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: SEPTA Tokens or Jewelry?
Rail Photo of the Month: March 2018
MP89CC Stock 89 S 103
Location: Bastille Station, Paris, France
Operator of Vehicle: Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP)
Date of Photo: March 20, 2008
I visited Paris for the first time ten years ago this month, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a photo from that trip for the March 2018 Photo of the Month. The Paris Metro is an impressive subway system for a host of reasons. For one thing, you are never more than a few hundred meters from the nearest metro station no matter where in the city you may find yourself. However, what Parisian rolling stock might be known best for is that on several lines, the trains have rubber tires instead of traditional steel wheels. The MP89CC stock shown here is one of those trains. RATP converted three lines (1, 4, and 11) to use rubber tires in the 1950s and 1960s. There were plans to convert the entire system to use rubber tires, but the costs were prohibitive and it would have taken decades to complete the project, so the RATP opted instead to convert one additional line, Line 6, because it has long elevated stretches and the rubber tired trains are quieter than their steel wheel counterparts. In addition, new lines such as Line 14 are built for rubber tired trains. You can see how the wheels of the train in this photo are not like what one usually sees on trains, and that the track for this line has running boards and guide rails as opposed to steel rails. Have you ever been on a rubber tired train, either in Paris or elsewhere?
For more photos of the MP89CC Stock, please click here.
Bus Photo of the Month: March 2018
NovaBUS LFS 107
Location: Tower Road and East Avenue, Ithaca, NY
Operator of Vehicle: Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit
Date of Photo: April 16, 2007
Last month, the first four of eleven new Gillig Advantage buses for Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) arrived in Ithaca. These buses will be replacing all of TCAT’s remaining NovaBUS LFS buses (such as the one in this photo) and some of the New Flyer D40LF buses as well. Like Orion I 914, which was featured as the bus photo of the month in February 2016, the NovaBus LFSs are now about as old as many of their passengers. These buses were delivered in 2001, so a Cornell freshman is about as old as the bus he or she might be riding to class. Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many of them might be aware of that fact?
The NovaBUS LFSs were the first 40 foot buses in the TCAT fleet. This made them outliers initially, but that is no longer the case. As the fleet has been renewed over the years, ordering 40 foot buses has become the norm for TCAT and now nearly every bus in the fleet is a 40 footer. These buses also operated for about half of their service lives before and about half of their service lives after the implementation of a major route restructuring that took effect in 2010.
For more photos of TCAT’s NovaBUS LFS buses, please click here.
The End of an Era…For Real This Time
As I have written before, as someone who grew up in the DC area and has always considered the 1000 Series trains to be my favorites, this is a significant moment in the region’s transportation history. Once the 1000s were relegated to the middle of train consists after the Fort Totten crash, only when a 4000 Series car was at the head end of a train did it feel like I was on the Metrorail that I grew up with, complete with yellow and orange interior colors and the buzzing of the DC motors on the Breda cars. Those days have been over since July, and are truly over as of yesterday.
Photo caption: Breda 4052 (left) and Rohr 1124 at Gallery Place. As of yesterday, all of the 1000 Series and 4000 Series railcars have been removed from WMATA property to be scrapped. Photo taken February 16, 2004.
Oren’s Reading List: Inside the Theater of Moscow’s Metro
Photo of the Moscow Metro from https://pixabay.com
While I haven’t been to Russia and don’t expect to anytime soon, these photos of the Moscow Metro remind me of how I’ve heard from many that the subway there is a work of art in and of itself. Check out the pictures by clicking here, and if you’ve been to Moscow, post a comment and tell us if these pictures do the system architecture justice.
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.
Bus Photo of the Month: February 2018
New Flyer XN40 2959
Location: Columbia Pike at Joyce Street, Arlington, VA
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 4, 2017
When compressed natural gas (CNG) buses made their entry in to US transit fleets, the buses were notable for the large hump on their tops. This hump was for the fuel tanks. Many agencies highlighted the fact these buses were running on compressed natural gas as opposed to diesel, and some even used special paint schemes on these buses to draw attention to that fact. This included WMATA’s first CNG buses, the New Flyer C40LF buses ordered in 2002. However, the fuel tanks on these must be replaced after 15 years, often resulting in the bus being retired at that time. As bus designs have evolved, the fuel tanks have been incorporated in to the bus design in less obvious ways and agencies have moved away from highlighting their CNG vehicles. As a result, there is little indication to most passengers boarding one of these newer buses that they are boarding a bus powered by CNG. As someone who enjoys seeing variety in bus fleets, I am sorry to see the special liveries for alternative fuel vehicles such as hybrid and CNG buses. That said, it is remarkable to see how new CNG buses, such as this New Flyer XN40 that replaced WMATA’s original C40LF buses, now look so much like their diesel counterparts. Do you like when alternative fuel vehicles get special paint schemes? Post your thoughts in the comments below!
