Photos of our extra Olympic buses from David Lam!
March 9, 2010
Photos of our extra Olympic buses from David Lam!
March 9, 2010
As I secretly suspected, David Lam from the Trans-Continental bus photo site was out during the Games taking photos of the buses roaming around!
He just recently sent an e-mail with some highlights, saying he dedicated most of his time photographing the older equipment due for retirement soon. Click through to enjoy his picks — and visit the full gallery for even more shots of the soon-to-be retired buses. Thanks Dave for all the lovely photos!
(PS: Dave also has a gallery devoted to VANOC’s Olympic bus network buses!)
It’s too bad that David couldn’t get any photos of the buses on the Dunsmuir Viaduct staging area since that area was behind a security zone.
Ive got a few photos of the buses lined up on the Viaduct. Not as good as David’s, but still neat. Here’s my best one, http://www.flickr.com/photos/brando737/4369285219/ . Jhenifer, feel free to post any pictures from my Flickr on the blog if you would like.
Jhen, I asked you two questions on the talking bus post, are you working on finding the answers for me?
Ric: Yes. I have sent them over to the annunciator group. However they have not yet replied to me. You can also assume that the answer is “Yes” any time you are wondering if I am trying to get the answers for you :)
I also have one photo taken from behind the security perimeter at GM Place… Only 4 Translink buses are visible on the viaduct though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trekkie604/4377460223/sizes/l/
Ric,
Give it a break man. She’s doing the best that she can.
Wahh I’ll miss the old D40 buses :'( Oh well…
Hey the first bus in the eighth photo is still in BCT livery :P
Trevor, Brandon — those are great photos!
I may have to make another post.
Jhen, do you know when exactly those old D40s are going to be retired? Is Translink waiting until they can be replaced by new buses? I love those poor old things. I will miss hearing them grunt their way up Lonsdale every day.
And if any TRAMS guys are reading this, do you know if TRAMS is planning to obtain one of those ’91 D40s for its fleet?
Thanks guys. :)
I noticed the livery on that first bus as well. What’s the time frame for the buses to get repainted? Is it a maintenance thing? Is the grey colour on the new buses reserved for them? Can we expect future repaints to have grey instead of white?
I hope the buses don’t get repainted too fast, I think blue on red is a lot more pleasing to the eye than our blue, white, and yellow! (Though admittedly, the grey that takes the place of the white isn’t half bad)
Reva: here’s the answer from fleet management.
Cliff: I believe that red bus is a D40, no? Which means it will be retired rather than repainted.
Cliff: Oops, hit send too fast. I will inquire about the repaintings. I think I have the answer on the blog somewhere!
I remember when the New Flyer D40’s first started appearing in the early 90’s. I really liked these buses until I moved near a route that they run on. Though I’ll miss them, I’m happy to have the much quieter Nova buses around instead.
Hey Ric just thought I would say that Jhen is only one person and she is doing here best so give the poor girl some slack. She will get your answer in do time.
I actually think that the white, yellow, and blue paint used on the D40s looks better than the red and blue BC Transit scheme. It also matches up with TransLink branding better. But, now with the grey, blue, and yellow stripped buses, the colors don’t match with the TransLink branding! Will TransLink’s color scheme be changed to match the new buses and skytrain mark IIs?
I’ve just found out those D40s that were in Surrey during the Olympics were part of the extra buses during the games. And now pooof!!! they’ve disappeared, probably they’re in a scrapyard somewhere waiting for their fate, how sad. :(
No rush, take your time. After all, paint is just aesthetics :p
Hehehh including the red and blue livery, we have like four different ones for forty-foot buses, three different ones for sixty-foot buses, and three for SkyTrain (not including Canada Line) :D
Oh i forgot the new New Flyer one… so that makes it FOUR for sixty-foot buses too :D
I actually like the high-floor buses over the low floors. Less traffic noise coming in from the doors, easier to open rear doors (just step down rather than pushing a bar once the green light comes on indicating that the door is unlocked, which many drivers fail to remember to do). I wish that they aren’t retired. A couple should be kept in service or for use as spare buses (to replace one in a long repair such as one involved in an accident or if they need an extra bus) since these buses are accessible. I will sure miss these D40s. :(
Not to mention that the highway coaches are still the best buses that Translink has in its fleet of buses. Its too bad that highway coaches can’t be used for all routes, or at least all the express routes (ex 301, 430, 480.) What is the reason for this?
Why are these buses getting retired if they are still running?
