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Buses retired prematurely

 
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DE60LF




Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 142
Location: Albuquerque, NM

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:55 pm    Post subject: Buses retired prematurely Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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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