2256 Appears to be at Cook County

[trainman8119]

It seems as though some of the old Orion I's assigned to contractors may be on their last legs, if not already toasted.

On my way home from the train station tonight, I saw 2256, an Ikarus, headed south on Elmhurst Road (apparently coming from Randhurst, Route 696) headed towards the Cook County School Bus yard. I see the run headed back to the garage just about every night, and over the past few weeks has been either 2092 (40 ft) or 2082 (35 ft). Needless to say I was surprised to seen an Ikarus going by me at the usual 8:15 pm time !!!!

[Busjack]

A few old Ikarus buses are being spread around (like the old Orions). On my trip to track route 714, I saw 2267 on 711. I supposed that until the capital funding mess gets addressed, we'll see some of this.

I was surprised to see ex-Highland Park buses (2077-2084) running on 696 and 699, since they had, before that, been running 2070-2076, which were about the same.

[trainman8119]

Looks like Pace is trying to start to weed out the last of the Orion's that are assigned to the contractors. You can add 2206 at Cook County. I saw that one headed back to the garage from the 696 tonight. With Busjack seeing 2267 on the 711, it looks like they might have found a way to ditch the worst of the 35 foot Orions.

[Busjack]

One thing you might have missed is that 696-699 is no longer operated by Cook County, but is operated by Academy, similar to the Rosemont runs. See the Passenger Notice. I doubt that this has any effect on the equipment. Also, from the phone number, Academy must be another name for Colonial.