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DE60LF
Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 142 Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: Buses retired prematurely |
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I wonder, why are some transit authorities today are prematurely retiring some buses less than 10 years old?
I know that Santa Fe Trails of Santa Fe is already looking at replacing their Blue Bird CSRE CNG fleet. They did have a contract with Millennium Transit to replace the fleet, but those orders were cancelled. I have heard that they will temporarily lease diesel buses from a California manufacturer, presumably that would be Gillig.
Santa Fe's Blue Birds were mostly delivered in 2001. While I understand that the Blue Bird CSRE is a medium-duty bus with a school bus-based platform, many transit authorities have been operating their Gillig Phantoms for much longer. The Gillig Phantom, like the Blue Bird CSRE, uses a school bus-based platform.
Also, AC Transit is looking to trade in their NABI buses for Van Hools. They want to go to an all-Van Hool fleet.
So, why would a city such as Santa Fe retire their existing fleet prematurely? Is it a reliability issue with the buses? Also, I don't really know what would prevent them from ordering CNG buses directly from New Flyer, Orion, or NABI. I know Gillig is a company who specializes in smaller TAs, however, they don't make CNG buses. Also, I wonder, will the leased fleet if it is Gillig be the Gillig Phantom, Advantage, or BRT? |
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The Port of Authority
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 118 Location: Hong Kong
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:07 am Post subject: |
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Unrelated: when will Santa Fe get rid of its Blue Birds? I might be taking a trip through that general area soon, and it would be nice if they had "real" buses there... |
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DE60LF
Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 142 Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:27 am Post subject: |
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The Port of Authority wrote: | Unrelated: when will Santa Fe get rid of its Blue Birds? I might be taking a trip through that general area soon, and it would be nice if they had "real" buses there... |
Unfortunately, I do not have any info on that. The article that this info was posted was last August, and it stated that they will be delivered in six to eight months. I haven't been to Santa Fe in a while, so I don't know if they are already in service. Since these diesel buses will only be leased temporarily, Santa Fe Trails will eventually be looking for new CNG buses. As I stated, they did have a contract with Millennium, but they coudn't complete the order in time.
However, I am wondering, why do they still want CNG buses? In addition to New Flyer, Orion, and NABI, ElDorado also produces CNG buses. However, instead of CNG, they could go the diesel-electric hybrid route instead like ABQ RIDE is doing.
When Santa Fe Trails eventually makes their order for new CNG buses, I wonder who will they go with, and will the buses be low-floors or high-floors? |
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