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CENTRO Orion VII NG (now with photos)

 
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daimlerbuses



Age: 31
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:30 am    Post subject: CENTRO Orion VII NG (now with photos) Reply with quote

Over the past few days I have seen several CENTRO Orion VII NG CNG shells around Orion here in Mississauga, units 2104, 2105, and 2107 which are waiting to be shipped to the Oriskany plant for completion. These units are 40' length, swing out doors, tip in passenger windows, and Carrier A/C units. CENTRO ordered 18 of these and a 35 foot Orion VII diesel bus for the VIP Transit system in Rome.

#2101 is at the Orion Oriskany facility undergoing final preparations and testing a nd they hope to have it in CENTRO's hands third week of Feburary from what I was told...

Thought RailBus63 might be happy to read this Smile

-Ryan
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:46 pm    Post subject: Re: CENTRO Orion VII NG Reply with quote

Quote:
Thought RailBus63 might be happy to read this Smile


Indeed - thanks for the heads-up!
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just thinking about this - the 2100 series doesn’t make sense to me for this order. Centro started its year-based number scheme in 1997, shortly after the Nova RTS's arrived (the ones which will be replaced by the new NG's). The RTS's were delivered as #560-577 (numbered on top of existing Orion V CNG's #550-558), but were renumbered 9760-9777 shortly after entering service. The pattern of using the last two digits of the year for the series continued for several orders of cutaways and the big Orion V CNG order (9900-9977) in 1998-99. After 2000, though, Centro avoided having bus numbers beginning in ‘0’ by changing to a numbering scheme in which the first and last digit of the year became the series – thus, the 2004 order of New Flyer D30LF’s became #2400-2409, and this has carried forward through the 2900-series buses in 2009.

By this logic, the 2100-series should have been used for buses built in 2001, not 2010. Unless they went to a five-digit number series (i.e., 21001-21017), there is no way to logically continue the current numbering scheme. Going back to the previous system of using the last two numbers of the year would make sense now – the new buses could be numbered #1000-1017.
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daimlerbuses



Age: 31
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RailBus63 wrote:
Just thinking about this - the 2100 series doesn’t make sense to me for this order. Centro started its year-based number scheme in 1997, shortly after the Nova RTS's arrived (the ones which will be replaced by the new NG's). The RTS's were delivered as #560-577 (numbered on top of existing Orion V CNG's #550-558), but were renumbered 9760-9777 shortly after entering service. The pattern of using the last two digits of the year for the series continued for several orders of cutaways and the big Orion V CNG order (9900-9977) in 1998-99. After 2000, though, Centro avoided having bus numbers beginning in ‘0’ by changing to a numbering scheme in which the first and last digit of the year became the series – thus, the 2004 order of New Flyer D30LF’s became #2400-2409, and this has carried forward through the 2900-series buses in 2009.

By this logic, the 2100-series should have been used for buses built in 2001, not 2010. Unless they went to a five-digit number series (i.e., 21001-21017), there is no way to logically continue the current numbering scheme. Going back to the previous system of using the last two numbers of the year would make sense now – the new buses could be numbered #1000-1017.

Keep in mind a lot of the times the manufacturer will apply the numbers in error, or someone will jump the gun and give the manufacturer the unit numbers before it's really decided on. It's usually corrected prior to delivery.
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My son called me - his high-school class is on a field trip to Syracuse University and he just spotted new Centro Orion VII NG #1000 going past the pizza shop where they were having lunch.
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orion VII #1000 is now in service. These photos were taken this morning in downtown Syracuse (click on the images to go to the gallery page).



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timecruncher



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Please tell me that in this era of tight funding they didn't purchase CNG buses?

timecruncher
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

timecruncher wrote:
Please tell me that in this era of tight funding they didn't purchase CNG buses?


Centro was actually going to purchase only hybrid buses in the future (and actually had an option order ready to go for more Gillig hybrids), but went with CNG instead due to funding concerns. Part of the decision was also based on amortizing the investment in a CNG fueling station ten years ago when the first big order of gas buses was purchased (most of the current Syracuse fleet is CNG).
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timecruncher



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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even hybrids are an exhorbitant investment. They're nice and quiet, run great (in my experience) and ride better than the straight diesels, but the cost is not in any way recoverable in reduced fuel usage over the life of the bus.

CNG is even worse, because the buses cost almost as much as a hybrid, require a special fueling station and have 1/2 the range of a straight diesel with 125-gallon fuel tank.

And the difference in emissions is not measurable in any way. Its just more spend and waste that the transit industry simply cannot afford in this day and age.

timecruncher
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know how accurate these numbers are, but this 2008 report shows the following purchase price comparison based on Montgomery County, Maryland figures -

Hybrid - $497,000
CNG - $383,000
Diesel - $323,000
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Several additional buses are now in service - I spotted 1004, 1005 and 1007 this morning. The production buses have an Orion logo on the back, at the bottom right of the black area.

I was a bit disappointed to see 1004 was already being used on a school run Mad
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