Bus Photo of the Month: December 2024

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Oren

New Flyer XD40 2124

Location: Duke Ellington Bridge, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Date of Photo: May 4, 2020

At the end of this month, the DC Circulator will cease operations after nearly 15 years of operation. The service was started in July 2006 on two routes, with the goal of creating an “simple” and “easily navigable” bus system to supplement the existing Metrobus network. In order to meet these goals, bus routes operated every 10 minutes around the clock on routes that connected major destinations around Downtown DC. The system grew, often as select Metrobus routes were converted to Circulator operation to take advantage of lower subsidies and operating costs. A National Mall route was also established following the discontinuation of the Tourmobile service that held the exclusive rights to offer guided tours within that area under a contract with the National Park Service.

The discontinuation of the service can be attributed to several reasons. Ridership has not rebounded since the Covid-19 pandemic, but arguably, many Circulator routes do not warrant 10 minute headways from early morning until late night (or 3 AM in the case of select routes on Friday and Saturday nights). However, changing the headways was considered to be a non-starter on account of wanting the service to remain “simple.” Furthermore, DDOT wished to have all eight wards of the city served by at least one route, a goal that was never achieved, but some wards simply do not have any activity generators that would warrant the level of service the Circulator committed to providing on all of its routes.

Service is currently running on 20 minute headways on five routes through December 31, 2024. After that date, RATP DEV, which is the contracted operator for the service, will commence its final wind down procedures, such that the contract can be fully cancelled by March 2025.

Have you ever taken the DC Circulator?

For more photos of the DC Circulator , please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2022

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Oren

New Flyer XE40 1001

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Chevy Chase, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: October 24, 2019

The number of electric buses in the United States has been increasing in recent years, and 2022 is only going to continue that trend. In mid-2021, the American Public Transportation Association estimated that about 1,000 of nearly 73,000 public buses was powered by electricity. The number of agencies that have purchased electric buses for their fleets continues to rise, and some have committed to only purchasing electric buses in order to make their fleets emission free.

In the Washington, DC area, WMATA, the largest agency in the region, currently has a single electric bus that entered service in 2016. Pre-pandemic, it operated during rush hours only on routes in Northwest Washington. After receiving some public criticism from the likes of the Sierra Club for not adopting a plan to convert the fleet to electric vehicles sooner, in December, WMATA announced a plan to convert its fleet to be fully electric vehicles by 2045. Ten buses purchased as part of the agency’s Battery-Electric Bus Test and Evaluation Program are expected to enter service at the Shepherd Parkway Division later this year.

WMATA isn’t the only agency with electric buses in the DC area. DC Circulator has been operating a fleet of Proterra electric buses since May 2018. Ride On’s first electric buses, also Proterras, entered service in the fall of 2020. DASH in Alexandria, VA introduced New Flyer XE40s in the fall of 2020 and Proterras during the summer of 2021. Finally, in Frederick, MD, TransIT purchased five Gillig Advantage low floor buses that were converted to operate using battery electric power in 2016 and an additional four BYD K7M buses in 2020.

Although the upfront cost of purchasing an electric bus is higher than that of a standard diesel or diesel-electric hybrid, electric buses often have much lower maintenance costs. Therefore, over the life of an electric bus, its “true cost” is lower than that of conventionally powered buses.

For more photos of WMATA’s New Flyer XE40 Buses, please click here.

Enough Teases, Here’s What’s New and Updated for the Start of 2021!

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Oren

Anyone who knows where I’ve traveled or has visited the site with some frequency over the years may have noticed that the Bus Photo of the Month for January 2021 was from a city that had not been included on Oren’s Transit Page before, and that I’ve been highlighting a number of new website sections over the past few weeks.

The biggest and most noteworthy additions are the brand new sections for Baltimore, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Austin. As I noted in a recent post, there was a certain amount of irony to the fact I grew up 40 miles from Baltimore and am an avid Orioles fan, yet the city had not been featured on this site until recently. Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Austin were destinations that I traveled to in late 2019 and early 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic, and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to make those trips when I did.

I also took advantage of some time I had recently to move some photos that had been on the Uncaptioned Photos page for quite awhile and put them in more appropriate places on the website, most notably, the photos of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway now have their own page. Perhaps you found the new material on your own, but if not, here is the full listing of where new photos were recently added to the site, with new sections highlighted in bold and italics.

United States

Revisiting 2019 With New Photos on Oren’s Transit Page

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Oren

The age of Coronavirus may not be good for traveling, but it is good for emptying out the “photo queue” of pictures I would like to post and share here on my site. With this update, I believe that nearly all the transit photos I took during 2019 and intended to post to Oren’s Transit Page are in fact posted!

Last March, I was able to attend Orioles spring training in Sarasota, and also spent time in Tampa on that trip as well. I had never been to the west coast of Florida before so it was interesting to see what the transit operations on the Florida Suncoast are like. With this site update, you can too, as there are over 30 photos from this area now on the site! You can find the new galleries for HART (including the TECO Streetcar Line), PSTA, MCAT, and SCAT in the Tampa & Florida Suncoast section. (How’s that for some agency alphabet soup?)

