Bus Photo of the Month: April 2024

New Flyer XN60 18711

Location: Las Vegas Boulevard at Fremont Street, August 16, 2019
Operator of Vehicle: Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Date of Photo: August 16, 2019

Given the amount of time tourists spend on the Strip in Las Vegas, it is reasonable for the double decker buses that operate along “the Duece” route along the city’s most famous street to be the bus model that transit fans associate with Sin City.  In fact, Las Vegas is one of six transit agencies in the United States to operate double decker buses.  However, the majority of the Las Vegas bus fleet is made up of New Flyer buses with just a single level.  Although many visitors to Las Vegas never venture far from the Strip (if at all), Las Vegas has one of the most extensive “night bus” networks in the United States due to the 24 hour nature of the casinos and hospitality industry.  

For more photos of RTC Transit buses in Las Vegas, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: March 2023

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.  

Bus Photo of the Month: October 2019

New Flyer XN60 1104

New Flyer XN60 1104

Location: A Street between India Street and Columbia Street, San Diego, CA
Operator of Vehicle: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)
Date of Photo: July 16, 2014

In honor of the second annual “Free Ride Day” in San Diego, which took place yesterday, it seemed appropriate to share a photo from my 2014 trip to San Diego for the Bus Photo of the Month.  MTS uses Free Ride Day as a way to encourage San Diegans to discover how they can use the transit system as part of their regular commutes, the hope being that if people like it enough when it is free that they will become paying passengers.  In the first iteration of Free Ride Day in 2018, over 53,000 trips were taken.  No word yet on what this year’s ridership figure was.

For more photos of MTS buses, please click here.