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Minneapolis "t" Buses....


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Are there any more HF New Flyer D60s left?

You betcha :) I have not been to downtown St. Paul for a week but last time I was there I did see some D60HF's. MT has gotten their new D60LFR's but they seem to be an addition to and not a replacement of the D60HF's in service. I have not seen any of the 1998 HF's lately but I have seen the 2003 HF's in service. I assume the 1998's are just on other routes I don't see. From my observations on the 54 it seems to be 1 or 2 D60LF's 1 or 2 D60HF's and then 1 Gillig Phantom for each of the runs during an hour. I have not yet seen a D60LFR on the 54 but they seem to be used for the 50 and when I was at school earlier this year it was common to see a D60LFR in the bus loop for driver training on the 71. I have also seen quite a few D60HF's in downtown Minneapolis but I don't know which routes.

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I think Heywood is getting BRT's. I saw 1134 and 1139 on the 12C yesterday. I also rode 3057, 3058, and 3059 on the 54, my second, third, and fourth time riding D60LF's on the 54.

On the 444 I noticed the bus shoulders being widened and bus platforms being installed on Hwy. 13...

The 1999 D60LF's are definetly at South. I saw 3060 on Rt. 535 last week.

I kind of like the look of the D60LF's more than the D60LFR's!

I think the D60LF's are really nice. I'm glad they are on the 54 now. They seem to have the exact same engine sound as the Phantoms, the only difference being that nice bit of New Flyer whine.

I think on the NF's the rounded front door looks odd. It will be interesting to see if CTA gets the standard design. I wonder how much more MT is spending on the buses with the more rounded fronts? In my opinion it really doesn't look much better than just the standard designs for Gillig and New Flyer.

I'm tied up with stuff right now but I want to take a ride on 444 eventually and check out the construction. Its nice that its moving along.

By the way, I plan on getting myself a camera soon so I will hopefully be posting some pictures eventually. I'm thinking the State Fair lot would be a nice place for photos :)

Speaking of the fair, I noticed Lorenz is looking for State Fair drivers.

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I was going through my videos and I found my Minneapolis video. It has a lot of video I shot at South Garage, GMC #198, Gilligs #2313, 1532, MAN #1167. This video was shot back in 1999. I also got NF HF #2144 from the top of the parking garage at MOA. I have another video that I shot in 2002 mostly at MOA Transit Ctr. I was there at a good time, it was busy, buses after buses, MT, Bee Line, MVTA Gilligs all are in the video. I wish there was a way I could post this on YouTube. Id love to share this video with other busfans.

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I was going through my videos and I found my Minneapolis video. It has a lot of video I shot at South Garage, GMC #198, Gilligs #2313, 1532, MAN #1167. This video was shot back in 1999. I also got NF HF #2144 from the top of the parking garage at MOA. I have another video that I shot in 2002 mostly at MOA Transit Ctr. I was there at a good time, it was busy, buses after buses, MT, Bee Line, MVTA Gilligs all are in the video. I wish there was a way I could post this on YouTube. Id love to share this video with other busfans.

I have no idea on how to do that, but i'll give it my best shot ;). If the recordings are non-digital you have to 'capture' tham and put them on your computer in a file, and then upload that file to youtube.

Hopefully someone else is more experienced and can help.

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While on 18D this afternoon I passed some brand new Gillig BRT hybrid's, #'s 7141, 7142, 7143 in that order :lol: They were in the new yellow/blue paint scheme and just had "clean air hybrid bus" with the Go Green logo printed on the battery house on the roof. I think at least one was on the 18.

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I saw those new hybrids too. I think I saw 3258 on rt. 652?! I also saw BRT's #1137 on 643, 1146 on rt. 10, 1143 on rt. 7,

I also went to get the Northstar fleet numbers, I got D4500 #1122 on Rt. 888.

While at the Northstar layover across the street was the megabus stop with 4 buses for one trip! 2 double deckers and 2 D4505's (one was megabus and the other was Coach USA).

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4 buses for one trip on MegaBus! Nice! :) I want to take a trip on MegaBus sometime just to try it out, I think I will avoid a major holiday though :lol: So if the Northstar Coach is 1122 and I noticed a SouthWest Metro Transit Gillig BRT bus # 609? I guess they are separate from the MVTA/M.T./contractor no #'s the same thing those groups seem to have going.

