Minneapolis "t" Buses....

[VintageSoul]

Hey All:

Got a Question...

Whats the highest number of the 40'Foot Gillig Advantages (The 1100s, 71/7200s), trying to make sure my Metro Transit Gillig Page is accurate, any help is appreciated

Regards

[Bus Driver Dude]

Hey All:

Got a Question...

Whats the highest number of the 40'Foot Gillig Advantages (The 1100s, 71/7200s), trying to make sure my Metro Transit Gillig Page is accurate, any help is appreciated

Regards

2008 Gillig Low Floors Bus # 1100 to 1186 Total of 87

2008 Gillig Hybrid Low Floors Bus # 7140 to 7184 total 45

Please note that Gillig no longer refers to their Low Floors as Advantages. They are simply Gillig Low Floors.

2008 New Flyer D60LFR Bus# 3240 to 3254 total 15

2009 New Flyer D60LFR Bus# 3260 to 3270 total 11

2009 MCI Coach Bus# 0200 to 212 Total 13

Also, please give a link to your page. I would be interested in looking at it.

[Bus Driver Dude]

Minnesota State Fair Wrap

[MVTArider]

MVTArider, have you heard any updated news, if any Mn. transit agencies have received any new transit buses from NABI or El Dorado? I read a new story recently that,the federal DOT head, Ray La Hood announced federal grants for Mn. transit related items, such as bus purchases.

Alright, I don't have info. on any other TAs yet but here is the stuff concerning new bus purchases for St. Cloud Metro Bus:

Agenda for 07-21-09

11.) Northstar Update. Mr. Tripp reported that Ed Yorek was currently in Syracuse, New York

regarding the possibility of the transfer of three coaches for the Northstar Link.

13.) Upcoming New Flyer Piggyback Update. During the last update it was expected that with

ARRA funds, approximately $350,000 would be spent per bus.

Minutes for 03-17-09

#8.) Discussion of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009

Project List. Mr. Tripp explained that the Direct FTA appropriation of $1,759,857 will

tentatively be used to purchase 9 small buses*, ... The Mn/DOT 5311 Allocation of $1,400,000 will be used to

purchase 4 large buses.

*The next resolution states a purchase from Hoglund Bus, I'm pretty sure they are the ones.

#13.) 2009-2014 Capital Improvements Program. Mr. Cruikshank discussed the revised

2009 CIP, ... Highlights include the Transit Center Relocation and Operations Center Office Addition both slated for 2011,

and the CNG Fueling Station and Vehicle Storage Expansion for 2012, and CNG Large

Replacement Buses in 2013-2014.

Minutes for 06-16-09

12.) Update on ARRA Grants from U.S. DOT. Mr. Tripp said Metro Bus has received the two

(2) ARRA grants: the first is for $1,759,857 to be used for fiber optic installation and stop

annunciation communication equipment, replacement bus washer, small bus purchases, and the

purchase of operations vehicles; and the second is for $1,400,000 for four 35-ft New Flyer buses.

Basically it looks like St. cloud will be getting New Flyers and cutaways from Hoglund Bus. My guess is if someone is getting NABI buses it would probably be MATBUS-Moorhead since they have the 1997 D35LFs which I assume will need replacing soon. Mankato could be another possibility. Please note however this is only speculation on my part.

Also, please give a link to your page. I would be interested in looking at it.

I would like to see it too :)

[Tcmetro]

Haven't posted here in awhile...

All of the MVTA D35LF's (4121-4126) have been repainted into the new scheme.

The bus 2.0 wraps are on some of the MVTA Gillig LF's now, including 4731, 4732 and 4734.

[Bus Driver Dude]

Maple Grove Transit will be looking at the new Metro Transit MCI Coaches this week. If they like them they make get some. I feel this would be a good fit for Maple Grove Transit for the type of service they provide.

[VintageSoul]

2008 Gillig Low Floors Bus # 1100 to 1186 Total of 87

2008 Gillig Hybrid Low Floors Bus # 7140 to 7184 total 45

Please note that Gillig no longer refers to their Low Floors as Advantages. They are simply Gillig Low Floors.