By the why when a bus is retired are universal fit items such as lights, LED bulbs, fluorescent tubes, bell cords, destination signs, GPS unit etc. salvaged for use on other buses that are in use?
To Ric:
Yes, I agree, I love those high-floor buses myself too! They have lots of good power and once accelerated, the engine screams and “pushes” the bus to go forward, it’s a very distinctive feeling that can’t be experienced on a low-floor bus!
I’ll try to answer some of your questions….
Considering there are only 85 highway suburban Orion buses, and there are over 200 bus routes serving the lower mainland, it’s physically impossible to assign the highway buses on every single route. And if we were to count all the express routes alone, the amount of buses required would still outnumber the amount of highway buses available in total. Furthermore, as all the highway buses are based out of Richmond garage, they will only be assigned to routes that are served by the jurisdictions of Richmond division. (you won’t see an Orion on rt.301 anymore, because 301 “belongs” to Surrey division, it’s beyond the service network provided by Richmond division)
While not required by law, and these buses are probably capable of passing ICBC inspections without any issues, Translink’s diesel buses are generally decommissioned after 18-20 years of service. While older buses may have issues with structure / body corrosions, “un-eco-friendly” greenhouse-gas emission from engineering technologies in the early 1990s, these high-floor buses with no kneeling capabilities must be phased out in favour of new low-floor buses that are fully accessible for persons with disabilities.
Nothing related to the lighting mechanisms are salvaged and “transplanted” into newer buses, as all modern and perhaps more-efficient, energy-conserving lighting systems are installed by manufacturers on new buses. It would probably be an economical waste to pay mechanics to get onboard each old bus and try to uninstall the bell chord, and attempt to re-install onto new buses, as opposed to simply buying new cords and directly installing on new buses! Destination signs aren’t saved, older buses have older signs that may not be compatible with the newer buses. Only things that will be salvaged and transplanted to newer buses are the GPS units and the fareboxes.
Hope that helps to answer some of your questions! Don’t hassle Jhenifer all the time, quite frankly I think you should publicly thank her for having politely answered all your questions as efficiently as she could’ve afforded to, despite of your manners and attitudes.
Dave
Yup. Remember, it’s pretty informal and laid back here. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but keep in mind, she’s a one man army. She’s doing the best she can.
David, the driver’s seats on the buses seem to be uniform across the system and haven’t changed much. Are those not salvaged as well? Or again, simply not worth the time and money?
Buses serving on route #480 usually are the longer Articulated buses because of the heavy demand along the route… The U-Pass program has been very successful in getting the majority of students out of their cars and onto buses, so we have to provide them with the larger capacity buses on as many trips as possible… An artic can hold 100+ passengers, whereas an Orion only holds like just 60 passengers…
David, Hmm… if I recall I do see lots of highway coaches that have a S in front of the bus number instead of a R. Doesn’t the S mean the bus is out of the Surrey garage? Also all buses have been using the same lighting system so I think that lighting system so I wonder why they don’t salvage the parts especially when Jhenifer mentioned that the LEDs are very expensive?
As well why not just order more Highway coaches so they can be used on all routes or all express routes?
I think that Translink should just order highway coaches in future orders instead of Novas and New Flyers DL40s with the exception of the artics so they can be used on all routes.
All Highway Orions were originally assigned to the Richmond Depot… About 3 years ago, maybe 15 of them were moved to the Surrey Depot to do #311, 352 & 354 trips… Once in awhile one would end up on a #301 trip too…BUT as of last September they were all moved back to Richmond, and recently had all the “S’s” changed back to “R’s”…
Richmond has been very slow in changing the letters around… BUT recently did them all in time for the Olympics…
As for MORE Highway buses, I’d say NO! Richmond has too many of them now, and sometimes ends up using some on local Richmond routes, when they really are not designed for them…
Only one door, less seats, less standing room…
I’d suggest buying MORE Articulated buses! And using them on routes with the expanded U-Pass program, such as all UBC & SFU routes! the #49’s should be articulated! The #25’s should be articulated! The #130’s along Willingdon should be articulated!
The #9’s should also be articulated, if we had enough of them!
Why were the highway coaches moved back to Richmond? Don’t they still need them for the 311, 352 & 354 routes?
Sean, Hmm… with you mentioning articulated buses and routes that should use them, I think that the 410 route should use them too. As an operator, I don’t know if you ever did that route, but with me being a daily rider of that route I have noticed that they get packed really fast during the morning rush with the elimination of the 496 and the afternoon rush with so many people transferring onto the route from the skytrain at 22nd st stn. Why can’t the 410 use articulated buses if it is so busy?
