Author Archives: Oren

Bus Photo of the Month: August 2023

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Gillig Advantage/CNG 1106

Location: Sandoval Street between West San Francisco Street and Grant Avenue
Operator of Vehicle: Santa Fe Trails
Date of Photo: August 3, 2018

Five years ago, I visited New Mexico.  Depending on how you count going through a state on Amtrak, it may have been my first visit to the state.  Less ambiguous is that it was the first time I photographed transit within the state.  The state capital, New Mexico, is not the largest city in the state but it does have some public transit and has the distinction of being one of the first transit systems in the United States to have a fleet powered solely by compressed natural gas.  I like the light blue accents in the agency paint scheme, and finding opportunities to photograph the buses with the local architecture in the background was a fun activity during the single day I spent in Santa Fe.

For more photos of Santa Fe Trails buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: July 2023

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NABI 40-LFW 7780

Arcadia Street at Main Street, Los Angeles, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Date of Photo: July 11, 2014

Nine years ago this month, I arrived in Los Angeles for the first time.  Since then, I have visited the United States’s second largest city on two more occasions.  Another trip appeared to be in the offing for next month but that ended up not materializing.  In any event, I thought it would be fitting to share a photo from my first trip to the City of Angels this month.  I hope you enjoy it!

For more photos of LACMTA Buses, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: July 2023

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1973 Stock 126

Arnos Grove Station, London, England
Operator of Vehicle: Transport for London
Date of Photo: May 21, 2008

This month, the London Transport Museum is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Piccadilly Line extension to Cockfosters.  In 1932, the line was extended from Finsbury Park to Arnos Grove.  Then on March 13, 1933 the line was extended to Oakfields and again on July 31, 1933 to Cockfosters, which remains the terminal today.  To mark this occasion, the London Transport Museum is running a special fantrip using its 1938 rolling stock on Sunday, July 9.  I haven’t been in London when any of these special types of events put on my the museum have occurred, but from what I see on social media, they look to be great.  As it is, the museum itself is a must see attraction for any transit fan visiting London.  

The photo featured here is of the 1973 Stock that currently operates on the Piccadilly Line at the Arnos Grove station.  The 1973 Stock is among the oldest rolling stock in use on a transit system in Britain but TfL has plans for new deep tube stock that may begin operating as soon as 2025.

For more photos of the 1973 Stock, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: June 2023

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Bombardier 5000 Series 5040

Location: Quincy/Wells Station, Chicago, IL
Operator of Vehicle: Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 9, 2014

This month, the Chicago “L” celebrates its 131st birthday!  The first section of what is now known as the “L”, then operated by the South Side Elevated Railroad, began service on June 6, 1892.  The line ran from a station at 39th Street (between the current 35th-Bronzeville-IIT and Indiana stations on the Green Line) to Congress Terminal.  When it opened, a ride on the steam powered trains from end to end took 14 minutes and cost five cents.  The line was later extended to Jackson Park and the site of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition), where incidentally, the concept of an electrified third rail to power trains was introduced.  This form of traction would ultimately be used on the entirety of the “L” as well as on underground and elevated train systems around the world, replacing steam powered locomotives. 

The Lake Street Elevated Railroad and the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad came into existence after the South Side Elevated, and each railroad had its own terminal on the edge of Downtown Chicago.  Financier Charles Tyson Yerkes had bought up many of the streetcar and elevated railroad lines in Chicago in the 1890s and proceeded to build an elevated loop track in Chicago to connect the individual lines.  The Loop was completed in 1897 and its two tracks along a 1.79 mile (2.9 kilometer) route remain in service to this day.  

In the featured photo, a relatively new train of 5000 Series cars is seen departing the Quincy station, which opened in 1897 shortly after the Loop was completed.  Some of the station’s features are original to its 1897 opening.

For more photos of CTA 5000 Series trains, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: June 2023

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MAN NL-313

Location: Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, Israel
Operator of Vehicle: Egged
Date of Photo: July 7, 2022

Today, green Egged buses such as this one will operate on Jerusalem’s Route 3 between the Central Bus Station and Western Wall.  As of tomorrow, that will no longer be the case, as a relatively new company called Extra takes over the route.  If you are reading this from somewhere such as Europe or Israel, the idea of a route shifting from one operator to another is probably one with which you are familiar.  In this type of model, a government agency (in this case, the Israeli Ministry of Transportation) determines routes and service levels and operating companies, such as Egged, Superbus, and Extra bid on tenders to provide the service.  Conversely, in North America, transit agencies determine the routes and service levels and often operate the services themselves with their own buses and personnel.  Even if an agency contracts with an operator to provide service (such as Loudoun County Transit in Northern Virginia, which is operated by Keolis North America), the vehicles are owned by the transit agency and their appearance remains identical, even if the contracted operator changes.  Not so in Israel.  With the change to Extra as the route’s operator, passengers will be on brand new buses with a different livery and different drivers.  While there are instances where buses get transferred from the prior operator to the new one or staff leaves one company and joins another, neither is a given.  It is just one of many differences in how transit operates in different places around the world.  