2008 New Flyer D60LFR Bus# 3240 to 3254 total 15

2009 New Flyer D60LFR Bus# 3260 to 3270 total 11

2009 MCI Coach Bus# 0200 to 212 Total 13

Also, please give a link to your page. I would be interested in looking at it.

Thank you for the roster. I still refer to them as Advantages for the sake of it, I know Gillig dropped the name. Or better yet the Gillig Box-O-Boredum and Gillig Box-O-Excitement depending upon whether its the standard low floor or the low floor with the extra body package.

My website is, www.ttmg.org. The Direct Link to my current Minneapolis pages are http://www.ttmg.org/...cpt-gillig.html for Gillig, http://www.ttmg.org/...i/mcpt-nfi.html for New Flyer and http://www.ttmg.org/...bombardier.html for Bombardier. Enjoy!

[MVTArider]

^ Very nice website and pictures

--------

I saw a couple 300s out for exercise on Wednesday.

4579 and 4730 are also in the new Bus 2.0 wrap. While riding by the Eagan Bus Garage on 470 I noticed the CNG Bluebird Qs are gone, but I saw a couple new MCI D4500 units. They look ready to roll if they aren't in use already.

Some fresh photos: (click photo to enlarge)

[Tcmetro]

I see that you found the Coach USA SLF too! I wonder if it's that one from Chicago? Looked at your photo, apparently it is from Chicago. What's it doing in Minneapolis? Spare for Megabus?

MVTA #4581 has the purple Bus 2.0 wrap. These wraps suck, it's hard to see out the windows. Why the hell would they wrap a bus if they're not getting ad money?

According to your photo 4730 has a wrap. So 4730, 4731, 4732, 4734 and 4581 have Bus 2.0 wraps. 4728 and 4729 still have Cedar BRT wraps, and I forgot what the D40LF's that had wraps were.

I think the new coaches are for the 477 line extension to Lakeville on Sept. 28. MVTA didn't get the bid for the new 467 line, so it will be interesting to see some Metro Transit buses in the South Metro.

Nice job finding the Invero! I will have to try to ride it sometime!

I saw some 300's in service a couple of weeks ago too. Maybe they're gonna keep some of them until we get more buses next year?

I also saw a new Smart Link minibus for Scott-Carver County Dial-A-Ride. Smart Link will be the first part of the Transit Link restructuring of Dial-A-Ride services in 2010. Too bad it won't be named Transit Link like the rest of the Dial-A-Rides. There was a website on the bus (www.smartlinktransit.com) however it hasn't been set up yet.

I saw a U of M New Flyer sitting in the First Transit yard on Spring St. I was walking along Industrial and I didn't have time to get a picture

P.S. I think that the Laker Lines Blue Bird Q that you have a picture of is a 2001 model. Prior Lake took over service from the MVTA on January 1, 2002. Anyways, you have a lot of good photos on your Flickr.

[geneking7320]

^ Very nice website and pictures

--------

I saw a couple 300s out for exercise on Wednesday.

4579 and 4730 are also in the new Bus 2.0 wrap. While riding by the Eagan Bus Garage on 470 I noticed the CNG Bluebird Qs are gone, but I saw a couple new MCI D4500 units. They look ready to roll if they aren't in use already.

Some fresh photos: (click photo to enlarge)

Hi All;

I arrived in Minneapolis 8/26/09 to celebrate my birthday [today]. I've taken a few pics which I might post if they turn out OK

I'm staying at 7th Street and 5th Avenue (4 blocks from the Metrodome) and have seen many Gillig Phantoms,

Gillig low floors (with regular and BRT fronts), New Flyer HF artics and a few NF low floor artics.Last night I rode the #6 so I could connect to the vintage Como-Harriet trolley. This bus route operated Gillig high floors and low floors (with BRT front) but I was on a high floor going and coming. I return to Chicago 8/29/09 and hope to get the pics up soon afterward.

Stay well.

[geneking7320]

:o In my previous post I forgot to ask - what is the engine layout in that Van Hool [u of M] bus?

Is it like CTA's Nova's and Pace's Orion VI's?

