pokemonprime Posted Friday at 03:18 AM Report Share Posted Friday at 03:18 AM SP Plus LLC operates a corporate shuttle that runs from The Aon Center & the Prudential Building ("The Pru") and Ogilvie Transportation Center, LaSalle St Station, and Union Station. They previously used a fleet of 10 Proterras (see the thread Proterra buses ), but they've now switched to a fleet of 8 BYD Ride buses. I've managed to spot 6 of the 8; strangely, two of them are riding around on California Manufacturer license plates, and one (the white livery bus) had no plate at all! Does anyone know what became of the Proterras? The other 5 I've spotted I put in this Flickr album 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted Friday at 02:29 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 02:29 PM The Prudentual/Aon service was originally ran by a company called CSI ( Continental Shuttle Inc). They ran 8 MC -8 coaches. That company also had the Midway Parking Lot Shuttle. That portion of the operation and its buses were purchased from Continental Air Transport as Continental Air Transport was shifting away from buses and focusing more on Airport Express shuttle van service. In the mid 1990s, CSI was purchased by Sam Van Gander ( of Van Gander Bus in Janesville, WI) and the company was renamed Greatway. They purchased 8 Dina's to run the Prudential/Aon Service. Around 1999 Sam Van Gander sold Van Gander and Greatway to Coach USA. A roof collapse at its garage at 17th and Prairie forced the Greatway operation to move in with the Keeshin operation as Keeshin was already a Coach USA owned company. Eventually the Coach USA operation moved to 4400 S Racine . The Prudential/Aon contract led them to receive a contract from Michigan Plaza which operated 4 buses. Eventually the Prudential/ Aon Dina buses were replaced by MCI J coaches until about 2016 when Prudential/Aon people decided to go green and went electric. That is when Standard Parking got the electric buses. I also have to mention that Coach USA woynd down its Charter Operations in 2011 and wound down their contract operations in 2012 to focus on their Megabus operation. I don't recall who ran the service from 2012 to 2016. My first two guesses would be Free Enterprise and Aries Charter, but I can't recall who ran it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted Friday at 08:33 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 08:33 PM 5 hours ago, artthouwill said: The Prudentual/Aon service was originally ran [sic] Applicable to several recent posts, someone said to me today: “The past is in your head. The future is in your hands.” 16 hours ago, pokemonprime said: Does anyone know what became of the Proterras? Besides that, the questions are (1) why were the Proterras retired after only at most 8 years, and (2) when were the BYDs acquired, which is relevant to (3) how did JLL get them, when Congress barred BYD? I was going to say that we won't get answers unless someone from JLL posts here, but clicking links brought up that RIDE is an American spin-off of BYD. So, maybe it's a RIDE bus. But the House Homeland Security Committee is still investigating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted Friday at 09:17 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 09:17 PM 32 minutes ago, Busjack said: Applicable to several recent posts, someone said to me today: “The past is in your head. The future is in your hands.” Besides that, the questions are (1) why were the Proterras retired after only at most 8 years, and (2) when were the BYDs acquired, which is relevant to (3) how did JLL get them, when Congress barred BYD? I was going to say that we won't get answers unless someone from JLL posts here, but clicking links brought up that RIDE is an American spin-off of BYD. So, maybe it's a RIDE bus. But the House Homeland Security Committee is still investigating. Related to your first question, were there issues with those buses? Compared to CTA. they ran successfully. The question is what's in the SP/Prudential/Aon contract? Some contracts have stipulations regarding equipment age. It's possible that newer equipment was a stipulation for renewing the contract, though from past experiences that's usually 12 years, not 8. But perhaps the reliability of the Proterras was getting bad enough that getting new buses was seen as a better solution than trying to repair the older buses. The sale of Proterra could have factored in as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted Friday at 11:47 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 11:47 PM 20 hours ago, pokemonprime said: SP Plus LLC operates a corporate shuttle that runs from The Aon Center & the Prudential Building ("The Pru") and Ogilvie Transportation Center, LaSalle St Station, and Union Station. They previously used a fleet of 10 Proterras (see the thread Proterra buses ), but they've now switched to a fleet of 8 BYD Ride buses. I've managed to spot 6 of the 8; strangely, two of them are riding around on California Manufacturer license plates, and one (the white livery bus) had no plate at all! The other 5 I've spotted I put in this Flickr album The BYD bus looks nice, did they get it from used BYD dealership in Chicago with the electric charging system in it? Did they have fleet numbers in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted 23 hours ago Report Share Posted 23 hours ago 2 hours ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said: The BYD bus looks nice, did they get it from used BYD dealership in Chicago with the electric charging system in it? Did they have fleet numbers in it? Why not contact Jones Lang LaSalle and find out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokemonprime Posted 22 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 22 hours ago With regards to the BYD ban, what I could find seems to indicate it relates to public buses and public/federal funds. As such it would impose no barrier to a private operator like SP Plus operating a private corporate shuttle. They are technically "RIDE" buses, I just used BYD because it's the parent company and more known; the same way I still call them Dodge Rams even though "Ram" is technically a separate marquee now. I still suspect there's something odd with their registration, owing to the California manufacturer plates on two of the buses- notably, BYD's American factory is in California, so possibly there's some weird leasing or road-testing going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 12 hours ago, pokemonprime said: With regards to the BYD ban, what I could find seems to indicate it relates to public buses and public/federal funds. As such it would impose no barrier to a private operator like SP Plus operating a private corporate shuttle. That is correct, as 49 USC 5323(u) starts with "...financial assistance made available under this chapter shall not be used ...." JLL received a city environmental grant for the Proterras. but as far as I know, nothing has been said about these buses. As far as what RIDE's strategy might be, maybe it is heavy trucks and school buses (although Lion going bankrupt is a bad omen) or maybe it is looking for US capital to buy the spin-off (sort of like the Tik Tok situation), but if the article I cited above is correct that RIDE is a 100% owned subsidiary of BYD,* it still comes within 49 USC 5323(u) and is not eligible for federal transit funds. ------ *Note that ride.co repeatedly says it is a "spin off" but doesn't say who the current owner is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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