For more photos of Egged MAN NL-313 buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: May 2023

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Neoplan AN440LF ETB Trolleybus 4104

Location: Massachusetts Avenue at Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
Operator of Vehicle: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Date of Photo: May 2, 2011

About a year ago, the long-running trolleybus network emanating from Harvard Station was discontinued after 86 years of operation.  The first trolleybus route in the Boston area began on April 11, 1936, replacing a streetcar line that operated on the same route.  Over the next three decades, the MBTA (once established) would operate 37 trolleybus routes at the network’s peak, mostly in the Cambridge area but trolleybus routes also ran in the Arborway and Dorchester areas.  Most of these routes replaced streetcars but some actually replaced standard bus lines.  In 1963, all but four of the trolleybus lines were converted to diesel bus routes.  There prevalent theory for why the trolleybuses were not eliminated entirely at that time is that the MBTA wished to reduce the amount of diesel fumes in the bus tunnels at Harvard Station, though some attribute it to the environmentalist movement of the 1970s. The design of the Harvard Bus Tunnel resulted in the MBTA ordering trolleybuses with a door on the left side, as seen in this photo, to facilitate boarding and alighting without passengers needing to cross the bus roadway.

In any case, the trackless trolleys continued to operate through the tunnel and throughout Cambridge on these routes until March 2022.  At that time, the North Cambridge Carhouse where the trolleybus fleet was based was closed in conjunction with public works projects in Cambridge and Watertown that necessitated removing the catenary used to power the vehicles.  The MBTA is converting the North Cambridge Carhouse for electric bus operation, and the former trolleybus routes at this garage will be operated by electric buses when the carhouse reopens.

When the Silver Line opened in 2004, it marked the resumption of trolleybus service within Boston proper for the first time since the early 1960s.  However, the MBTA has ordered hybrid buses with extended battery range to replace the current fleet of dual mode buses that operate on the Silver Line.  When these new buses arrive, the trolleybus era in Greater Boston will truly end.

For more photos of MBTA Buses and Trolleybuses, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: May 2023

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Siemens SD-160 302

Location: I-25 & Broadway Station, Denver, CO
Operator of Vehicle: Regional Transportation District
Date of Photo: July 21, 2014

Last week marked the 10th anniversary of the opening of the W Line in Denver.  On April 26, 2013, this route opened between Denver Union Station and Golden, marking the completion of the first line to be part of the FasTracks program, an ambitious plan to build six new rail lines and a host of other transit infrastructure in the Denver region.  FasTracks also included the A Line to Denver International Airport and the reconstruction of Union Station in Downtown Denver for use by both RTD and Amtrak trains.  Although there were many line openings and extensions in the 2010s, FasTracks will not be officially completed until after 2050.

For more photos of RTD Light Rail, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: April 2023

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Gillig Advantage 8005

Location: Snelling Avenue at University Avenue, St. Paul, MN
Operator of Vehicle: Metro Transit
Date of Photo: April 12, 2017

Six years ago this month, I rode the Metro A Line in Minneapolis and Saint Paul for the first (and to date only) time.  There are now two additional BRT routes in the Twin Cities, but this is the first one to have opened.  The A Line incorporates some standard features of bus rapid transit in order to provide improved trip times over the local bus service in that same corridor.  Most notably, these are priority signaling at intersections, off board fare collection, all door boarding, wider doors, and high profile station designs with level boarding, on demand heating during the winter months, and other features.  However, Metro Transit opted not to construct bus lanes in this corridor, saying that they would not significantly improve travel times.  Despite the lack of bus lanes, travel times along the A Line have decreased since the line first opened and ridership has increased.  Some even call the A Line the best bus route in the entire United States.  

Have you been on the A Line?  Do you have thoughts about what the best bus route in the United States (or somewhere else) might be?  How do you even determine what the best bus route is?  Leave a comment below in response to any or all of these questions!

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

Rail Photo of the Month: April 2023

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Tünel Funicular

Location: Karaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Operator of Vehicle: İETT
Date of Photo: August 13, 2009

I’m going to assume that most of the people reading this would immediately know that the world’s first underground railway opened in London.  Any guesses as to what the second and third underground railways are?  The second oldest is in Athens, where I visited for the first time in September (photos forthcoming eventually).  The third oldest is the Tünel in Istanbul, a underground funicular that opened in January of 1875.  Today, the Tünel is part of a much larger transit network that has expanded rapidly in the years since I visited Istanbul for a few days in August 2009.  However, if it were a standalone transit system, the Tünel would be one of the world’s shortest if not the absolute shortest, traveling a distance of less than 600 meters (or 2000 feet) between Karaköy and Beyoğlu (Tünel Meydanı).  The Tünel’s current rolling stock, seen here, was introduced in 2007.

For more photos of the Istanbul Tünel, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: March 2023

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New Flyer XN60 1218

Location: Kettner Boulevard at B Street, San Diego, CA
Operator of Vehicle: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)
Date of Photo: March 9, 2022

Last March, a business trip took me to San Diego, my second time visiting the city.  I didn’t ride any buses this time (though I did ride the San Diego Trolley extension to University Towne Center), but I did get some bus photos that seemed Travelogue post worthy.  Here is one of them.

If you’re familiar with San Diego’s geography and transit routes, you may realize that Kettner Boulevard is the street where the Santa Fe Depot, which serves as the terminal for Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and the COASTER Commuter Rail, is located.  However, the building seen in the background of this photo is noteworthy in its own right.  The McClintock Storage Warehouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the few remaining examples of a large commercial warehouse built in the 1920s when San Diego was experiencing significant growth.  The building is constructed in the same Mission Revival style as the Santa Fe Depot, which is adjacent to the McClintock Warehouse (to the left of the vantage point in this photo) and was the site of the Greater San Diego Exposition when it opened.  The building was converted to live-work lofts by 2012.

Rapid is the brand name for MTS’s BRT network.  MTS purchased New Flyer XN60 buses specifically for the Rapid routes in 2014.  These buses feature passenger information displays and those assigned to the longer distance Rapid routes have interior layouts that make the passenger experience on these longer trips more comfortable.

For more photos of San Diego MTS buses, please click here.