Greyhound seats and fleet questions

[rickycourtney]

Denver's RTD has produced a very nice "how it's made" type video for it's new D4500CT coaches that will be used on the Flatiron Flyer "BRT" (yet another flavor of Diet BRT) service. Thought everyone here would find it interesting.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Great advertising for MCI/Cummins and that whole Commuter Coach Clique, but that doesn't make MCI any better. MCI's poor attitude can be shown by them giving me fake prices when I asked for a quote - while Prevost gave me a real price range. MCI gave me price quotes so high that the H3-45 seemed cheap in comparison. Perhaps I'm just a fan now, but what if I actually wanted to buy a motorcoach? To me, that's a reflection of the whole attitude at these companies, and it appears that many others agree.

GTE's admin posted that Prevost has now overtaken MCI in motorcoach sales, not just in the private sector (which they had achieved by 2012), but overall sales. He didn't cite a source, but I don't doubt him. Even Amtrak California's Martinez-McKinleyville bus is now operated by new H3-45s.

So what do you think about those rumors from the grapevine?

 

[Train2104]

Is there a list of what numbers are which models somewhere? Swadian, I found your nice detailed model summary, but it doesn't contain numbers!

So anyway, rode runs 1605 and 1632 yesterday PGH-CLE-PGH. Comfortable buses, but 1605 left PGH 3 hours late due to a driver shortage caused by an incident elsewhere. (they announced this as the bus being late and it wasn't on the tracker, but I realized the through riders were in the station with no new driver to be found)

1632 was very empty (around a dozen people out of Cleveland)

 

[rickycourtney]

Spotted a Greyhound X3-45 heading south from Seattle towards Portland, but the headsign either wasn't working or wasn't programmed with the buses destination.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

What were the bus numbers? I'll tell you the model if you give me the numbers or if you've got pictures.

Yesterday's 1605 is shown on BusTracker as On-Time. Don't know what to say.

It's really tough to explain bus numbers, but you can find the VIN here: https://apps.txdmv.gov/apps/mccs/truckstop/. VIN prefixes:

1M8P=102DL3

3BMX=G4500

2PCG=X3-45

1M86=D4505

There's others, too, but those are rare.

BTW, Greyhound Cleveland is CLD.

Ricky, Greyhound doesn't appear to program their headsigns with destinations. Last time I saw a driver enter a new destination (DENVER, CO), he had to plug in each individual letter. Presumably that driver was lazy, or the sign was broken.

 

[Train2104]

What were the bus numbers? I'll tell you the model if you give me the numbers or if you've got pictures.

Yesterday's 1605 is shown on BusTracker as On-Time. Don't know what to say.

Because it was 1605 (9) that leaves PGH at 0330 (10).

1605 had 6499, I don't remember the other one, but I think it was in the 67xx range.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

#6499 is a DL3; here's a picture of it in white: http://www.cptdb.ca/wiki/images/b/bf/Greyhound_Lines_6499-a.jpg.

The original GLI DL3 numbers were #6000-6619 and #6900-6664. More have been added second-hand or from subsidiaries.

GLI doesn't have any 6700s anymore, though they did have a few until recently that were second-hand DL3s:

http://www.barraclou.com/bus/greyhound/greyhound6709.jpg

http://norcalbusfans.jalbum.net/NorCal%20Bus%20Fans%20Photo%20Archives/Greyhound/Greyhound%20USA/MCI%20102DL3/slides/GLI6702Jan069.html

GLC got #6703, which appears to be the last 6700, and it's based in Toronto, but isn't APA-compliant. It's the only rebuilt 6700.

Oh yeah, I was surprised to see #40185 running today's Denver-Reno. That's a rare DL3 from Vermont Transit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/19126773@N08/6012167778/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/19126773@N08/6012168296/sizes/l

Pretty far away from White River Junction, I'd say.

 

[NativeSon5859]

I rode #40185 last month from New Orleans to Miami. It sure gets around!

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I wonder where it's based out of. I've never seen a Vermont Transit unit in the West. I only saw this one on BusTracker. Vermont used different specs from Greyhound. They operated independently for years after being purchased by Greyhound and had their own uniforms and seats.

Lots of Vermont Transit fans on GTE, despite the elimination of most of their routes under Greyhound management.

Incidentally, I saw a complaint today that #86029 was left without a driver at WRJ on the Boston-Montreal route.

 

[rickycourtney]

Really? Drivers are typing the destinations into those signs? It's a wonder any of them are set correctly given that it would be a time consuming process to program those signs using the little keypad.

At most major transit agencies the headsign is controlled by the onboard computer. It uses GPS and the information on the route to automatically display the correct destination (among the many things it does).

Smaller agencies typically use a simpler system. The information on the possible destinations is uploaded to the sign (it can be as simple as using a flash drive, depending on the sign) and the drivers get a chart of codes. So they punch in like 116 and up pops Reno, NV.

I'm guessing Greyhound has a code system (they should have an automated system, but I digress). Your driver probably had a signs where all the destinations were wiped out, but the fix is easy, you simply upload the information again.

I found the X3 sighting a bit strange. I've never seen a X3 in Greyhound colors up here in Seattle before. Normally this is the land of the G4500 with an occasional D4500 or H3-45 sprinkled in.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Every time I've seen a driver do it, he certainly punched in a lot more than a code. That last time, I remember there were passengers waiting outside to get back on the bus at a rest stop, but the driver shield was closed and the driver was taking forever with the headsign. I was standing in the front and watched him do it, and I remembered thinking those passengers could just flip open the shield and get seated. On the D4505, they actually have to raise the electronic driver shade all the way up, punch in the code, then readjust the shade.

But yeah, it takes forever.

