Topic: Bendy Buses Have Arrived in Winnipeg

[dkaz]

Vancouver's New Flyer electric trolleys are slightly better capacity wise because of the use of single seats to the one side of the bus:



But they just don't compare to the sheer passenger volume the older trolleys had:

[dr_spock]

Articulated buses are coming back to Toronto.  They will be low floor too. 

http://www.ttc.ca/News/2013/October/1003_Articu_Bus.jsp

[Vanstar]

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.

Victoria uses doubled decker buses. When taking one from the Swartz Bay terminal to downtown the view from the top deck is very nice, especially is you can get the front seat.

[dkaz]

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.

[jamie1]

Edmonton has a few of these buses. I have no idea what routes they are on, but I would think they would be on routes that don't cross the river. Only time I ever take a bus, is to an Eskimo game.

[Vanstar]

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.

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.

[Guy]

Quebec City and Montreal runs hundreds of articulated low floor Nova buses with no issues.

[mmret]

Isn't there some sort of "floor-avator" type thing that you can get put into the 2nd door? Maybe coupled with air suspension but I'd think the elevator device is plenty.

[PJ]

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.

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.

There was at least one last year. I remember having to detour through deep snow in New West the day the ice bombs closed the Port Mann.

[dkaz]

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.

[PJ]

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.

It snowed in Vancover that day too.  I mentioned the Port Mann because everyone seems to remember the day of the ice bombs.

[Northernridge]

They worked well in Ottawa.

Well damn. We got them from Ottawa…seriously.

Thanks Ottawa.

[MD1987]

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.

[Northernridge]

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.

I think that is what our local news reported. Since New Flyer is in Winnipeg, the fleet was retrofitted…to what extent I don't know.

[mmret]

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.

Must be some mega displacement turbodiesel though no?

[revalations]

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.

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.

[johngenx]

We have lots of them.  They work well here, even in winter.  My daughter rides one into the city and back everyday, and they run even during the worst snow days.

[mmret]

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.

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.

[revalations]

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.

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.

Oh no, semi engines usually run around 1650 torque and  go up to just over 2000 for heavy haul.

[Scaerio]

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.

IIRC, Ottawa got rid of those ones because they rusted out.

Budapest, Györ, Szeged, and Debrecen don't have the same issues with snow and road-salt.