I agree! But, there are only so many artics, and I believ that out at 22 St Station, there isn’t room to park or load an Artic at this time…
Yes, as a Richmond Op, I do many #410’s, mostly the morning shifts…
Ric: the 311, 352 and 354 are now done out of RTC.
Richmond does ALL Hwy #99 routes, including the ones I’ve mentioned above… I believe that CMBC decided that it’s better to have all of the A/C equipped buses in one depot?
Richmond originally did the West Coast Express TRAINBUS trips using the Orions, until WCE decided to contract it out to CanTrail…
since surrey lost the hwy coaches did we get other busses back and why is surrey never got the new nova buses since i notice vancouver, north van and burnaby got them
Wow, so you mean that the WCE Trainbuses are run by a contractor working for TransLink and not under WCE? Weird.
(I know WCE is a subsidiary of TransLink)
I hit send before the full effect of what I just wrote hit me. Never mind :x
kieth: Once Burnaby depot started receiving Nova buses, then Burnaby started sending some of the New Flyer coaches (7400-7500)out to Surrey… When Surrey sent the dozen or so Orions back to Richmond, I guess they must have received low floors in their place…
North Van had the oldest equipment up until they finally started receiving the new Nova’s, and now Richmond has the majority of oldest equipment… Recently Surrey started loosing the newer low floors to Vancouver in exchange for older low floors??? And Richmond gained newer low floors (some 7300’s) in exchange for the soon to be retired 3100’s…
Not to mention the 20 or so re-commissioned “PoCo” natural gas buses, that were parked for a number of years, and have now come back as diesel buses… Although they are high numbered 3200’s and low numbered 3300’s (that might make you think that they are High floors), they are in fact low floors and have been divided up between Richmond & Surrey depots since last summer…
Cliff:
Here’s the answer to your repainting question from CMBC’s body, paint and trim department.
Also, a big thanks to everyone helping out with answers to questions! You guys are amazing.
About salvaging the destination signs on the retired buses, I’ll bet some collectors would love to own an old destination sign complete with power supply, keypad, & computer-y bits — Jhen, is Translink still thinking about opening a gift shop? :) Ebay store, even?
ericmk:
In answer to your question about the TransLink colours, the new silver/blue/yellow livery you see on the new SkyTrain, SeaBus, and buses is now our unified livery across the fleet. We have started to introduce these colours with new orders of vehicles — the old buses will remain in their existing colours until they are retired.
Cliff, Sean:
Just to clarify, the TrainBus contractor works for West Coast Express, and not for TransLink directly!
I asked WCE about this too, and here’s the response.
If CMBC no longer operates the WCE trainbus why is there still a highway coach that has the stripe of purple on it as well as says west coast express trainbus on the side?
Ric: I would surmise that this bus belongs to CanTrail. Or it is simply a remnant that has not been repainted.
Ric, “R9201” was painted and set up specificlly set up to do the evening WCE trip, back when it first started… I’m not sure exactly how long CMBC did that trip but i would say at least for 2 years… “R9203” was the back up bus and then the morning trip was added after awhile…
I might be under the wrong impression, but CMBC either lost the contract, or didn’t try the next time around… The CanTrail buses do have washrooms, whereas ours don’t?
There were other aspects to the contract, not just suppling a bus…
I did the evening trip just once, when the regular Op was off sick… And was called out a second time when there was a rock slide blocking the train tracks, but the expected load of passengers never showed up/happened so I was just sent back into the garage without being needed…
Sean:
In my comment above, WCE explained that CMBC has in fact not chosen to bid on the TrainBus contract in recent years.
Thanks Jhen!
Like I tried to include in my post, there were other aspects to the contract, not simply supplying a bus…
What about the 73xx-74xx D40LFs are they going to receive the same color scheme as the new skytrain and seabus?
zack: your question is answered above:
“We do not repaint buses in the new charcoal / silver livery – although we will when buses already painted these colours are due for mid-life. As for now, all buses scheduled for repaints in the near future will have the blue / yellow / white livery.”
Even though I think it would look cool to have them all charcoal/silver/yellow/blue :D
LOL!! Charcoal/silver livery/yellow/blue now that’s a nice term. How about Dark Chocolate/Silver Diamonds/Banana/Blue sky. Anyone else have a better one? ;)
I don’t really think the dark color is really “dark chocolate.” Actually, its more like a black color, but in sunlight shows some grey. I think a better one would be midnight haze, bullet silver, lightning yellow, and royal blue livery. Though, zack, yours is pretty awesome, too! :)
HAHAHA Those names are the best! You guys could become paint-colour specialists :D
Seems like such a shame to have to retire all those D40HF/D60HFs. It would’ve been nice to have some of them supplement the current fleet on the more busy and often overcrowded routes like the 41 and 49. But understandably, I assume TransLink wouldn’t have the money to operate them in addition to the current fleet, nor would they want to have to put the effort to maintain them due to their age.