Gene King

[Tcmetro]

The engines on the Van Hools are in the center of the bus on the left side.

Here are some fanning tips:

-If you want to ride D60LFRs, they are on the 3/16/50 lines.

-If you want to ride the craptastic 30' Gillig LF's go to the Mall of America and take the 538/539 lines. There are also some new 30' Gillig BRT's on the 32 and 705 lines.

-If you go to the State Fair (going on now) there is usually a bunch of old Phantoms and coaches run by Lorenz for the free shuttles. Take rt. 960 from Nicollet Mall or 4th Street to the Como Transit Station (Gate 20). Right next to the "Como Transit Station" is the lot with all of the free shuttles. There are more shuttles at Gate 4? on Snelling and Midway Pkwy. You can get there by taking the 16/50 to Snelling/University and getting a NB 84. Or take the 3 or 960 to the fairgrounds and walk along Como to Snelling (Como/Snelling is a diamond interchange, but there are sidewalks) up to Midway Pkwy. The shuttles there are run by Metro Transit, and you might see the 300's ('95 Phantoms) and 2300's ('94 Phantoms). All of the buses at the "Como Transit Station" are express buses that you cannot ride unless you have a ticket from the other end of the line, with the exception of the 960 and the U of M shuttle.

[MVTArider]

I see that you found the Coach USA SLF too! I wonder if it's that one from Chicago? Looked at your photo, apparently it is from Chicago. What's it doing in Minneapolis? Spare for Megabus?

I saw a U of M New Flyer sitting in the First Transit yard on Spring St. I was walking along Industrial and I didn't have time to get a picture

P.S. I think that the Laker Lines Blue Bird Q that you have a picture of is a 2001 model. Prior Lake took over service from the MVTA on January 1, 2002. Anyways, you have a lot of good photos on your Flickr.

There was a crowd of people waiting behind the SLF for Megabus

I saw what appeared to be an exU Gillig Low Floor, it was in a fresh coat of white paint and was parked at Istate, from what I could tell it looked like old UofM seats through the windows.

Thanks for the info on the BlueBirds

JUST Found out on Flickr there's allegedly a NovaBus artic in town for Southwest Transit!

Hi All;

I arrived in Minneapolis 8/26/09 to celebrate my birthday [today]. I've taken a few pics which I might post if they turn out OK

I'm staying at 7th Street and 5th Avenue (4 blocks from the Metrodome) and have seen many Gillig Phantoms,

Gillig low floors (with regular and BRT fronts), New Flyer HF artics and a few NF low floor artics.Last night I rode the #6 so I could connect to the vintage Como-Harriet trolley. This bus route operated Gillig high floors and low floors (with BRT front) but I was on a high floor going and coming. I return to Chicago 8/29/09 and hope to get the pics up soon afterward.

Stay well.

Looking forward to some pics :)

[Guest]

There was a crowd of people waiting behind the SLF for Megabus

I saw what appeared to be an exU Gillig Low Floor, it was in a fresh coat of white paint and was parked at Istate, from what I could tell it looked like old UofM seats through the windows.

Thanks for the info on the BlueBirds

JUST Found out on Flickr there's allegedly a NovaBus artic in town for Southwest Transit!

Looking forward to some pics

First Happy BDay Gene!

Its interesting how often MTC equipment ends up here in Chicago and vice versa. The MTC MAN Americanas that ended up on the south side of Chic., We have Metro Tran. #1540 at Colonial now Coach USA equip. ending up in Minneapolis, not to mention a large batch of New Flyer buses coming from the factory to Chicago! :)

[geneking7320]

Hi Folks;

I hope to get my pics up some time this week. I'm rather curious about Metro Transit's bus purchases.

Is there a special reason why some of their Gillig low floors have BRT and some do not? What engines are the Phantoms using? They sound like the Pace's NABI buses to me. Note to Chicagoans on this board - I think the Nicollet transit mall is a better execution of that concept that Chicago's former State St mall. I say this because

of the curving path and the outdoor dining.

Gene King

[MVTArider]

Hi Folks;

I hope to get my pics up some time this week. I'm rather curious about Metro Transit's bus purchases.

