Can you name the five U.S. cities where trolleybuses operate? (You already know one of them!)
To read more about Seattle’s trolleybus network, click here.
Oren’s Reading List: Trackless in Seattle
Author Archives: Oren
Bus Photo of the Month: July 2018
NovaBUS LFS-A 5490
Location: Broadway & West 86th Street, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: June 15, 2018
On June 29, 2008, New York City Transit introduced its first “Select Bus Service” route, the Bx12 on Fordham Road in the Bronx. The Bx12 SBS featured off board fare payment, all door boarding, new bus lanes, and traffic signal prioritization. Over the past ten years, SBS service has expanded to 17 routes serving all five boroughs, which most of these same features being introduced on the subsequent SBS lines. In addition, the SBS bus fleet features a special light blue livery, seen in the photo above, so passengers can easily distinguish SBS from regular local buses. Have you been on SBS in New York City? What do you think of it?
For more photos of New York City area buses, please click here.
Rail Photo of the Month: July 2018
NJT Multi-level Car 7058
Location: Metropark Station, Iselin, NJ
Operator of Vehicle: New Jersey Transit
Date of Photo: August 6, 2017
What do you do when you operate a commuter rail service in to the busiest train station in the United States, want to add service, but that station is at capacity? In New Jersey Transit’s case, the answer is design and purchase Multi-Level cars! However, this was more challenging for NJT than it might have been for some other US commuter rail systems. The multi-level cars had to be designed in a way so that they could fit in the North River Tunnels that connect New Jersey to New York Penn Station. Those tunnels were constructed in the early 1900s and opened in 1910, and as it is, the multi-levels’ design makes for a tight fit. Double decker trains such as Amtrak’s Superliner cars and the Long Island Railroad’s C3 cars can’t fit in the North River Tunnel at all. Although the tunnels clearances are not nearly as restrictive as in the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel south of Baltimore Penn Station, MARC exercised an option order on NJT’s original contract with Bombardier for its own multi-level cars.
For more photos of New Jersey Transit trains, please click here.
Riding to the Southernmost Subway Station in the World
Many are familiar with some of the world’s geographic extremes. The lowest point on earth is the Dead Sea. The highest point is Mount Everest. The geographic center of the lower 48 United States is about four miles west of Lebanon, Kansas. But have you ever wondered where the world’s southernmost subway station is located? Wonder no more and keep reading!
Located at 34.643028 degrees south, 58.461611 degrees west, the Plaza de los Virreyes – Eva Perón station of the Buenos Aires Underground holds the distinction of being the southernmost subway station in the world. As is the case with many things of this nature, there is some dispute as to whether Plaza de los Virreyes should get the title. The Parliament Station in Melbourne, Australia is further south. However, that station serves “suburban railway” trains, not subway trains. What is the difference between a suburban railway and a subway? Now we’re getting into some subjective details, but I don’t think many people would consider SEPTA’s Suburban Station or New York Penn Station, even though both of them are underground, to be “subway” or “Metro” stations. The trains serving Parliament Station in Melbourne are akin to commuter rail trains that one might find in North America, and therefore, I don’t personally consider Parliament to be a subway station.
There isn’t a whole lot that is particularly noteworthy about the Plaza de los Virreyes station once you get there, other than the feeling that the tracks at the southern end of the station mark the “end of the world” so to speak and that no subway train anywhere can take you further south. The tilework is unremarkable. The station’s mezzanine feels a lot like just about any other “end of the line” terminal station mezzanine, with a number of onward connections available at the street level. The lighting for photos of trains in the station itself isn’t all that great. But despite the lack of noteworthiness in other ways, Plaza de los Virreyes gets to be the southernmost subway station in the world and no one can take that distinction away from it (for now).
Even if Plaza de los Virreyes itself is perhaps a bit underwhelming, the journey to get there is not. Following the 2013 retirement of the 100 year old “La Brugeoise” cars that operated on Line A, Line E of the Buenos Aires Underground has the distinction of operating the city’s oldest subway cars, the CAF-GEE cars, that were manufactured in 1968. Some of these cars have not been refurbished and still feature wooden seats and incandescent lighting, and some aren’t even painted in the standard yellow livery that most Buenos Aires Underground trains feature. The artwork at some of the stations along the journey to Plaza de los Virreyes is in fact eye-grabbing and worth closer examination if you have time. Line E may not be the busiest or fastest line in Buenos Aires, but it certainly has a certain “blue collar” charm to it, and knowing no train in the world takes you further south definitely gets the line some extra brownie points. It is definitely worth exploring if you find yourself in Buenos Aires!
The following is a selection of images from Plaza de los Virreyes – Eva Perón Station and the rest of Line E of the Buenos Aires Underground.
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Jujuy, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer at Avenida La Plata, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer trains at Plaza de los Virreyes - Eva Perón, the southernmost subway station in the world, January 12, 2018
Emilio Mitre, January 7, 2018
CAF-GEE UM15 at Emilio Mitre, January 7, 2018
CAF-GEE UM17 at Avenida La Plata, January 12, 2018
Avenida La Plata, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer at Avenida La Plata, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer at Independencia, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer at Independencia, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer at Independencia, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer 7B at Independencia, January 12, 2018
Fiat-Materfer interior
For additional photos from Buenos Aires, please click here and stay tuned for future Travelogue posts!
“Buses”: An Exhibit at the Israel Museum
Last month, I visited Guy Marco Shani’s exhibition, which is entitled Buses, at the Israel Museum. You can read an explanation of what the exhibit is about on the Israel Museum’s website. I enjoyed the exhibit, but not for the reasons I expected. For me, the exhibit turned out to be a sensory experience involving more than just my eyes as I walked through the space. Have you visited it, and if so, what were your impressions?
