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More Airzona Sunshine

 
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2009 9:17 pm    Post subject: More Airzona Sunshine Reply with quote

The second day of the conference we were treated to a tour of Sun Tran's facility on the south side of town. The system is run by Veolia, who has been involved in transit here for a number of years.

The tour always uses their newest equipment. This year it included two of their new BRT Gillig low-floor coaches.



As you walk into their general office, the receptionist area has this display case with a number of Mark Hart's beautiful models.



It took me a minute to compose myself after seeing those!

Going through the shop area, we saw mostly the stuff you would see at any bus garage, except that they were "repainting" an RTS08 by wrapping it. I've never seen that done, but the result is remarkable, and probably a lot less costly and time-consuming than a complete repaint. The bus being wrapped was delivered in 2000:



And the finished product:



I'll finish up with a few photos at their downtown transit center. A busy place, it has outgrown itself as Sun Tran continues to add service.







They're running older RTS models, Nova RTS, Neoplan AN440s, New Flyer D40s (high floor), and have three or four groups of Gillig low floor coaches in the fleet. Something for everyone!

And yes, they're adding service while the rest of us are cutting service. By the end of the year, they hope to halve headways on all routes -- and they already have decent service throughout most of the city. They're opening a second operating division on the northwest side of town, and expect to add 160 driver positions by the end of the year.

If you can stand the heat -- and it IS HOT AS HECK down there, its probably as good a place as any to begin a bus driving career. Your sinuses will love you for it, anyway!

timecruncher -- back in the humid Ohio Valley again...
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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the tour, Cliff. The concept of repainting by 'wrapping' is interesting, although most wrap jobs I've seen tend to exhibit small tears and other wear by the second to third year.
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Cyberider




Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 501
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for sharing the Tucson bus photos. Love the models! They're about the nicest I've ever seen. BTW, I'm in Phoenix where it's even hotter. Crying or Very sad
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hot. I mean HOT!!

It 'only' made it 101 on Sunday while I was in Phoenix, but it felt like 115 walking down the sidewalk!

Yeesh! How do you live there 'year round?

Mark is a former Tuscon bus operator. He built all of the large bus models shown (the small ones on the top shelf are commercially available plastic toy banks). These are top-notch resin castings that he paints in authentic colors.

I've since learned that the Old Pueblo Bus Museum exists in Tuscon, and I'll have to visit their site when I get there next year -- if the budget allows me to go there...

timecruncher
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AZNABIman



Age: 38
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice pics of my former home transit authority. I am shocked to see that TMC RTS in the 2nd to last photo. The vast majority of the TMCs have been retired since 2005 but they seem to have several of them scattered around town (as well as most of the retired Neoplans in a lot near the airport). Once in a blue moon it seems that they rotate those parked TMCs in and out of service.
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