If there’s anything to salvage from the old buses, besides the electronic and mechanical stuff, maybe we could salvage the… BUZZER containers! I think they look way cooler than a clear plastic one. Plus, metal is more heavy duty :D
I’ve seen some of the buses on Mitchell Island a few weeks ago.
But I think like a roll sign or a digital green-colored destination signs and some yellow cords and the “Next Stop” signs will be good for sale.
Keith, Sean:
Here’s a response from our fleet management department about where the new Nova Buses go.
And here is another response from my colleague at fleet management about why we don’t buy a ton of highway coaches, what we salvage from buses, and D40s as spares (I believe this covers questions from Ric, Cliff, and more!)
i remeber the old bus graveyard was on scott road long time ago so where would there now graveyard? I notice too we in surrey have some old busses is that all trams spot or they going try restore them
@keith, I found a photo of the Brill Graveyard http://www.sfu.ca/person/dearmond/set/Vanc.Brills.Surrey.jpg There was an episode of the X-Files that was filmed there.
Speaking of longevity, the Brills served Vancouver from about 1948 to 1983. Many can be found in the ghost town of Sandon BC
Anyone remember the buses from Seattle and Everett that found their way to Vancouver in the mid 90s? I remember they had their “Yield, it’s the Law” stickers scraped off, as we had not yet adopted the same law.
Jhen, hmm, with you mentioning that highway coaches carry less passengers, I”m not so sure about that. I use the 410 route on a regular basis. Just this pass Tuesday and Wednesday I was catching the 410 from 22nd street skytrain station into Richmond Center, on Tuesday I got a highway coach and on Wednesday I got a regular New Flyer D40LF.
I noticed that on the outside of the bus it states the maximum passenger capacity. On the highway coach, it stated that the maximum number of passengers is 60. On the New Flyer D40LF the maximum number of passengers is 61. So isn’t it just a 1 passenger difference between a highway coach and a New Flyer D40LF?
Ric: Well, if you think about it, even though the NFI D40LF’s have 36 or 38 seats and the Orion suburban buses have 42 seats, typically, you wouldn’t have many people standing on a suburban bus because they are travelling considerably longer distances than the average bus rider. And as mentioned above, the single door in the front restricts movement of passengers in and out of the bus. Therefore, the regular bus is more efficient at moving more people. :)
I could be wrong, but I thought most 40 foot low floor buses had 77 passengers listed on the side of the bus?
Hmm… I looked at the CPTDB site and it just says the seating… 77 seems most probable for max capacity. For some reason, the LFR models have a lot less seats than the old LF models.
Sean, Hmm… I don’t know where you got the 77 passengers from but most of the D40LF buses that I have been on say 61 passengers on the side of the bus. I know that the Novas can carry 82 passengers and the 2006 New Flyer D40LFs can carry 77 passengers, but I’m not so sure about the older New Flyer D40LFs.
BTW, why can the novas carry more passengers?
Actually most if not all D40LFs carry 77 passengers. There is even a note next to the front wheel indicating how many passengers it carries.
90% chance where the D40’s might be now : 11760 Mitchell Road, Richmond, BC
No way! They’re still pretty good buses… Isn’t that a little too early to put the buses in the crusher?
Keith:
Here’s the answer from fleet management about the Scott Road “bus graveyard.”
I was wondering that once CMBC salvages what they want from retired buses, and before the bus is towed to the scrapper, is it possible to get the public into where the retired buses are parked?
I am trying to build a go-kart and could sure salvage some old bus parts (lights, seats, perhaps a few nuts and bolts, electrical switches, etc) for the go-kart. I can only build this go-kart if I manage to salvage enough parts for old equipment.
However, this go-kart doesn’t have to be built for any reason but I just thought that it would be fun to build a go-kart as a little project.
Jhen, could you please let me know if this is possible.
If this is not possible, where do you think is a good place for me to see if I could salvage some parts?
[…] photographer David Lam captured photos of these buses patiently awaiting their instructions: see this post for more of his pictures! Crowds flood into Waterfront Station from the West Coast Express, February 19, […]
How many D40HFs managed to escape the scrapper?
Ric, they are parked at Oakridge transit centre