Author Archives: Oren

Bus Photo of the Month: October 2025

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MAN Lion’s City 8873

Location: Westermarkt at Prinsengracht (Westermarkt Station)
Operator of Vehicle: Connexxion
Date of Photo: May 30, 2016

As mentioned in my last post, Amsterdam does have a bus network, although it is definitely secondary to the city’s tram and Metro systems.  The bus system reached its “peak” in the 1970s when it had over 400 buses in its fleet, but the revival of the tram network combined with the opening of the Metro in October 1977 has seen the number of routes and the size of the fleet decrease in the years since.  Currently, GVB’s bus fleet has about 200 buses in it to serve 33 routes.  There are also “regional” bus routes, such as the one pictured here operated by Connexxion (a subsidiary of Transdev) and EBS that connect Amsterdam with other municipalities in the “Amsterdam Transport Region” within the province of North Holland.

For more photos of Amsterdam’s buses, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: October 2025

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Siemens Combino 2111

Location: Dam Square, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Operator of Vehicle: Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf (GVB)
Date of Photo: May 31, 2016

In August, the city of Amsterdam celebrated 125 years of operating its tram system by wrapping one of its Siemens Combino trams (like the one seen here) in five liveries previously used by GVB.  For the last quarter of the 19th century, the trams were horse drawn, but some of the routes in use today still follow the routes of the original horse drawn trams.  Electric trams were introduced in 1900 and have remained in service continuously since then.  As the city grew, so did the tram network.  Although there was a period in the 1950s when many lines were replaced by buses, trams made a revival not long afterwards due to their utility in the center of the city where buses could not serve the narrow streets.  The system has been expanded further since its revival and its future is undoubtedly secure.  

Amsterdam also has a tram museum called the Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam (EMA) that just celebrated its 50th anniversary by operating several of the trams in the museum fleet in service on Line 16 at the end of last month.

For more photos of Amsterdam’s Siemens Combino trams, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: September 2025

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Gillig Advantage 8003

Location: 46th Street at Minnehaha Avenue
Operator of Vehicle: Metro Transit
Date of Photo: April 12, 2017

The Minnesota State Fair closed yesterday, marking the end of the 2025 edition of the event and one of the busiest weeks for transit agencies in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area.  The Minnesota State Fair takes place in Falcon Heights, a suburb located between the two twin cities.  In order to facilitate the arrival and departure of fair attendees, a total of 13 special express bus routes operate from outlying park and ride lots to the fairgrounds, as an alternative to driving to the fairgrounds themselves.  Of the 13 express routes, 6 are operated by Metro Transit, 3 are operated by Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, and 4 are operated by SouthWest Transit.  However, regular service also serves the fairgrounds, including the A Line, which was Metro Transit’s first BRT line when it opened in 2016.  Operating along the Snelling Avenue corridor, the A Line transports over 3,700 people per day (as of 2024) between Rosedale and the 46th Street Blue Line Station, passing not only the fairgrounds but also other important destinations such as Minnehaha Park, Macalester College, Allianz Field, Hamline University, and Har Mar Mall.  The A Line was the first bus line in the Twin Cities area to offer payment before boarding the bus, platforms level with the bus, and all door boarding to improve trip times.

For more photos of Metro Transit buses, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: September 2025

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Acela Express Power Car 2030

Location: Boston South Station, Boston, MA
Operator of Vehicle: Amtrak
Date of Photo: December 26, 2000

Last week, Amtrak’s “NextGen” Acela entered service on the Northeast Corridor, marking the beginning of the end for the original Acela trainsets that have been in service since late 2000.  I had the opportunity to ride Acela for the first time two weeks after it entered service and have been on it countless times since.  The first generation Acela was definitely an upgrade over the Metroliner service that it replaced, but it is still a far cry from what high speed rail travel is like in places such as Europe (where I’ve been) and Japan (where I have not).  That said, the Acela trainsets did not age well.  Additionally, the experience of riding them was always impacted by the fact that unlike high speed trains in the aforementioned locations, Acela shares tracks with slower conventional trains and the Northeast Corridor has many curves and other speed restrictions, limiting the amount of time on each journey that the train can reach its maximum speed.  

I don’t have any firm plans to ride the NextGen Acelas yet, but I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity in time.  What about you?

For more photos of Amtrak Acela Express, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2025

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Silverliner V 703

Location: Temple University Station, Philadelphia, PA
Operator of Vehicle: SEPTA
Date of Photo: April 19, 2012

SEPTA, the Philadelphia area transit agency, has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it isn’t for the best reason.  Due to an expected budget shortfall of over $200 million and seemingly no state funding coming through, the agency is prepared to cut service by 45 percent in the coming months.  A 20 percent service cut is planned for August 24, 2025, with an additional 25 percent service cut planned for January of 2026.  Among the proposed cuts for January is the discontinuation of five regional rail lines (Cynwyd Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Trenton Line, and Wilmington/Newark Line), served by Silverliner rolling stock such as the train pictured here.

SEPTA isn’t the only agency in the Commonwealth of Pennyslvania facing financial challenges right now.  Each of the state’s 67 counties has public transit service of some kind.  I don’t typically wade into politics here but should this funding gap not be addressed, it will drastically change the amount of public transit available across the entirety of the state in ways that frankly, I find unimaginable.  

