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PHOTOS - Boston's Neoplan trackless trolleys

 
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:18 am    Post subject: PHOTOS - Boston's Neoplan trackless trolleys Reply with quote

Boston's MBTA purchased 28 low-floor trackless trolleys from Neoplan in 2004 (#4101-4128). The coaches were purchased for use on the four remaining trolley coach routes that operate out of the Harvard Square bus tunnel, and like the Flyer E800's they replaced these buses are equipped with left-hand doors. The left doors were a point of contention between manufacturer and customer - Neoplan insisted at first that it could not be done, and the pilot coach did not have this feature. The MBTA persisted, though, and tradition won the day. The buses also have a side destination sign on the left side for the benefit of passengers boarding from that side.

The first photo shows coach 4125 approaching the Harvard tunnel shortly after it entered service in 2004. The second photo shows coaches 4104 and 4119 operating on the new Silver Line Waterfront BRT route later that year. The new route was Boston first new trackless trolley line in 45 years, and it became necessary to use 12 of the Cambridge coaches when the special Neoplan dual-mode articulated buses were not ready in time. The paint scheme shown was actually a wrap - the coaches had their regular yellow scheme underneath.

(Click on the images to go to the gallery page and see a larger version)





Enjoy!

Jim D
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The Don of All Buses



Age: 36
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
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Location: Yonkers, NY

PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

that left side door is catchy! i wonder if TAs could order oh... say a gillig phantom with a left door on it. that would come in handy on NYCs one way streets. people could wait for the bus on either side of the street.
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Waynejay



Age: 58
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: Silver Spring, MD

PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Don of All Buses wrote:
that left side door is catchy! i wonder if TAs could order oh... say a gillig phantom with a left door on it. that would come in handy on NYCs one way streets. people could wait for the bus on either side of the street.


Not sure that would be a good idea. Are you thinking that at each stop on one-way streets, there would be a stop on each side? I'm thinking this would not work and be dangerous for passengers on the street side and/or the bus would have to dart back and forth for left and conventional right side stops. Also, outside of Manhattan most NYCTA routes are on two-way streets.
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The Port of Authority




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 118
Location: Hong Kong

PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The left hand doors are solely for use in the Harvard bus tunnel, where the platform is on the left side of the bus. Otherwise, the buses load and unload from the right side only.
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The Don of All Buses



Age: 36
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 113
Location: Yonkers, NY

PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Waynejay wrote:
The Don of All Buses wrote:
that left side door is catchy! i wonder if TAs could order oh... say a gillig phantom with a left door on it. that would come in handy on NYCs one way streets. people could wait for the bus on either side of the street.


Not sure that would be a good idea. Are you thinking that at each stop on one-way streets, there would be a stop on each side? I'm thinking this would not work and be dangerous for passengers on the street side and/or the bus would have to dart back and forth for left and conventional right side stops. Also, outside of Manhattan most NYCTA routes are on two-way streets.


ok, I didn't see it like that, it was a thought....
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