Category Archives: Bus Photo of the Month

Bus Photo of the Month: February 2022

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New Flyer D60LFR 3314

Location: Forbes Avenue at Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: November 27, 2015

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2022

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New Flyer XE40 1001

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Chevy Chase, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: October 24, 2019

The number of electric buses in the United States has been increasing in recent years, and 2022 is only going to continue that trend.  In mid-2021, the American Public Transportation Association estimated that about 1,000 of nearly 73,000 public buses was powered by electricity.  The number of agencies that have purchased electric buses for their fleets continues to rise, and some have committed to only purchasing electric buses in order to make their fleets emission free.  

In the Washington, DC area, WMATA, the largest agency in the region, currently has a single electric bus that entered service in 2016.  Pre-pandemic, it operated during rush hours only on routes in Northwest Washington.  After receiving some public criticism from the likes of the Sierra Club for not adopting a plan to convert the fleet to electric vehicles sooner, in December, WMATA announced a plan to convert its fleet to be fully electric vehicles by 2045.  Ten buses purchased as part of the agency’s Battery-Electric Bus Test and Evaluation Program are expected to enter service at the Shepherd Parkway Division later this year.

WMATA isn’t the only agency with electric buses in the DC area.  DC Circulator has been operating a fleet of Proterra electric buses since May 2018.  Ride On’s first electric buses, also Proterras, entered service in the fall of 2020.  DASH in Alexandria, VA introduced New Flyer XE40s in the fall of 2020 and Proterras during the summer of 2021.  Finally, in Frederick, MD, TransIT purchased five Gillig Advantage low floor buses that were converted to operate using battery electric power in 2016 and an additional four BYD K7M buses in 2020.

Although the upfront cost of purchasing an electric bus is higher than that of a standard diesel or diesel-electric hybrid, electric buses often have much lower maintenance costs.  Therefore, over the life of an electric bus, its “true cost” is lower than that of conventionally powered buses.  

For more photos of WMATA’s New Flyer XE40 Buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: December 2021

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Orion VII/HEV 6735

Location: East 79th Street & Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: May 8, 2017

With the gradual retirement of the RTS buses that had been a mainstay on the streets of New York for decades, the Orion VII became the most prevalent bus in the Big Apple.  Although the Orion VII is not on the verge of being entirely removed from service, the number of buses in the “original” style of construction is dwindling.  As of this writing, some depots have fewer than 10 buses of this style available for service.  Since the “Next Generation” model of the Orion VII was introduced in 2007 and a transit bus in the United States is typically in service for between 12 and 15 years, it is not surprising to see that the last of the Orion VIIs to be built using the original design are being retired.  

Although the original Orion VII design was quite boxy and not particurily streamlined, I actually prefer it over the “Next Generation” design.  To me, the latter looks like a poor imitation of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro models frequently found in Europe, and just doesn’t look right as a US bus model.  Which one do you prefer?

For more photos of MTA New York City Transit’s Orion VII buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: December 2021

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Bombardier Type 1 LRV 110

Location: Old Town/Chinatown Station, Portland, OR
Operator of Vehicle: TriMet
Date of Photo: August 2, 2007

Recently, TriMet shared photos of its Type 6 rolling stock, currently being manufactured by Siemens.  The 26 Type 6 LRVs are expected to enter in service in 2022, replacing the original 26 Type 1 LRV cars ordered for the opening of the Portland light rail network in 1986.  These cars, the only Portland LRV cars to not be manufactured by Siemens, have seen a number of changes over the course of their 35 year careers.  Originally, they came equipped with stop request cords that passengers had to use in order to have the train operator stop at stations to alight, just like on a bus.  The Type 1s also lacked air conditioning until it was added during a retrofit in the late 1990s.  More recently, most of the fleet underwent a body overhaul program carried out by Trimet employees.  Finally, the Type 1s had their rollsigns replaced with LED signage in 2016 and 2017.  

When I was in Portland in 2007, the Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 cars were the only ones in service.  I have yet to visit Portland since the Type 4 and Type 5 cars entered service.  The Type 6 cars will be almost identical to the Type 5 cars, but will have cabs at each end of the car, rather than just at one end.

For more photos of Trimet MAX Light Rail Rolling Stock, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2021

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MAN NG-363F 44420

Location: David Remez at the Old Train Station, Jerusalem, Israel
Operator of Vehicle: Egged
Date of Photo: May 25, 2018

In many places, bus systems are operated on a tender basis by various companies.  In these systems, a transportation ministry or some other oversight entity puts out a call for bids from interested parties to operate the service.  The idea is that the cost of operating the service will be lower if it is operated by a transportation company rather than directly by the oversight agency.  Sometimes, a company is able to maintain its tender for many years, and it is notable when a change in operator occurs.  

Egged had a near monopoly on bus services within Israel for many years, though in the past twenty years or so, many other companies have won tenders that Egged historically operated.  However, Jerusalem intracity service remained with Egged, as it had dating back to some of Egged’s predecessor companies that merged when Egged was formed.  This Friday, the second phase of transitioning some of Jerusalem’s intracity service to other companies will take effect.  In July, Superbus took over four routes serving the Old City and started operating a new route to the Old City as well.  This Friday, three new routes will be established, and two routes, 74 and 75, will transfer from Egged to Superbus.  The 74 and 75 are not nearly as “historical” as some other transport routes in the city, but the 74 is notable for being the first “rapid” route to be launched in the city back in 2008.  Seeing Superbus vehicles on this route, rather than Egged vehicles, is certainly going to take some getting used to.