I've seen all kinds of weird things on the headsign, too.

Perhaps the rumors are true that Greyhound failed an emissions inspection and all the G4500s are getting booted out of the West.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

I wonder what type of destination signs Greyhound uses on it's buses? They look like TwinVision signs, but not sure.

 

[rickycourtney]

After a lot of work, the Greyhound Lines article on Wikipedia has now achieved "good article" status.

For those who know how Wikipedia works... will probably know this is a big deal. Personally for me, it's also a big deal as this is the first major article I've helped improve to GA status.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I asked about the headsign; hopefully I'll get a reply soon.

Today both directions of the Los Angeles-Portland are X3-45s. Also, San Ysidro-San Francisco skeds are all Americanos X3-45s. However, all the Reno-San Francisco schedules are D4505s. But yes, #40185 is in Reno today.

Ricky, may I request you to update the fleet on Wikipedia after the recent cuts? Currently, GLI has 402+22 102DL3/D4500s, 150+27 G4500s, 196+6 D4505s, and 429+14 X3-45s. The numbers added are from Americanos, all of which are now registered under GLI. And ofc, the BoltBus units are registered under GLI with the exception of PPB units that I have taken care to omit.

 

[rickycourtney]

So the problem is that while I don't doubt that your numbers are more accurate... all facts "must be attributed to a reliable, published source."

The TX DMV is hard to cite because the information is presented in a form that's very hard to digest, even for people like myself who know what to look for.

I'm stuck in a difficult position until Greyhound updates their official fleet information or a reliable trade article does an article on the cutbacks at Greyhound.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Yes, Texas DMV is in a form that is hard for most people to understand, but the current information on that page is wrong. No offence, but I feel like this is political correctness being prioritized over accurate information.

Let me ask you, when you are reporting, whether you would choose an official source with inaccurate information, or a reliable source with accurate information? In this case, you know that the official source is inaccurate. Greyhound's fleet page is almost always inaccurate, and that one is from May 2014. And I highly doubt any trade magazine will release info on Greyhound fleet cuts.

Perhaps a compromise would be put in a note that the fleet information is from May 2014, and that, according to Texas DMV, the information is no longer accurate, but Greyhound hasn't updated their official website yet.

 

[rickycourtney]

You're right.

I've honestly thought long and hard about changing the page to list just the models and drop the information on how many coaches of each model Greyhound currently owns. I mean frankly, outside of transportation geeks like us, who really cares just how many G4500 coaches Greyhound still owns?

It's not incredibly encyclopedic information.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Actually, that's a good idea. The only people that do care are the people who understand Texas DMV anyway.

Of course, there's also those feebleheads on CPTDB that keep spreading misinformation. Man, I wish I could go into their locked forum and whoop them.

Sorry, I'm not in a good mood today. Somewhat fatigued, but just really frustrated. Got delayed 50 minutes off the day's schedule. Ugh. Gonna have to catch up on sleep over the weekend. Apologies.

 

[rickycourtney]

One of Sound Transit's D4500 commuter coaches burned up this morning: http://www.king5.com/story/news/traffic/2015/10/14/sound-transit-bus-fire--405-hurts-morning-commute/73919346/

To my knowledge this is the first time one of Sound Transit's MCI coaches has burned. Guess it just goes to show that it can happen even when you have excellent maintenance.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm not sure they have excellent maintenance, and that D4500CL certainly hasn't run many miles. I do find this to be further proof of MCI's inferiority to Prevost and Cummins inferiority to Volvo. A NorCalBusFan recently said the J4500 is a Yugo, and the H3-45 is a Cadillac.

Perhaps it's time for MCI to go out of business, unless they can fix up the remaining problems of the D4500CL/CT real fast. Another business practice could be to capitalize on the D4000CL/CT, as Prevost doesn't have a short version of the X3-45.

Also, I got a reply on the destination sign. A GLI driver says they were made by Prevost. I doubt it, but who knows?

 

[rickycourtney]

Pierce Transit (who operates and maintains this bus on behalf of Sound Transit) generally does a good job on maintenance. Most of the transit agencies up here do.

This coach was one of the youngest in Sound Transit's fleet. It was one of 17 D4500 coaches received in 2010, so it's EPA 2010 compliant and would have a DPF. Not saying that the DPF is the culprit, but it's probably a good place to start looking.

I guarantee you that the destination sign isn't from Prevost. It's probably from a company called Luminator that produces the majority of the destination signs for the transportation industry.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Still, I believe there isn't much maintenance to be done for a Commuter Coach that doesn't run more than 50,000 miles/year anyway. Not sure what the culprit is, but I can see that these 2004-and-later MCIs catch on fire more often than Prevosts of the same period. I don't think the DD13 catches on fire much, though. But even with the DD13, MCI still has other problems with its New D's.

Yeah, I too was baffled when he said Prevost made the headsigns. Now I must say that drivers can no longer be considered reliable sources.

 

[railiner]

The electronic destination sign's (not aware of who makes 'em), can be pre-programmed with a list of destinations that a driver can scroll thru alphabetically (the long way), or punch in a three or four digit code (depends on the year of the bus) and press enter to instantly bring up a destination.

In addition, a driver can type in any message he or she wants to display, just for fun, if they know the program code....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Ah, OK. So that guy must have been scrolling through the list to get to 'DENVER, CO'.

I heard a rumor that GLI is starting BoltBus service Los Angeles-Sacramento, but haven't heard any more about it.

Also saw this video of brand-new D4505 #MO86577: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjgXkOjW1c. It looks somewhat better than the older D4505s, but that stupid forehead is still ugly.

 

[rickycourtney]

Greyhound sent out a teaser tweet this morning. My guess is that they're about to roll out eTicketing nationwide.