Author Archives: Oren

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2026

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Orion VII 2010-06

Location: Paseo Gilberto Concepción De Gracia at the Covadonga Terminal, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Operator of Vehicle: Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses de Puerto Rico (AMA)
Date of Photo: March 21, 2016

Baby, it’s cold outside!

OK, perhaps not everywhere, as this website gets visits from around the world, but for our visitors from the Northern Hemisphere, for the most part right now, temperatures can be downright frigid.  They’ve certainly been below average for the past few weeks at OTP Headquarters.  So why not feature a photo from a warm weather destination?  This Orion VII was operated by the Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses de Puerto Rico in San Juan, where the high temperature today is 85°F (29°C).  According to the online sources I can find, this Orion VII is still in service as it nears 16 years of age, and there are no buses on order for AMA at the present time.  However, it is safe to assume as the oldest buses in the fleet, these are the next ones to go once newer vehicles arrive.  

For more photos of the AMA buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: December 2025

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Orion V 2197

Location: 20th Street, NW at Q Street, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: December 5, 2017

A video circulating on YouTube in recent days commented on the homogeneity of WMATA’s bus fleet.  As is frequently the case with such videos, there isn’t much historical context to the claims made in the video, especially if the content creator only recently came to the area in question.  As someone who has spent most of his life in the DC area, I can recall several instances where it seemed the Metrobus fleet was about to be dominated by a single vehicle type, and then something else was ordered to maintain the variety of the fleet.  Even if the purpose of the “different” order wasn’t explicitly to maintain fleet variety, that was the effective outcome.  Admittedly, consolidation among bus manufacturing industry makes it more likely that a single manufacturer would come to dominate a city’s fleet, even for an agency as large as WMATA.  

In short, I can recall when it felt as if the WMATA fleet was on its way to becoming an all Orion fleet, with models such as the Orion V pictured here being a common sight.  Before that, I recall when Flxible was the most common bus on the streets of the nation’s capital.  The point is manufacturers come and go, bus models change and evolve, and the needs of transit agencies change over time.  Just because WMATA’s fleet is nearly exclusively New Flyers at this point doesn’t mean that it will remain that way forever, or that New Flyer is the only manufacturer WMATA is able to order from.  Transit fans with preconceived notions about how things work are usually surprised later.

For more photos of the WMATA Orion Vs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: December 2025

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Breda LRV 1501

Location: Embarcadero Station, San Francisco, CA
Operator of Vehicle: San Francisco Municipal Railway
Date of Photo: January 10, 2006

Last month, MUNI in San Francisco operated a final trip for its Breda LRV trains.  Delivered in multiple batches during the 1990s, MUNI ultimately operated a total of 151 Breda LRVs.  These cars were 75 feet long, had air conditioning, and were ordered to replace the not so reliable Boeing Vertol “US Standard Light Rail Vehicle” fleet that had been operating previously.  However, the Bredas had their own flaws over the course of their service lives.  Each car cost $2,000,000 at the time of purchase (over $4 million dollars in 2024), making them the most expensive light rail cars built to date in the United States.  Those living along the lines they served complained of increased vibrations due to the cars’ weight and noisy motors and braking sounds.  By 2011, the Breda LRVs only traveled about 617 miles between breakdowns on average, making them very unreliable.  MUNI placed an order with Siemens in 2014 to replace the entire Breda fleet as well as to expand the overall fleet size.  The first Siemens LRV entered service in 2017.  The Bredas were retired at the end of 2023, but the final farewell event for the fleet did not occur until November 12, 2025.  

For more photos of the MUNI Breda LRVs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2025

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Surfliner Cab Car 6907

Location: Chatsworth Station, Chatsworth, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Amtrak
Date of Photo: March 10, 2022

After profiling the American League representative in this year’s World Series yesterday, it seemed appropriate to profile the National League in today’s post.  The Los Angeles metropolitan area is often thought of as being extremely car-centric and living there requires a certain amount of auto-dependency.  However, transit use in the second largest city in the United States is actually quite high.  This extends to intercity rail, where the Pacific Surfliner is Amtrak’s busiest service outside of the Northeast Corridor.  The Pacific Surfliner serves 25 stations along a 350 miles (560 kilometer) route running between San Diego and San Luis Obispo via Los Angeles.  As of this writing, there are 12 roundtrips trains each day between San Diego and Los Angeles, with three of those round trips extending north to Goleta and two extending to San Luis Obispo.  The Pacific Surfliner runs within 100 feet of the ocean at various points along its route, making for a very scenic trip.  While Los Angeles Union Station isn’t as close to Dodger Stadium as some might like, the Pacific Surfliner’s Anaheim stop was adjacent to the Angel Stadium parking lot until December 6, 2014.  On that date, service shifted to the newly constructed Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), about 1,500 feet to the east and still very much within walking distance of the ballpark.  

For more photos of the Pacific Surfliner, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2025

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GMC T6H 5703N (Fishbowl) 2358

Location: Scarborough Town Center Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission
Date of Photo: March 12, 2007

It has been a long time since the Toronto Blue Jays have played in the World Series.  Prior to the ongoing series, their last appearance was in 1993, 32 years ago.  At that time, the streets of Toronto were dominated by GMC “New Look” buses, nicknamed “Fishbowls” due to the appearance of their front windshields.  These buses were first ordered in 1959 and would be ordered many times through 1982, to the point the earliest New Looks were replaced by other New Looks.  (Technically, the last New Looks purchased by the TTC was a group of 20 second hand buses from Montreal that arrived in 1999).  When the TTC was cash strapped in the mid 1990s, the agency opted to rebuild were rebuilt some of the New Looks that were built between 1977 and 1983.  Some of these buses were rebuilt a second time in 2004.  However, the TTC also wished to introduce as many wheelchair lift equipped buses as possible (primarily the Orion V in the mid-1990s) and then low-floor buses (the Orion VII in the early 2000s) to make the fleet fully accessible.  This would result in the retirements of the New Looks, but it took a long time for the fleet to be fully replaced with newer buses.  The New Looks remained in service until the end of 2011.  With the last New Looks operating for 28 years, those buses had a service life that was almost as long as the Blue Jays’ gap between World Series appearances.  

For more photos of Toronto TTC buses, please click here.  

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.