For more photos of Jerusalem MAN NG-363F Buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: October 2021

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New Flyer DE40LFR 976

Location: 1st Street at Gold Avenue, Albuquerque, NM
Operator of Vehicle: ABQ RIDE
Date of Photo: August 6, 2018

As transit agencies attempt to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, some of them are turning to fare free operations to create an incentive for riders to return.  The pros and cons of fare free transit are many, and won’t be discussed here.  However, back on September 20, Albuquerque became one of the largest cities in the United States to pilot a fare free program when the city council voted on the issue.  The buses in New Mexico’s largest city will be fare free throughout all of 2022.

Although I took this picture back in 2018 when fares had to be paid to ride ABQ RIDE, it is likely that the agency is still looking to hire bus operators, as many transit agencies are currently short staffed.  I don’t think I’ve seen many agencies using their bus headsigns has a recruitment tool, but maybe I just haven’t been to the right places to see that.

What do you think of fare free pilots and/or using the bus destination sign to announce operator job openings?  Leave a comment with your opinion!

For more photos of ABQ RIDE buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: September 2021

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Flxible Metro-E 6177

Location: Madison Street at Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL
Operator of Vehicle: Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 30, 2007

It has been over ten years since my last proper visit to Chicago.  I’m not sure when my next one will be, but one thing that won’t be there is a Flxible Metro-E such as this one.  The CTA retired its last Flxible Metro buses in 2010, and the fleet now consists solely of New Flyer and NovaBUS models.  

For more photos of CTA buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: August 2021

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Orion V 69

Location: King Street Station, Alexandria, VA
Operator of Vehicle: Alexandria Transit Company
Date of Photo: June 17, 2009

The DC transit scene used to be dominated by the Orion V.  They made up a sizeable portion of WMATA’s bus fleet, and also had a significant presence at Ride On and Fairfax Connector.  Now, the only local agency to operate the bus type is DASH, and even those days are numbered.  DASH, the local bus system in the City of Alexandria, is about to undergo other changes, too.  In addition to the imminent retirement of what remains of the Orion V fleet, starting next month, DASH will be launching its redesigned bus network and going fare-free.  Along with new articulated buses from New Flyer and electric buses manufactured by Proterra, transit in Alexandria is not going to look like this come next month.  

For more photos of DASH buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: July 2021

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Gillig Advantage 6200

Location: Lincoln Street at Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO
Operator of Vehicle: Regional Transportation District (RTD)
Date of Photo: January 24, 2020

I typically try to post the photos of the month on the first two days of each month.  The calendar flipped to July 2021 while I was in the middle of nearly three consecutive weeks of travel (for a mix of business and pleasure), and I wasn’t able to queue up a bus photo to run ahead of time.  So here is a photo from my last pre-pandemic travels, which included a weekend in Denver to celebrate a friend’s wedding.  No other stories to share on this one, just enjoy the photo (and that I/we are back to traveling again)!

For more photos of Denver RTD buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: June 2021

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Marcopolo DL036Marcopolo DL036

Location: Tv. Nestor de Castro, Curitiba, Brazil
Operator of Vehicle: URBS – Urbanização de Curitiba S.A.
Date of Photo: July 18, 2010

On May 27, Jaime Lerner, the former mayor of Curitiba in southern Brazil, passed away at the age of 83.  Lerner was considered to be one of the most influential urban planners.  If you’ve used a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that features level boarding, fare payment prior to boarding, and exclusive right of ways for the buses to travel, that system’s design was influenced by the network in Curitba that Lerner was critical in creating in the 1970s.  

Lerner’s professional training was as an architect and urban planner.  Prior to becoming mayor, Lerner proposed the closing of a major street in the center of Curitiba because of the high pedestrian volumes on that street.  Once appointed as mayor (Brazil was a military dictatorship at the time), Lerner worked to implement the BRT system, as he believed it would be able to improve transportation within the entire city at a larger scale than a more expensive subway system serving fewer areas.  Considering that daily ridership is about 2.3 million people per day in a metropolitan area of 3.4 million people, Lerner was undoubtedly successful in his goals.  By comparison, the Sao Paolo Metro carries about 5.3 million people per day in a city of 12.3 million residents.  BRT systems that take inspiration from Curitiba include the TransMilenio in Bogota, Colombia, Metropolitanio in Lima, Peru, Emerald Express in Eugene, Oregon, the Orange Line in Los Angeles, California, and the Strip and Downtown Express in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Curitiba is also known for its many parks, public forests, and other cultural institutions.  

While traveling in Brazil in 2010, I visited Curitiba, although I did not ride the BRT system.  Given the risks that come with being a solo traveler who did not (and still does not) speak Portuguese, taking a joyride on the transit system in Curitiba was out of the question.  However, I unexpectedly had the opportunity to meet Lerner for a one-on-one conversation lasting about an hour while I was in Curitiba.  I will attempt to share some of the highlights of that discussion as well as a talk I heard him give at the Jerusalem Municipality in 2009 in the next week or so.

For more photos of Curitiba’s Rede Integrada de Transporte, please click here.