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Centro's 2012 bus order from Orion

 
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:25 pm    Post subject: Centro's 2012 bus order from Orion Reply with quote

The first buses from Centro's 2012 order of 62 buses from Orion have now entered service. The order consists of 56 40-foot CNG buses for Syracuse, five 35-foot diesel buses for Utica and one 30-foot diesel bus for Rome. These buses will replace all of the authority's remaining Orion V buses from 1999-2000 (9900-9977 in Syracuse, 583-604 in Utica and 2099-2499 in Rome). The Syracuse order has arrived first and starts with 1200, so presumably these will be 1200-1255. They entered service in late August on the State Fair shuttle routes and saw only very limited service on the regular routes through the Labor Day weekend. The end of the fair coincided with the opening of the new downtown Transfer Hub in Syracuse on September 4th and since then the 1200's have been used on various routes. So far this week the highest number I've spotted in service is #1216.

Notably, the 1200's have also introduced a new paint scheme for Centro and a new slogan: "Centro - Easy to use, hard to beat":


Centro #1202 at the new Transfer Hub on opening day, September 4, 2012

Presumably the Utica buses and the Rome bus will also feature this new scheme. There is no indication if Centro will repaint any older buses to match - traditionally, they have not done so when new buses arrive (the Orion V diesels from 1992-94 kept their two-tone blue scheme even after the newer Novas and Orions arrived in the white wave scheme in the late 1990's).

One other interesting note - the July meeting minutes from the Centro board meeting noted that the authority had been approached by Orion regarding the availability for purchase of three surplus buses at a discounted price. Presumably these are the pilot buses that were built for MTA Bus in New York City prior to that order being assigned to rival New Flyer in the wake of Daimler's decision to shut down Orion. It will be interesting to learn what Centro's decision is, and if the answer is yes if these buses will be different in any way from the 1200's.

Jim D.
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
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Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not bad-looking (the new color scheme). White LED signs, good also. Will keep on looking good if they don't cover up the graphics with bus ads.

Timecruncher

BTW - Motor Bus Society is heading to Syracuse in October. I don't think I will be able to come along - new struts for the Sienna will cost about what the trip to Buffalo would cost, dang!
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Bassman



Age: 55
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought Orion went belly up?
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timecruncher



Age: 73
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Diamler shut down Orion, but they pledged to finish all of their orders. I understand that the last of their buses were finished by New Flyer at their Winnepeg or Grand Forks facilities.

timecruncher
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orion is completing the orders for CNYRTA and NICE on Long Island, plus supposedly at least one other customers. Orders for the MTA in NYC and Des Moines were 'assigned' to New Flyer (I presume this means that NFI is agreeing to provide its buses at the same cost as Orion).

Jim D.
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daimlerbuses



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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once again, the Des Moines order was not re-assigned by Orion. The original order was for 6 hybrids and 5 diesel Orion VIIs in a mix of 30 and 40 foot lengths. Orion said they would only build the 5 diesel VIIs and not the 6 hybrid VIIs as planned, so DART investigated their options as they needed the buses. So 2 35' and 4 40' Xcelsior hybrids are being purchased off a Minnesota contract.
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

daimlerbuses wrote:
Once again, the Des Moines order was not re-assigned by Orion. The original order was for 6 hybrids and 5 diesel Orion VIIs in a mix of 30 and 40 foot lengths. Orion said they would only build the 5 diesel VIIs and not the 6 hybrid VIIs as planned, so DART investigated their options as they needed the buses. So 2 35' and 4 40' Xcelsior hybrids are being purchased off a Minnesota contract.


Thanks for the clarification and sorry if I was passing around incorrect information. There seems to be so much misinformation on the enthusiast boards about Orion's remaining orders - do you have any further actual information you can share?

Jim
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