Good Bye Orions

[rmadisonwi]

The remainder of the Orion fleet (six buses) will be withdrawn from service in the very near future. I don't know the exact last day of service, but if you happen to see one running and want to get your last photos/rides, I'd do it.

[cta5658]

The remainder of the Orion fleet (six buses) will be withdrawn from service in the very near future. I don't know the exact last day of service, but if you happen to see one running and want to get your last photos/rides, I'd do it.

I've Got Some Photos

[pace2322]

Rip old friends there will be miss very must at cta. I know i miss them from pace. Like allways good things come to a sad ending. :(

[trainman8119]

I know i miss them from pace. Like allways good things come to a sad ending.

I thought of you the other day when I saw a 35 foot Orion headed east on the 208 in rush hour. It was at the Cumberland Metra Station and it was packed. Another example of small buses on heavy routes...so don't feel bad about the little buses on the 352...they are using them all over.

[pace2322]

A 35 ft orion has alot more seat and room in it then a 35 nabi.

[Busjack]

Or even a 40 foot Orion VI which is the usual on 208.

[busfan4022]

Wow only 6 left?

I will miss these buses. Time for them to go.

Farewell Orions. :[

[trainman8119]

Or even a 40 foot Orion VI which is the usual on 208.

Didn't know that Orion VI's were that short of seats. Well, we know

that comes from the current management mentality at Pace and CTA.

Orion I's were designed to be wheelchair accessible, and they still

had a fair amount of seats. Granted you lose some seats with the low floors

because of the front wheel wells...but the mentality these days is that if

you are able to stand, you will !!!! Seats like oft frequent buses (+ trains) and

destination signs that work are a thing of the past in this town.

[Busjack]

Didn't know that Orion VI's were that short of seats.Granted you lose some seats with the low floors

because of the front wheel wells...

Also the "engine closets" and the longitudinal seats in the right front compartment because of the equipment under them. The Orion VI was an attempt to get a true low floor, but never really worked in that configuration, and a Toronto site says that all of their's were pulled from service (click on "Editorial").

As far as attributing fault to Pace, the only thing they said at the time was that they bought the Orion VIs because they were $10,000 less a bus than NABIs. Of course, we know the opinion of NABIs here, but I surmise that the reason South's Orion VIs (6116-6144) were sent to Northwest is that they did not have the seating capacity needed at South (as well as to minimize the number of series at each garage). Some people on other groups complained about the loss of seating capacity on 290 when the 8800s were replaced by the 6000s.

[pace2322]

Today i saw 4922 on the 112 at 95th/ryan at 7:25.

[qwantae]

Rip old friends there will be miss very must at cta. I know i miss them from pace. Like allways good things come to a sad ending.

That doesnt make any sense for ex pace buses to withdrawn, they should remain them in fleet, they run way better than 5700 series buses, always breaking down.

[qwantae]

Didn't know that Orion VI's were that short of seats. Well, we know

that comes from the current management mentality at Pace and CTA.

Orion I's were designed to be wheelchair accessible, and they still

had a fair amount of seats. Granted you lose some seats with the low floors

because of the front wheel wells...but the mentality these days is that if

you are able to stand, you will !!!! Seats like oft frequent buses (+ trains) and

destination signs that work are a thing of the past in this town.

Seemed that the Orions VIs are short of seats the same as 40 ft Gillic LFs have same amount of seats as 35 ft Gillic Phantons.

[indygo2200]

Seemed that the Orions VIs are short of seats the same as 40 ft Gillic LFs have same amount of seats as 35 ft Gillic Phantons.

The 40ft Gillig Phantoms seat 45

The 40 ft Gillig Low Floor seat 40

The 35 LFs seat 32

The 35 Phantoms seat 37

Just FYI

[rmadisonwi]

I can't 100% confirm it, since I haven't actually spoken with anyone at the garage (nor have I been on the far south side in the last couple of weeks), but based on checking daily bus history at work, it appears that 4919 was the last Orion in service, and it last ran on either May 30 or 31. Bus 4920 last ran on May 21.

The others have retirement dates ranging from December (4921, I believe) through early May.

Officially, the rest of the buses were transferred from 103rd to South Shops in late April, but the garage hung onto those buses for a little while longer (basically until something broke). Interestingly enough, their last days were not spent at the University of Chicago (which operated with Optimas and TMCs), but on local routes on the far south side (such as the 34, 103, 111, and 119).

So, scratch one more type off the active roster.

[Buslover88]

The Orion buses have just been retired! They'll probably be gone in the next week or next month. I want anybody who's rode on these buses to give me any experiences you had on the Orions. I never rode on, BTW. Two questions to rmadisonwi, why were they retired now, isn't their still a shortage of buses? Do you work for the CTA?

R.I.P Orions 2005-2007, ya'll will be missed by many passengers!

[Buslover88]

I can't 100% confirm it, since I haven't actually spoken with anyone at the garage (nor have I been on the far south side in the last couple of weeks), but based on checking daily bus history at work, it appears that 4919 was the last Orion in service, and it last ran on either May 30 or 31. Bus 4920 last ran on May 21.

The others have retirement dates ranging from December (4921, I believe) through early May.

They've been retired for some 2 weeks and I wasn't informed? Geez, shows how much I need to pay attention.

[Kevin]

Threads Merged.

[rmadisonwi]

To answer your questions:

2) Yes.

1) With just over 2200 buses in the fleet for a peak pullout of (off the top of my head) around 1750 or so, I wouldn't say that there is a shortage of buses (20% spares, which seems to be pretty standard). However, due to the age of the fleet, sometimes runs can be held in due to a shortage of *working* buses.

The Orions weren't in any better shape than the Flxibles being retired, and since they were oddballs mechanically, there would be extra cost involved in maintaining a set of spare parts for what really amounted to only three or four buses at the end (since several others had died in the intervening months). Due to their age and impending retirement, if a bus had something major break, the cost to fix it would outweigh whatever benefit would be realized from keeping it around only a little bit longer (not just cost in terms of the financial aspect of paying for a replacement part, but also the cost in terms of manpower hours to fix the bus, which would be better invested in repairing a bus that has more life left in it).

Even if a garage struggles to make pull-out, it doesn't help any to keep a bunch of old, broken-down buses on hand if they can't remain in service reliably. It's better to get rid of them and allow the maintenance staff focus their time on the remaining fleet (as noted earlier). As new buses are delivered (428 New Flyer diesels, 10 New Flyer hybrids, and 42 Optimas have been delivered so far in the last year and a half), reliability should improve.

[busfan4022]

They've been retired for some 2 weeks and I wasn't informed? Geez, shows how much I need to pay attention.

I noticed there were none at the garage today. I was afraid of this . I basically spent my whole day at 1.0.3, there was a Orion there yesterday, but I guess there gone. Strangely enough, seems like 103 got some more Optimas, because they swarmed the place. I miss riding those buses.

EDIT: I think the biggest problem was that they couldn't get supplies for the buses period, and often they had to go to 77th for parts. And, well you get it.

:D