BusTalk

timecruncher · Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 12:42 pm Post subject:

Hrm. Here's one of the Las Vegas NABI units at the APTA Expo last year.

I'll be durned! That is a low floor. Still pretty strange-looking from the front, like NJT's highfloor NABI units. I do like the flush-window treatment. Our Gilligs have been set up that way since 2007. It helps the appearance greatly, and keeps people from hanging out of the sliding-sash windows on hot days!

Striking color scheme that would only work out there in the bright sunlight of southern Nevada, eh?

timecruncher

ripta42 · Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:40 pm Post subject:

novabuslfsafan · Joined: 24 Oct 2009 Posts: 19

Lothian · Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 14

I'm getting off topic, but seeing that APTA demo photo above prompts the question... what went on in Orlando at APTA 2009 and have any photos been made public? Were there any demo buses like in previous years? I haven't heard or seen anything from it this far.

timecruncher · Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:15 pm Post subject:

The APTA annual meeting is, well, annual. The Expo occurs only every third year. The next Expo will be in N'awlins in 2011. It will still be held in October, and I will attend as usual.

Pretty much anyone in the industry can attend the Expo -- it is free, but you do have to register ahead of time and get credentials. There are bus enthusiasts there (you can tell them pretty readily from the transit management/admin types!), and there are lots and lots of vendors in attendance, showing their newest and greatest.

There's even stuff for timecrunchers such as the latest and um, greatest from the Trapeze Software and Giro/Hastus Software people who cater to us nerds in the industry.

timecruncher
[i]I didn't mess up your run. The computer did it![i/]

Lothian · Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 14

ripta42 · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:16 am Post subject:

BusCon is every year.

ripta42 · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:18 am Post subject:

novabuslfsafan · Joined: 24 Oct 2009 Posts: 19

ripta42 · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:03 am Post subject:

AFAIK, Carpenter still owns the rights and tooling, so no, they're not "gone forever." Another company called West Coach International, started by former Crown employees, is still making parts for Crown buses.

gmnewlook · Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject:

After going to Trans-Expo 2009 here in Monteral on Tuesday and seeing the New Flyer Xcelsior demo, my vote goes to New Flyer. And my favorite model built in the 21st century is the Xcelsior. Of course, my all-time favorite is, of course, the GMC New Look. Smile

Steve Carras · Age: 63 Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 63

I vote a tie between two not on there, the out of business Crowns, and I don't care what ANYONE says, no one has repriduced them [more below and in Ript42's reply] and GMC

[quote="novabuslfsafan"]

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:16 am Post subject:

I miss the old Crowns of the Los Angeles Unified School District (and they had loads of them).

What I miss most were the GM either 4-71 or 6-71 (I'm not sure on that point) Diesels with mechanical transmissions.

If I'd see one on the street, I'd try to get up as close as possible at a light so that I could here the roar of the engine in acceleration and the RPM drop downs between shifts - that was music to my ears!

Personally, I think they were a pretty solid bus, and their years of service in L.A. goes to prove that!

Photo borrowed for educational purposes only

Mr. Linsky - GREEN BUS LINES, Inc., Jamaica, NY

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Mr "L" -

Concur. The charm of the CROWN being it flourished in the by gone era when California deemed The Promised Land. It was plain to anyone who looked,
the coaches addressed some quite high demands and standards of the State School Districts. The design worked with the realities the coaches needed
to run on a lot more than best of freeway engineered roads, too...

Compared with coaches routinely used in other areas of the Nation, realizing what the CROWN was could be a mind altering experience...

Note GILLIG bought the earlier KENWORTH line. Perhaps to buy the "corporate culture" of how to build sturdy, solid coaches, too?

..................Vern................

Steve Carras · Age: 63 Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 63

Mr.L and Hwy, I could not concur more. Fortunately, Maybe Mr.L hasn;t bene in LA, becuase those buses ARE still there, and yes the acceleration, and engine drops in rpm in conjunction with manual gear shifting was music to MY ears, TOO.