In June, a planned trip to Boston became a road trip due to a flight cancelled following thunderstorms. Since our return trip was on my birthday, Mrs. Oren’s Transit Page indulged me and permitted a stop at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT. (We had lunch at a favorite restaurant of hers in New Haven as well).

Throughout the summer, many transit fans’ attention was turned to Alexandria, VA, where DASH acquired Neoplan articulated buses from Bee Line in Westchester County, NY in order to supplement service during WMATA’s Platform Improvement Project on the Blue and Yellow Lines. WMATA, DASH, and contracted tour bus operators operated the various bus bridges that replaced Metrorail service. I ventured out one day to photograph the shuttle buses and ride one of the former Bee Line Neoplans, and those photos are also now online. While this may be the “highlight” of the newest additions to the site from the DC area, there are a total of 15 new DASH photos, 6 new ART photos, and over 50 new WMATA photos.

Finally, in November, I was in Pittsburgh for the second time (my first trip was in 2015). I didn’t take as many transit rides while I was there as I had planned, but I did take about 50 photos of PAT buses and light rail vehicles that are now on the website, including some of their buses decorated for the Christmas holiday season and the Monongahela Incline, which I rode for the first time.

You may have noticed that I wrote that nearly all the photos from 2019 are now online, so you may also be wondering what is still to come. In August, I visited both Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, so photos of the transit operations in those places (did you know the National Park Service operates a fleet of New Flyer C40LF and C40LFR buses on the South Rim of the canyon?), as well as many photos from a city taken over the course of many years that you would have expected to be on my site already in light of its proximity to Oren’s Transit Page Headquarters will be in the next site update. Stay tuned!

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update:

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2020

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Oren

Proterra Catalyst 3001

Location: New Hampshire Avenue at Sunderland Place, NW, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: District Department of Transportation
Date of Photo: September 7, 2018

Yesterday, I shared a photo of a vehicle type that will not be serving passengers in the new decade. Today, we will turn our focus towards the future and look at a vehicle that I expect to be serving more and more people in the next ten years.

There has been a longstanding desire in the transit world to operate electric vehicles due to their energy efficiencies. While electric powered trolley buses or trackless trollies have been around for many years, I think it is only recently that bus manufacturers have developed rubber tired battery powered vehicles that do not need to run under a wire all or most of the time. Although 99 percent of the world’s electric buses currently operate in China, they are gradually becoming more widespread elsewhere. While it is a far cry from the 421,000 electric buses in China as of 2019, there are about 300 electric buses serving transit agencies in the United States and that number is growing. In fact, as of November 2019, American demand for electric buses has exceeded manufacturing capacity for the first time, and only five states (Arkansas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia) do not have a single transit agency planning to procure electric buses if they have not done so already.

I’ll hopefully write about my first time on board one of DDOT’s Proterra electric buses that have been a part of the DC Circulator fleet since 2018 sometime soon. But in the meantime, enjoy one of the first photos I took of an electric Circulator bus in late 2018.

Have you been on an electric bus yet? If so, where was it and what did you think of it? Post about it in the comments below!

For more photos of DC Circulator Proterra buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: July 2019

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Oren

New Flyer XDE40 2015

Location: Jefferson Drive and 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Date of Photo: September 14, 2016

In just a few days, thousands will gather on the National Mall in Washington, DC to celebrate Independence Day. Although it doesn’t operate on July 4th due to the various street closures along its route, the DC Circulator National Mall route is a great way to travel between the various museums and monuments that line the Mall. It is also a great way to get photos of transit vehicles and those same landmarks in a single shot! I took this photo in September 2016 because I was able to capture the bus itself using a classic 3/4 roster shot but also the Washington Monument in the background. Although some other area bus operators have routes that travel near landmarks such as the Washington Monument and Capitol building, I think it is fair to say that Circulator has the most plentiful options for transit photography with these national landmarks.

For more photos of DC Circulator buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: March 2019

Posted on March 2, 2019 by Oren

Van Hool A300K 1133

Location: M Street, NW at Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Date of Photo: March 13, 2015

Yesterday’s post was about a DC area equipment type that is no longer operating. Today’s post is about an equipment type that is still plying the streets of the nation’s capital nearly a year after it was expected to be retired. When DDOT placed its new Proterra electric buses in to service about a year ago, it was assumed that the remaining Van Hool buses would be retired. However, nearly 12 months after the Proterras’ debut, the “baby” Van Hools are still in service. The Van Hools certainly aren’t my favorite bus type in the current DC Circulator fleet; I’d much rather see a New Flyer pull up instead (I have yet to ride a Proterra, but they don’t seem to be operating entire service days just yet). But if you are a fan of a bus type that is rarely found in the United States or buses that seem to have nine lives, you may want to hunt down one of the Van Hool A300Ks while you have the chance. Their days may be numbered, and one day that prediction will be right.

For more photos of DC Circulator buses, please click here.

