BusTalk

[Q65A]

A job-related meeting took me to Midtown today.
I was a bit early, so I had the time to walk uptown from Penn Station to Grand Central Terminal via 5th Avenue and E. 42 St.
I was absolutely amazed by the total lack of RTS sightings on this brief 30-min. journey!
Not long ago, 5th and Madison Aves. were loaded with RTS's, as were 34 and 42 Sts., but today all I saw were Orion VII HEV's (both OG & NG) and MCI Cruisers of various vintages (plus the ubiquitous open-topped Alexander and SBM sightseeing doubledeckers).
I even saw an old, well-used Orion I (operating in private, Diamond District service) making its way down 5th Avenue, yet not a single RTS
Now that the GMC and TMC RTS's are history, NYC has about 1300 NovaBus RTS-06's plying the streets.
My sense is that the RTS still is alive and well in the Brooklyn Division, at JA and QV in the Queens Division, and at certain MTAB depots. Both the Bronx and Staten Island Divisions already have lost their RTS's, and it appears that the Manhattan Division is not far behind.
Today's visit reminded me that, as with the Fishbowls and Flx New Looks they replace, even the stalwart RTS is in its golden years in Gotham.

[RailBus63]

I noticed the same thing on my most recent trip to Manhattan in July - I spotted only five RTS's in two days among the dozens of MTA buses seen. Barring an unexpected return from other depots, the days of the RTS on the streets and avenues of Manhattan are numbered.