BTW even as a bus fan the trip I took on 18D sucked :( that bus was so late that the 18D behind us passed us about the middle of the route. The worse part was the only reason I was on was to try to ride another hybrid :lol: It was a good thing it was a Phantom (510) though since it was standing room only until around the bus garage. It was cool to see all the new hybrids though, although honestly I think they are poorly suited to the crowds they have to pick up. Hopefully I will have better luck next time.

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I have been writing down the fleet info for SWTransit over the past month when I have time. 600-604 are 2006 D40LFR's and 605-614 are 2006 Gillig BRT's, I am not sure if these are correct. Also bus transfers on SW Transit buses list them as 5xxx (whatever the bus number is) so it is like how MVTA used to be, they just haven't put the 5 on them yet.

The 10, 18, and 21 can get very full. For example yesterday at about 8 pm the 21 was packed. The hybrids will just make the crowding worse.

The Megabus isn't that bad. I can't comment on the speed of the service, because the 2 times I have rode it were major snowstorms. Hopefully some of the crowding is down now that there is 4 trips to Minneapolis.

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Putting together the pieces for bus fleet starting #'s here, (based on four digit #'s)

MT: 0,1,22,23,3, and 7.

MVTA: 4,9* (*until the BlueBirds are retired.)

SWMT: 5

Plymouth Metrolinks: 21

Maple Grove Transit: MG

contractor equipment and BeLine: 6

Blue Express: ?

NorthStar: 1

Small batch of Cutaways that seem to be M.I.A.: 8*

*There was that one group of cutaways that were around for about a year (I think) and then they seemed to disappear. They started with 80 and there was three (I think) in MVTA's fleet and at least one for the 540 operator. I think they came in in 2005 and I did ride on 8020 on the 445 a few times. But I have not seen them since, even though MVTA still has some 2002 cutaways in service. Probably some problem with the design.

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4228 and 4229 were in service today on the 445 along with 4685 and 4686 (all Startrans Senator cutaways).

I used to ride the 540 everyday and there was 8016 and some others.

Some Plymouth Metrolink buses are 2600's (the D40LF's).

The Shakopee/Blue Express Bus are 4500's, I think.

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My bad :D I missed the 2600's for P.M.L. when I put the list together. I wonder if the front door lift on the 80xx buses had problems? That would pull them out of service pretty quick. BTW for the cutaways those 2006 ones MVTA has are pretty nice IMO. I still haven't ridden one of the larger 2007 ones yet. I still prefer to ride "real" buses though.

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Yep, saw 3206 which was definitely a NF HF on the Fox9 news blurb about higher fare hearings. Didn't show the route it was on though. I wonder if they have any older bus clips still in stock... I remember 5 had a clip of a red stripe Gillig Phantom a couple months ago.

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^^ No, some of their Blue Birds are 2100 series.

Okay. I know that the MTC first went with New Flyer with a 25-bus order (2100-2124) in 1991 or thereabouts, and then sold some of those buses off to Plymouth Metrolink and Maple Grove Transit.

On a tangent, if I'm not mistaken, PM ran New Looks well into the 90s, correct?

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Okay. I know that the MTC first went with New Flyer with a 25-bus order (2100-2124) in 1991 or thereabouts, and then sold some of those buses off to Plymouth Metrolink and Maple Grove Transit.

On a tangent, if I'm not mistaken, PM ran New Looks well into the 90s, correct?

I would have no idea. I know that Medicine Lake Lines and MTC/Metro Transit were the contractors though. MLL had RTS' buses.

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Here are some photos I took with a disposable camera that I had developed onto a CD. I took these when my Dad and I stopped in Cannon Falls on the way to Chicago last time so they are only a couple weeks old. The place these buses are at is sort of a makeshift bus sales lot and storage area for someone's collection. (I am not positive but I think this is where the owners of RCL keeps their old buses. I know they like to hang on to old buses to have parts and vehicles for folks interested in preserving them.) Most of the buses are ex-Rochester City Lines but there are also ex-MT and a couple from other cities too. I will try to get more pics the next time I go that way.

post-367-1215564326_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564362_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564392_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564425_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564460_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564501_thumb.jpg

With the MAN/AMgeneral artics the first one with orange/red stripe had a painted over sign that said "Dayton Shopper" The second one had the original all red paint with a "T" symbol on the side. The yellow one was painted for RichField Lines and had pretty good looking interior from what I could tell through the windows. It also had a state inspection sticker for 2005 (or 2004) so it was probably in service for something not too long ago. The RTS is ex-RCL.

I also have a few more pics of stuff on the lot that I will try to add later.