New Photos from the Land of Enchantment (& More)

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Oren

In August, I visited New Mexico for the first time (unless you count passing through on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief back in 2014). Although I was only there for four full days, I did have some opportunities to photograph the transit available in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and in between. Both cities have sizable bus networks, though the latter is larger than that of the former. In addition, the Rail Runner Express operates commuter rail service between those same cities. Unfortunately, for such a short stay and due to other logistical constraints, I didn’t actually ride any of these systems, though photographing them while trying to capture the local architectural styles in some of my photographs while doing so was fun!

This update also includes photos from around the DC area, including photos of MARC’s newest diesel locomotives, the DC Circulator’s new Proterra electric buses, and more!

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update:

Just in time for the summer travel season, Winter 2018 photos have been posted!

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Oren

The first part of 2018 here at Oren’s Transit Page headquarters has been busy. The next few months also have some travel planned both to places I’ve been before as well as new ones, but in this post, I wish to let everyone know that new photos from the past few months from a variety of places are now available on this site. You may have noticed some recent photos of the month were from locations that had not been featured on any part of this site before.

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.

In January, I spent two weeks in Brazil and Argentina. While I had been to Rio de Janerio back in 2010, I didn’t take any photos of that city’s subway on that trip. That has changed, and there is now a Rio Metro page here on Oren’s Transit Page. There are also additions to the existing Rio bus page. After Rio, I was in Iguazu Falls, where I had also been in 2010, but there are no new photos from here. The following stop was Buenos Aires, marking my first time in that city, and I have plenty of photos from that city. The Buenos Aires Subte (Underground), while small, has a rich history and also has the distinction of serving the southernmost subway station in the world.

You might recognize some of the 6000 Series cars on the Buenos Aires pages from Madrid and that would make sense, as Buenos Aires bought them secondhand from the Spanish capital. The network of buses, known locally as colectivos, is an impressive sight to see as they crisscross the city in just about every imaginable direction. Each colectivo line is operated by a private firm, and each private firm only operates a handful of lines at most. The buses on each route have unique liveries to make identification by waiting passengers easier.

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!

New Photos of New Services!

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Oren

If this website had a tagline, it would have to address the fact that I have a never ending photo queue and a whole host of things I’d love to share here on the Travelogue if I had unlimited time to do so. The reality is that while running this website is a labor of love, it is a hobby, and real life has to take priority at times. Among the many reasons I’ve been posting less is that the Oren’s Transit Page has expanded to include “Mrs. Oren’s Transit Page.” While she is quite supportive of my hobby and even enjoys coming with me on my railfan excursions on occasion, I’d like to think that she appreciates the fact that I assisted with wedding planning and then showed up at the (transit accessible) wedding itself. However, over the course of wedding planning, I’ve still had plenty of chances to snap photos of transit and in the past few days, finally had a chance to organize and caption many of those photos. In fact, over 75 photos were added to various sections of the website in this update.

This update includes photos of several things that had not, to date, appeared on my website before now.

It didn’t get its own post aside from the October Photo of the Month, and it took me over 12 months from the time it opened until I actually rode it, but the are now photos of and a page dedicated to the DC Streetcar. If that isn’t new enough for you, my first photos of the WMATA New Flyer XN40s that entered service in 2016 are now online as well. I rode these vehicles for the first time back in July. If you want to feast your eyes on an even more recent addition to the DC area transit scene, Ride On Extra started one month ago and there are new photos of the BRT styled buses dedicated to this service on the Ride On 40 Foot Gillig Advantage Buses page.

Other DC area pages also had photos added to them; these are the WMATA Breda Rehab, WMATA Kawasaki 7000 Series, WMATA Metrorail Stations, WMATA 2008 NABI 60-BRT/CNG, WMATA New Flyer XDE60 Buses, WMATA XDE40 Buses, WMATA New Flyer DE40LFA, WMATA New Flyer DE60LFA, WMATA New Flyer D40LFR, WMATA New Flyer DE40LF, WMATA New Flyer C40LF & C40LFR, WMATA Orion VII/CNG, DC Circulator, Ride On 40 Foot Orion V, Ride On 35 Foot Orion V, Ride On 40 Foot Gillig Advantage/HEV, and MARC Commuter Rail pages.

The photo queue also had some photos from short trips to other cities along the US East Coast, and I was finally able to get to those, too. You will find new photos in the New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and New Jersey Transit Bus Operations pages in the New Jersey section, MBTA Green Line and MBTA Buses pages in the Boston section, and on the MARTA page in the Atlanta section.

Naturally, I took Amtrak to travel to some of these places, so there are also new photos on the Amtrak ACS-64 Locomotives, Amtrak Genesis Locomotives, Acela Express, and Amtrak Stations pages.

As always, I make my perpetual promise to feature some of my favorite photos and the stories behind them in “The Viewfinder” in the near future. I hope to be able to follow through on that promise soon. In the meantime, enjoy the new additions and I hope to share other photos from my queue of uncaptioned photos in the near future.

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Tag Archives: DC Circulator