BusTalk

[RailBus63]

My son and I had an opportunity on Saturday to visit Binghamton and see what’s new on the Broome County Transit system. BC Transit operates 15 of its routes on Saturday, several of which are shuttles, and by my count had 14 buses on the street that day. Most routes had hourly service, with four routes sharing buses and running on a 120-minute headway. A copy of the system map can be viewed here.

The bulk of the BC Transit fleet is made up of a fleet of 23 Orion VI buses purchased in 2000 and numbered in the 800-series. 11 of the 14 buses out on Saturday were 800’s.

(Click on the photos to go to the gallery page and see larger versions of each)

Many of the buses have full or partial advertising wraps – 809 is typical as seen here passing the Red Robin Diner, a classic stainless-steel diner on Main St. in nearby Johnson City:



813 was one of the few buses with no ad wraps – seen here at Court St. and Hawley St. in downtown Binghamton with the bridge over the Susquehanna River in the background.



The newest buses in the BC Transit fleet are six Orion VII Next Generation hybrids delivered in 2009 and numbered in the 100-series. It was politically important for BC Transit to buy Orion hybrids since BAE Systems, the manufacturer of the hybrid powerplant used in Orion buses, is located in Johnson City. Broome County had been part of the upstate hybrid bus consortium a few years ago, but dropped out when that contract was awarded to Gillig. The six new Orion buses were purchased using an available option from an earlier San Francisco Muni order.

Here is 101 on Court St. in downtown Binghamton heading outbound on a route 23 run.



103 wears a wrap commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Twilight Zone television series and its creator, local native Rod Serling. The bus is seen turning from Court St. onto Hawley St. on the last leg of its route 7/17 run to B.C. Junction, the system’s transfer point east of downtown.



BC Transit also has Orion V buses built in 1996 (numbered in the 500-series) and also several second-hand 1996 Orion VI buses purchased used from the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA). None of these buses were out on the road during our visit.

Thanks for reading!

Jim D.

[timecruncher]

Nice stuff. Broome County doesn't have much bus service, so I'm suprised to see 40-foot buses running around the area. Not suprised that there are so many Orion products represented.

timecruncher