For more photos of WMATA’s New Flyer XN40 buses, please click here.
Rail Photo of the Month: February 2018
BART “C Car” 432
Location: Embarcadero Station, San Francisco, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Bay Area Rapid Transit
Date of Photo: January 9, 2006
Yet another American rapid transit system is receiving new rolling stock. BART’s “fleet of the future” entered service back on January 19, 2018. Similar to the fleet renewal program underway in Miami, upon delivery and acceptance of the new “D Cars” and “E Cars” between now and 2022, the existing fleet of A Cars, B Cars, and C Cars, including the C Car pictured here, will be retired. BART’s initial rolling stock was revolutionary. BART ordered trains that are wider and sleeker than most of their American counterparts at the time. The D Cars and E Cars will also introduce new features to BART’s rolling stock, including places for commuters to store their bikes while on board the train, as well as other ideas suggested by customers. While the retirement of the A Cars and B Cars will mark the end of Rohr Industries built trains running on American subway systems, it will also be the start of the D Cars’ and E Cars’ opportunity to create their own stories in the hearts and minds of passengers and transit fans as they start their careers. What sorts of things do you think new trains ought to feature these days?
For more photos of BART rolling stock, please click here.
Rail Photo of the Month: January 2018
Alstom Citadis 302 003
Location: Hatzanchanim Street, Jerusalem, Israel
Operator of Vehicle: Citipass
Date of Photo: June 2, 2016
Jerusalem has been in the news quite a bit lately. Despite what you may see in the press, life goes on in what you would likely consider to be a normal way in this extraordinary complex city, and thousands use the city’s public transportation system to travel between home, work, school, shopping, and other destinations. The light rail line that opened in 2011 is a rolling melting pot used by all the sectors of the city’s population. At pretty much any time of day at any point along the line, you’ll be crammed in to a car with secular Jews, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arabs, Palestinians, and tourists. The light rail line serves a variety of different neighborhoods, including the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina, as well as the city center. While there is a notable security presence and the Alstom Citadis 302 rolling stock used in Jerusalem had some special modifications made to it in the interest of counter-terrorism, aside from a brief service suspension due to safety issues in 2014, incidents of violence on the light rail have been few and far between. Jerusalem is a fascinating city that should be on your potential traveling destinations for a host of reasons, and if you’re a transit fan, the light rail gives you an additional one.
For more photos of the Jerusalem Light Rail, please click here.
Bus Photo of the Month: January 2018
BredaMenarinibus M221 233
Location: Piazzale Roma, Venice, Italy
Operator of Vehicle: Azienda del Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (ACTV)
Date of Photo: March 10, 2008
When one thinks of transit in Venice, Italy, one usually thinks of vaporettos (water taxis) or gondolas, not buses. And when American transit fans think of Breda, they think of trains, not buses. Yet here we have a photo of a Venetian bus built by Breda. Venice has transit modes other than its famed vaporettos. ACTV not only operates the vaporettos but also has a fleet of over 600 buses serving the islands of Lido and Pallestrina, as well as the Venetian boroughs located on the mainland. In 2010, ACTV began operating a tram line, the first in the region since 1941. Meanwhile, Breda is known for its rail rolling stock, which can be found in cities such as Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Washington, and Boston. However, it also manufactured buses, mostly found in Italy, for over 25 years, and also some trolleybuses in cities around the world. Transit is often predictable, but there are often surprises to be found, such as this, as well.
For more photos of buses in Venice, please click here.
Oren’s Reading List: How Many Metrocards from NYC Do You Have?
Before the Metrocard turned gold in 1997 with the introduction of free bus to subway and subway to bus transfers, it was blue.
Last week, NY1 News in New York City ran a story about a man from The Bronx who has been collecting MTA’s Metrocards since they were introduced in 1994. He estimates that he has over 1,000 cards, including the original blue ones as well as some special cards for students and senior citizens. You can watch the video on NY1’s website.
Do you have any blue Metrocards? Any other notable cards from NYC in your collection?
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.