Buses is on display at the Israel Museum through October 31, 2018. Click here for more information about the exhibit, museum hours, and more.
Rail Photo of the Month: June 2018
Class 3250 EMU
Location: Cais Da Rocha, Lisbon, Portugal
Operator of Vehicle: CP Urbanos de Lisboa (Lisbon Area Commuter Rail)
Date of Photo: November 15, 2013
The high speed railways in European countries such as France, Germany, Spain, and Italy are well known both among transit fans as well as other travelers. Many are familiar with the TGV, ICE, and AVE names, even if they are not necessarily the types of people who might visit this website on a regular basis. However, not every country in Europe is as reliant upon high speed trains for its intercity transit network. One such country is Portugal, where eighty percent of the country’s railroad ridership is on the commuter rail lines serving the Lisbon area. The Lisbon commuter rail is not even the biggest “attraction” in the city’s transportation network (that title goes to the Remodelado Trams), but it is very useful for anyone who wishes to visit Cascais or Sintra. In addition, the Cascais line right of way runs adjacent to one of Lisbon’s tram lines and several bus routes in the vicinity of its Cais do Sodré terminus. Isn’t it fun when three different modes come together like that?
The Class 3250 EMU train photographed here was introduced in 1959 and refurbished between 1998 and 2002.
For more photos of Lisbon area commuter rail trains, please click here.
Bus Photo of the Month: June 2018
Solaris 18 903
Location: Juliana Dunajewskiego at Karmelicka, Krakow, Poland
Operator of Vehicle: Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne SA w Krakowie
Date of Photo: May 28, 2008
I first photographed and rode buses manufactured by Solaris about ten years ago in Italy and Poland. I encountered them a few weeks ago for the first time since then in the past few weeks, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a photo of a Solaris bus for the photo of the month.
Solaris is a Polish bus and tram manufacturer that was founded in 1994. Agencies in Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Qatar and Turkey, among other places, have ordered these buses. American busfans are probably aware that bus design has evolved over time, even among models of a single manufacturer. Think of how the designs of the Orion I, Orion V, Orion VI, and Orion VII changed over time. However, when I re-encountered Solaris buses in Israel last month and looked back over my photos from Poland and Italy from 2008, the basic Solaris bus design has pretty much remained the same. While Wikipedia describes several “generations” of various Solaris models, each one maintains the same swooping design of the front windshield, crescent shaped front headlights, and side destination sign housing, among other features. Can you think of another bus model that has been so consistent in its design over time?
For more photos of Krakow buses, please click here.
Just in time for the summer travel season, Winter 2018 photos have been posted!
I made my first trip to Memphis, Tennessee back in November 2017. Unfortunately, it was before that city’s Main Street Trolley reopened, but I guess that just means I’ll have to go back some day. However, I did get some photos of MATA’s all Gillig bus fleet, which you can find in the new Memphis section on this site.
At the end of January, I was in the Boston area for a weekend, and at the start of April I spent a weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
As is often the case, I also added a number of photos from around the DC area. Most of the new photos are additions to pre-existing galleries, but I also finally added photos of Shuttle UM, the campus bus system for the University of Maryland-College Park, and Loundoun County Transit.
Below, you’ll find a complete list of pages with new photos. Enjoy!
- Washington, DC
- WMATA Metrorail Rehabilitated Breda 2000/3000 Series Cars
- WMATA Metrorail CAF 5000 Series Cars
- WMATA Metrobus New Flyer C40LF & C40LFR Buses
- WMATA Metrobus New Flyer DE40LFA Buses
- WMATA Metrobus New Flyer XDE40 Buses
- WMATA Metrobus 2014 NABI 42 BRT Hybrid Buses
- WMATA Metrobus 2008 NABI 60BRT/CNG Articulated Buses
- WMATA Metrobus 2006 Orion VII/CNG Buses
- DC Circulator
- Ride On New Flyer C40LF Buses
- Shuttle UM
- Loudoun County Transit
- Boston
- Memphis, TN
- Minneapolis-St. Paul
- Brazil
- Argentina
Oren’s Reading List: Total MUNI 2018
As is often the case with these sorts of adventures, there is a certain amount of controversy vis a vis the methodology by which one is deemed to have been on an entire system. For example, I have a friend who says my claim to have been to have been to every DC Metrorail station isn’t really credible since I have not paid a fare at each and every station (I disagree with her). When Baer and Coblentz were planning their adventure in 1980, they decided that one had to ride on a vehicle for at least three stops in order for it to count as riding a route. In one of the podcasts Hartlaub and Knight did prior to Total MUNI, Baer explained that three stops felt like a good minimum since it felt like you were actually going somewhere. I agree with that standard. However, Hartlaub and Knight (with Baer’s endorsement) decided they could use other modes of transit besides walking to get from route to route if necessary, including Uber, Lyft, rides from friends, and even a rickshaw, and I have to raise issue with this. While I certainly won’t take away from their achievement, I think it would be more remarkable to ride every MUNI route in a day AND not use any other modes of transit to do so.
If you’re interested in learning more about Total MUNI 2018, you can read a recap on the San Francisco Chronicle website (a search of “Total MUNI” on the Chronicle website turns up other articles about the quest to ride each MUNI route in a day. You can also listen to Hartlaub and Knight discussing their preparations for Total MUNI 2018 and recapping after the fact on “The Big Event” podcast, available through iTunes.
Have you ever done an adventure like this? What do you think of the criteria that Hartlaub and Knight used to achieve Total MUNI 2018? Post an answer to either question in the comments below.
Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.
Oren’s Reading List: Riding an entire system in a day
Have you ever tried to ride an entire system in one day? Were you successful? Were you trying to set any records? Feel free to post your answers in the comments below!
Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.