Is there a special reason why some of their Gillig low floors have BRT and some do not? What engines are the Phantoms using? They sound like the Pace's NABI buses to me. Note to Chicagoans on this board - I think the Nicollet transit mall is a better execution of that concept that Chicago's former State St mall. I say this because

of the curving path and the outdoor dining.

Gene King

First off I forgot to wish you a happy Bday

Basically the regular Gillig Low Floors are older, 1998-2007 and the BRTs are newer. I think if 7110-7128 were not rejects from RGRTA they would be BRT styled as well. There are also new 29 foot Gillig Low Floors which were bought for Met Council use.

The engines in the Phantoms are:

• 300 - 755 and 2300 - 2396 Detroit Diesel Series 50 paired with Allison B400R
  
• 800 - 1069 Cummins ISM paired with Voith
  

[Tcmetro]

They are going to make the buses on Nicollet Mall free next year as well, once the express buses move to the new dual bus lanes on Marquette and 2nd in March 2010.

What went wrong with the State Street Bus Mall?

[Busjack]

They are going to make the buses on Nicollet Mall free next year as well, once the express buses move to the new dual bus lanes on Marquette and 2nd in March 2010.

What went wrong with the State Street Bus Mall?

Basic issues were:

• Immediately, the bus lanes got packed with Archer Express articulateds (in the days before the Orange Line) so there was basically a "wall" of diesel soot blowers blocking the view across the mall
• Some said that the sidewalks were too wide, which somehow affected how secure pedestrians felt
• Black, modernistic (for the late 1970s) architecture and pavers
• Merchants said lack of car exposure hurt business (but the businesses did worse thereafter, and there is nowhere to park on State, anyway)

At least now the lightpoles and the brass frames for the subway entrances and bus shelters look more traditional Chicago. (See, for example, this picture of the entrance to the subway at Washington, or if the referred link doesn't work, go to chicago-l.org/Stations, Red Line pull down for the State Street Subway/Washington).And there isn't that much car traffic there, anyway.

Update: If you look at this article, and cut the San Francisco references, you get the idea.

[MVTArider]

From the Fair yesterday:

Lorenz/ex Metro Transit 1700 & 1505. The 1700 video has a short walkthrough of the older Metro Transit Phantom interior at the beginning BTW. They really did have nice seats in the front and hardshell in the back.

I have some pictures as well but I haven't uploaded them yet. I got a couple shots of a 35 foot GMC RTS that Lorenz had though. Also I didn't see a NovaBus Artic, just a Alexander Dennis Double Decker. I'll see about getting a better shot of it if it's still there next time For the record 384 was running better than 410 so I wouldn't be surprised if MT keeps some of the 300 series another year. Also saw 2009 MVTA MCI 4112. (Why not # 4912 instead?)

[Tcmetro]

I saw 4112 as well. It looks pretty nice. MVTA 4580 has the bus 2.0 wrap as well.

In addition to the Alexander Dennis, there is a Nova LFX on the SW Transit Fair bus.

[Tcmetro]

I went to the fair yesterday to get some bus pics. There was a lot coaches which was kind of weird to see compared to past years.

Here is what I saw for Lorenz:

- Van Hool C2045 - 010, 011

- Gillig Phantom - 1504, 1507, 1508 (ex-MT 376), 1509, 1510, 1700, 1703, 1708, 6004, 6005, 6008, 6038

- RTS - 304 (was this one even in service?)

- some cutaway, didn't see a number.

There were some coach companies there as well. There was a blank Neoplan coach on the I-94/Snelling shuttle. There also was Northfield Lines Inc. (MCI, Van Hool), Tourco's Northern (MCI), Blackhawk Express (MCI), Reading Bus Lines (Van Hool), Minnesota Coaches (MCI) and Tourco's Casino Capers (Neoplan). There were a few more operators that I missed. There were some buses going straight on the Transitway, they were cutaways and Van Hools. Some said something like 'RBI Shuttle' and also said 'Sponsored By:' with a bunch of logos, and there were signs that said 'State Fair Employee Shuttle'.