For more photos of SEPTA Regional Rail, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: August 2025

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New Flyer XD40 17070

Location: Paca Street at Lombard Streetת Baltimore, MD
Operator of Vehicle: MDOT MTA
Date of Photo: November 23, 2018

I’ve lived most of my life in Maryland and don’t entirely understand the fascination that some people have with its state flag.  However, I find it very appropriate that the Maryland Transit Administration has opted for the past eight years or so to lean in heavily to the colors of the state flag in designing its current bus liveries.  Considering the literally “vanilla” liveries that preceded this one (the vehicles were white with a single blue stripe or a relatively small Maryland flag image depending on the livery), this is certainly an improvement from an aesthetic standpoint, in my opinion.  What do you think of it?

For more photos of MDOT MTA Core Bus services, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: July 2025

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Orion V 545

Location: Main Street at Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: June 27, 2003

June 29, 2025 was a major day for bus network redesigns.  On this single day, Winnipeg, Canada, WMATA, TheBus, and to an extent Ride On in the Washington, DC area, and Queens, NY (and maybe elsewhere, too, but those are the ones I am aware of) all implemented new bus networks.  In “honor” of the occasion, I posted about the now former L2 route in DC last month, so I thought for this month I should shift the focus to somewhere else.  I don’t have so many photos of buses in Queens, but I did find this one from 2003.  The Q15 still exists post redesign phase one, but with some minor rerouting, and a new limited stop Q61 also parallels portions of its route.  However, the Orion V pictured here won’t be operating on any of the revised routes as it was retired from the New York City bus fleet in the mid-2010s.

For more photos of MTA New York City Transit Orion Vs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: July 2025

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TGV Paris Sud-Est trainset 83

Location: Paris-Gare du Nord, Paris, France
Operator of Vehicle: SNCF
Date of Photo: May 18, 2008

While Americans wait (and wait) for the second generation Acela trainsets to enter service, they can always look at the French National Railway and wonder “what if” with regards to the development of high speed rail in the United States.  The second generation Acela trains were expected to enter service between 2021 and 2022, and as of this writing, they are not in service.  Once the second generation Acela trains are in service and delivered, the first generation fleet will be retired after approximately 25 years in service.  Meanwhile in France, the TGV Sud-Est such as the one pictured here debuted in 1981 on France’s first TGV line between Paris and Lyon and remained in service for about 38 years until December 2019.  Additionally, the TGV has a higher maximum speed (200 MPH versus 150 MPH for the first generation Acela) and uses dedicated high speed tracks, providing for faster trips over longer distances than the Acela can manage.  

Have you been on the TGV and/or the Acela?

For more photos of TGV trainsets, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: June 2025

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Alstom 9000 Series

Location: Sagrada Familia Station, Barcelona, Spain
Operator of Vehicle: Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB)
Date of Photo: June 6, 2028

I thought I might have had an opportunity to visit Barcelona for a second time earlier this year, my first time having been back in June of 2008.  Things didn’t work out that way, which is OK, but I figured since it has now been 17 years since that trip, I might as well share a photo from it.  These 9000 Series trains were brand new when I rode them on Line 2 back in 2008.  They now operate on Line 4, Line 9, and Line 10 as well.  The trains on Line 2 and Line 4 are “semiautomatic” and have a staffed driver’s cab, while the trains on Line 9 and Line 10 are fully automatic with no on board driver.  TMB plans to gradually convert existing lines to full automation in the coming years.  So far only Line 11 has been converted, but preparation for converting Line 4 was started in 2023 and expected to take about 5 years.

For more photos of the Barcelona Metro 9000 Series Rolling Stock, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: June 2025

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New Flyer XDE 7150

Location: Connecticut Avenue, NW at Porter Street, NW, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: May 30, 2025

Could this be the last photo I take of my first “home route”?  It is certainly possible.  As I wrote three years ago, a home route is the route that goes by where you live and therefore take at the start or end of most trips.  For many people, their first home route isn’t one they can necessarily choose, as infants or toddlers have no agency in deciding where to live.  This was certainly the case for me, as my parents lived right at the Van Ness Metro when I was born and we remained there until April 1992.  It was my home route again from November 2017 through November 2023.  

In just a few weeks on June 29, WMATA will launch its redesigned bus network.  For the first time since WMATA’s inception over 50 years ago and when it acquired four formerly private bus operators under the Metrobus umbrella, the DC area bus system is being entirely redrawn to meet the needs of today’s traveling public.  I won’t comment about what I think of some of the changes that will be taking effect at the end of this month, but if you really want to sleuth, they are part of the public hearing record leading up to the Board of Directors approving the redesigned network.  And the new Connecticut Avenue bus, the D70, isn’t going to be all that different than what the L2 does today (though arguably it will have more in common with the old L4 route that hasn’t operated in over a decade).  But this is the end of what I considered to be the first bus I regularly relied on, even if I was a very young child at the time.

Despite all the fretting in advance of these network redesigns, especially with regards to changed route numbers, people end up adjusting.  I lived in Jerusalem when that city’s Route 4 was renumbered to be Route 77 in 2014.  The 4 had been the 4 for longer than the State of Israel had existed at the time.  There was a feeling of “how could such a historic bus route have its number changed?”  But the change went through as planned, people have adapted to the new route number, and I don’t think most Jerusalemites even know where the now current Route 4 operates.  I expect the same to happen in Washington DC.  

For more photos of the WMATA New Flyer XDE40 Buses, please click here.