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I figured I would add in the repaints I saw today while out and about and I am including them with the ones you mentioned, TC, so we can just keep updating the list.

707-709, 712,713,737,738,825,828,831,832,833,847,852,854,858

I got to start remembering to bring a pencil and paper to write these down :) I saw more repaints but cannot remember the #'s. I wonder when they repaint the LRT cars?

<Note: italicized #'s have been added when reported later in this thread.>

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Nice pics and finds!

The RCL people also own Richfield Bus Company on 92nd and Grand in Bloomington. They have some New Looks and Old Looks and some MCI's.

A couple weeks ago I said I would get some pics. I used a disposable camera and they didn't come out the way I like, so I didn't post them.

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Here are some photos I took with a disposable camera that I had developed onto a CD. I took these when my Dad and I stopped in Cannon Falls on the way to Chicago last time so they are only a couple weeks old. The place these buses are at is sort of a makeshift bus sales lot and storage area for someone's collection. (I am not positive but I think this is where the owners of RCL keeps their old buses. I know they like to hang on to old buses to have parts and vehicles for folks interested in preserving them.) Most of the buses are ex-Rochester City Lines but there are also ex-MT and a couple from other cities too. I will try to get more pics the next time I go that way.

post-367-1215564326_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564362_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564392_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564425_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564460_thumb.jpg post-367-1215564501_thumb.jpg

With the MAN/AMgeneral artics the first one with orange/red stripe had a painted over sign that said "Dayton Shopper" The second one had the original all red paint with a "T" symbol on the side. The yellow one was painted for RichField Lines and had pretty good looking interior from what I could tell through the windows. It also had a state inspection sticker for 2005 (or 2004) so it was probably in service for something not too long ago. The RTS is ex-RCL.

I also have a few more pics of stuff on the lot that I will try to add later.

The MAN Artic with the black paint and orange, yellow and red looks to be an ex Los Angeles RTD bus.

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I'm guessing they might have used the MAN bus with the orange/red/black for parts on the others. I have a few more photos of the lot and will try to add them tomorrow if i have time BTW.

So they still actually have some new and old look buses? I saw some pics on their website but I assumed they were retired. I remember seeing an old bus going by on WCCO so I bet that was one.

I know RichField Lines does the commuter trips from 28th st. station to Rochester, RCL and RL also seem to be connected to Heartland tours.

I'll try to get pics of some MT and MVTA buses eventually. I think after reading what happened to Buslover with CTA I will look for parked buses at the end of the lines, or take photos from a small distance.

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The second one had the original all red paint with a "T" symbol on the side. The yellow one was painted for RichField Lines and had pretty good looking interior from what I could tell through the windows. It also had a state inspection sticker for 2005 (or 2004) so it was probably in service for something not too long ago. The RTS is ex-RCL.

I also have a few more pics of stuff on the lot that I will try to add later.

Holy crazy nuts, man...I've ridden 1016...usually they ran the articulateds on high-ridership express routes, but when I was younger and worked in Downtown Minneapolis, one day 1016 magically showed up on the 12H (old express branch of then-Mpls. Route 12 that went deep out into Minnetonka - now covered by the 664) I rode it a block where it promptly broke down and we all were ejected from the bus and had to pack ourselves into an 1100-series Americana with no AC on the 12J. Fun times!

Those AM Generals had LOUD AC...like, three or four blocks down the street loud.

Excellent find. I'm guessing there were no Americanas lying about, cuz I'm sure you would've snagged a few pics...

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Thats neat that you've ridden 1016! I think I have been on 1016 the Phantom myself :lol: There were not any Americanas outside but I would not be surprised if there was one in the garages, which were pretty large. Anyways heres the other photos I took that came out well and a couple that my dad took on his camera too.

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The bus next to the MAN's says "Greater Portland Transportation" or something like that, I don't know where the white GM was from but there was another one that had a painted over Metro sign, Dallas? The bus next to the red/creme "t" bus is an ex-DTA bus.

There were also a bunch of cool buses in the backyard that I saw the first time I stopped by. I didn't get any pics of them from this trip since I ran out of film but there was an ex- The Ride Denver Gillig Phantom which I think was a First Transit bus. There was also # 1974 MT Gillig Phantom as well. There were a bunch of ex-RCL buses too.

After we left that lot and headed down towards Rochester we also saw a group of old New Flyer 40 fts parked at some truck place. If they are still around I will try to get a picture of those too next time I'm down that way, which may not be for a while.

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