On the express buses there were a lot of 60' buses, except for some 40' buses in the end of rush hour, and on the 960 and Dunwoody routes. I also saw 4111 and 4112 (new coaches) on the MVTA express, and the Alexander Dennis on the SW express. I didn't see a Nova LFX though. There was also the 3F shuttle from 33rd/Como to Snelling/Como, because the 3 was on detour via 280, Energy Park and the Transitway. However some of the 3's weren't following the detour. There wasn't any traffic on Como though.

I saw the U of M Campus Connector on Cleveland Ave on detour. It would be cool if we had Van Hool A300L's on some local MT routes.

EDIT: Bus Driver Dude has the LFX on his blog. What time did you see it?

[MVTArider]

I went to the fair yesterday to get some bus pics. There was a lot coaches which was kind of weird to see compared to past years.

...

The amount of motorcoaches was surprising, especially the different companies. I was there again today. I got 60+ pics of buses to upload so I'm putting that off till tomorrow. I rode 6001 which is a 1985 Phantom (I was probably the only one enjoying the ride ) I got pictures of the Alex. Dennis Enviro 500, Nova LFX (inside and outside), 1981 GMC RTS II #304 (inside and outside) I don't think it was in service, just there for backup. Also 1507 is ex-MT 377. I asked the Southwest drivers about the buses and they said they were demos, but the Enviro driver said they were testing it. I also found it interesting that MT was only running express and typical local service but no fair shuttle service this year.

I would like to see some A300Ls (or AG300s) on the 18

Nice to hear you got some pics! BTW will you post any here or are they more just personal collection?

Bus Driver Dude, it looks like you got those from in the lot, so were/are you on state fair express duty?

[Bus Driver Dude]

The amount of motorcoaches was surprising, especially the different companies. I was there again today. I got 60+ pics of buses to upload so I'm putting that off till tomorrow. I rode 6001 which is a 1985 Phantom (I was probably the only one enjoying the ride ) I got pictures of the Alex. Dennis Enviro 500, Nova LFX (inside and outside), 1981 GMC RTS II #304 (inside and outside) I don't think it was in service, just there for backup. Also 1507 is ex-MT 377. I asked the Southwest drivers about the buses and they said they were demos, but the Enviro driver said they were testing it. I also found it interesting that MT was only running express and typical local service but no fair shuttle service this year.

I would like to see some A300Ls (or AG300s) on the 18

Nice to hear you got some pics! BTW will you post any here or are they more just personal collection?

Bus Driver Dude, it looks like you got those from in the lot, so were/are you on state fair express duty?

Yes, I saw someone video taping Tuesday night on Como Ave. Was that you? I did the Northtown run Tues. and Wed.

The reason that you see more coaches this year is that Metro Transit lost all the Free Shuttle parking lots. A change in FTA rules said that Metro Transit was not able to do the Free shuttle lots. Here is an article Charter Service: How The New Rule Impacts You

Apparently it is not going very well.Fair buses aren't rolling so smoothly

More Pictures and video from cell phone

[Tcmetro]

I was taking pictures near Como Ave/U of M Transitway between 7-8 pm on Tuesday.

I will post my pics as soon as I can figure out how to get my computer to recognize my camera.

I think that I'm gonna have to go back to find the LFX.

Some of the free shuttles I saw were packed, and some were empty. It seems that they added some park and rides at the last minute, on the I-94/Snelling sign, it also said Midway Hospital, and on another sign "Target" was written below the list of park and rides.

The Star Tribune article makes it seem like Lorenz got the contract for all of the fair service and didn't have enough equipment.

I wonder why the Art Hop wasn't affected by these new FTA rules.

[MVTArider]

Alright, here's some pics from me:

Metro Transit pictures, more Southwest Transit pictures and more Lorenz Transit Bus pictures.

Interesting to see how Metro Transit being unable to supply service for the free shuttles affects everything. I was wondering if I would be in the background of one of those pics since I was there at the same time as the reporter.

Hope your computer will recognize your camera soon Tc

Also nice pics of the fair buses Bus Driver dude! I have a picture of a Northtown bus but I took it Monday.