Low floor buses are a disaster regardless... less passenger seating, what seating there is usually in a goofy configuration, and verytough to use for standees in sections at the rear because the floor is sloped. A really bad idea in the name of political correctness. Inconvenience 99% of your customers in the name of the occasional wheelchair user. There has to be a better way.The articulated buses have real problems in the snow for the reasons described. I haven't seen modern double-deckers in city use though... interesting.
We have new articulated electric trolleys which I'd say are a 25% improvement over the old articulated electric trolleys but they're 50% longer and no so fun to drive when it snows or ices out. At least the City of Vancouver learned their lesson after the first winter and deice and clear the articulated bus routes first. I still miss the old trolleys. We sold 80 of these to Mendoza Argentina for $2,300 each.
Quote from: DKaz on November 10, 2013, 12:20:51 pmWe have new articulated electric trolleys which I'd say are a 25% improvement over the old articulated electric trolleys but they're 50% longer and no so fun to drive when it snows or ices out. At least the City of Vancouver learned their lesson after the first winter and deice and clear the articulated bus routes first. I still miss the old trolleys. We sold 80 of these to Mendoza Argentina for $2,300 each.We also have to take into account the number of snowy days Vancouver city proper actually has. Last year it was a grand total of zero, the year before maybe two. The new trolley buses are quite nice to ride in. They are very airy inside. Articulated buses work well in our climate. They are used on the busy routes such as Commercial Skytrain to UBC.
I didn't realize that the Port Mann Bridge was in the Vancouver city proper. We did have a couple days of snow last year in the burbs.
They worked well in Ottawa.
Being a transit buff too, if they are from Ottawa they are the old New Flyer D60LFs the city traded in for newer ones. The buses are really poor equipped with a 4 cylinder engine, not enough to pull 100s of people and the AC system running.
Quote from: MD1987 on November 10, 2013, 08:01:45 pmBeing a transit buff too, if they are from Ottawa they are the old New Flyer D60LFs the city traded in for newer ones. The buses are really poor equipped with a 4 cylinder engine, not enough to pull 100s of people and the AC system running.Must be some mega displacement turbodiesel though no?
Quote from: mmret on November 10, 2013, 08:20:21 pmQuote from: MD1987 on November 10, 2013, 08:01:45 pmBeing a transit buff too, if they are from Ottawa they are the old New Flyer D60LFs the city traded in for newer ones. The buses are really poor equipped with a 4 cylinder engine, not enough to pull 100s of people and the AC system running.Must be some mega displacement turbodiesel though no?Would be a Detroit series 50 turbo diesel. They put out about 350 HP and around 850 torque. It's a fairly large displacement, iirc around 9L.
Quote from: revalations on November 10, 2013, 09:46:58 pmQuote from: mmret on November 10, 2013, 08:20:21 pmQuote from: MD1987 on November 10, 2013, 08:01:45 pmBeing a transit buff too, if they are from Ottawa they are the old New Flyer D60LFs the city traded in for newer ones. The buses are really poor equipped with a 4 cylinder engine, not enough to pull 100s of people and the AC system running.Must be some mega displacement turbodiesel though no?Would be a Detroit series 50 turbo diesel. They put out about 350 HP and around 850 torque. It's a fairly large displacement, iirc around 9L.850! Surely that is beefy enough to get the ball rolling. Comparable to a semi is it not.
Quote from: Scaerio on November 09, 2013, 01:50:47 pmThe problem with the New Flyer and Orion artics is that the engine is in the very back and the rear axle is powered... That's a lot of pushing against a relatively unstable platform... The older Orion-Ikarus (Hungarian bus maker) articulated design that Ottawa used to use was a high-floor bus, with a mid-engine and powered middle axle.IIRC, Ottawa got rid of those ones because they rusted out.
The problem with the New Flyer and Orion artics is that the engine is in the very back and the rear axle is powered... That's a lot of pushing against a relatively unstable platform... The older Orion-Ikarus (Hungarian bus maker) articulated design that Ottawa used to use was a high-floor bus, with a mid-engine and powered middle axle.