see a TMC on there. I don't know if that's possible any more. With the #8 being a Bustracker route internally my best guess is to assume that they can't test it with the old TMC's so they run New Flyers exclusively. It would be kind of cool to put the #8 on the next list to go public. Then we could see the New Flyer buses just delivered on there.

[nflyer22]

Yesterday's Halsted 1600's were numerus. There was #1657, #1656, #1655, #1650, #1649, #1647, #1638, #1637 and #1634. Also it's strange to me that on Halsted every last bus is a New Flyer. I was kind of interested to see a TMC on there. I don't know if that's possible any more. With the #8 being a Bustracker route internally my best guess is to assume that they can't test it with the old TMC's so they run New Flyers exclusively. It would be kind of cool to put the #8 on the next list to go public. Then we could see the New Flyer buses just delivered on there.

I dunno if anyone else notices this too, but the New Flyers (new and old) are also appearing on a lot of Downtown routes, saw 1656 on 145 Wilson/Express at 12:10 PM just over an hour and half ago, and 1130 this morning, didn't get the bus route though, had run K203 (which is either 134 or 156 based on the current Run list).

[Guest]

I dunno if anyone else notices this too, but the New Flyers (new and old) are also appearing on a lot of Downtown routes, saw 1656 on 145 Wilson/Express at 12:10 PM just over an hour and half ago, and 1130 this morning, didn't get the bus route though, had run K203 (which is either 134 or 156 based on the current Run list).

Well it is only obvious that you would start to see more and more New Flyers on downtown routes. Primarily because North Park and Kedzie both garages being equipped with N.F., provide most of the downtown service. Then of course you have the other garages which also provide N.F. on their downtown routes.

[nflyer22]

Well it is only obvious that you would start to see more and more New Flyers on downtown routes. Primarily because North Park and Kedzie both garages being equipped with N.F., provide most of the downtown service. Then of course you have the other garages which also provide N.F. on their downtown routes.

Hmm, yeah everyone could say that, perhaps I didn't make myself clear, more New Flyers on Kedzie routes, sorry for the misconception. :P

[sw4400]

I run past FG almost every night and the Flxs parked along the fence on Elston, you still see some 6000s from 74 with the "6" still on the windshield.

What Flxibles did 'the Glen' get? We must've got a few 6200's(since they mostly populate 74th), did we also get some Cummins 6300's?(6305-6329)

[jajuan]

Hmm, yeah everyone could say that, perhaps I didn't make myself clear, more New Flyers on Kedzie routes, sorry for the misconception.

Yes I've noticed that Kedzie's New Flyers are popping up more on its downtown routes. They were already starting to dominate on the 7, somewhat on the 38, 60 (before the spring changes), 124, 126, and 157. Now they're showing up more on the 125, 134 40-foot runs, 143, 145, 148 AM trips and the extremely rare 156 40-foot run.

[BusHunter]

What Flxibles did 'the Glen' get? We must've got a few 6200's(since they mostly populate 74th), did we also get some Cummins 6300's?(6305-6329)

Recently, #6099, #6097 - #6090 and #6088 and #6087 is what Fg got. But I keep seeing #6099 on Ashland I don't know if it will be transferred or not. 74th got #6199 - #6185.

[Guest]

What Flxibles did 'the Glen' get? We must've got a few 6200's(since they mostly populate 74th), did we also get some Cummins 6300's?(6305-6329)

FG got some of the high 6000s #6090, 6091, 6092, 6093, 6094, 6095. I also saw Optima #534 with the "P" still in the window.

I dont know how high the New Flyers are up to now, but today I drove past Kedzie and I spotted #1664 in the entrance bay.

[BusHunter]

I dont know how high the New Flyers are up to now, but today I drove past Kedzie and I spotted #1664 in the entrance bay.

Yeah, the newest batch came out yesterday #1658 was on the #148, #1660 was on the #8, and your famed #1664 bus was on Wacker/Adams with a 385 run number with a Kedzie Garage sign on the destination.

[jajuan]

1665 is on the 52 today. Saw it this morning while going to work.

[qwantae]

I have a feeling that Chicago would be next after Kedzie for New Flyers 1700s

[jajuan]

I have a feeling that Chicago would be next after Kedzie for New Flyers 1700s

I don't really see it. Taking into account retirements that have already taken place since the spring move, Chicago has at best 60 5300s. Not even half of those will need to be replaced once 3 Track operations are over next year. It's more likely a few buses may get transferred there to make up any gaps that may be left over from the retirement of those 5300s. After 3 Track, at most that may be 25 to 30 buses. Chicago already has the 122 New Flyers transferred from Archer under the garage consolidation plan plus the approximate 100 that were originally assigned there. That's 222. Chicago like Kedzie is a 250 capacity garage. So assuming it doesn't need to operate above capacity after 3 Track which most likely it won't, that's 28 buses that need to be replaced. With Forest Glen also filling in some trips on North Park routes for supplemental 3 Track service, Chicago may just be over capacity more than it needs to be.

If CTA management had not instituted this foolish plan of consolidating bus models among the garages, I might have been more inclined to agree with you. However, with the plan in play, garages that had 100 1991 buses to replace at the time of the start Option 3 without accounting for 3 Track will likely see delivery of new buses before Chicago does. That translates to Kedzie, which is seeing new deliveries now, North Park, and 103rd. That leaves about 100 leftover for 74th to receive once the complete retirement of the 5800s and partial retirements of the 6000s begin with the arrival of the hybrid artics. This actually falls in line with Busjack's assessment that 74th may be the last garage on the list to see New Flyers.

With 3 Track still in affect, Chicago's 5300s may more than likely be among the last 1991 buses to retire. It's that or Chicago may see a return of TMCs to cover service during 3 Track's final months since the 5300s still slated to completely retire first. Chicago's complement of 1991 buses is too small to deliver new buses there after Kedzie.