| Bus Shortage leading to possible return of retired buses? :: 2009-10-11 21:41:03 EDT :: posted by Mystic |
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We've seen it happen before in the past. A bus was retired, parked in the retirement lot, partially gutted, and then a few months later we see it back on the road again. It's been done before, I believe it can be done again! Infact, it's being done right now to some of the retired 1st gens, that were either confirmed retired on an official roster, or were seen parked in the retirement lot with parts missing. It's not often that a bus will come out of there and back into service, but it is happening right now. A handful of LFSes to start, but what about the possibility of Classics coming back into service after being formally retired? Remember 11-030, 11-002, 12-046 and ofcourse 60-013. Perhaps we will see more of this happening in the near future. The issue is not how solid or structurally fit a bus is when it's retired, a rebuild can fix up any of those issues and give new life to the bus. And right now Novabus is swamped with orders to fill, and not enough time, space or materials to make this happen all at once. The STM is supposed to have a fleet of 50+ Artics by the end of the year, that leaves Novabus less than 2 months to complete that order, but at the same time we have to remember that another 80+ 3rd gens are supposed to be ordered for next year, and what about the 340 new buses that were scheduled to arrive this year.(1) Plus now with STM's increased service strategies and ever increasing ridership, we're facing the worst shortage of vehicles since we lost the New Looks back in 2002. We'll have to wait and see, but perhaps, just maybe we're going to see a 2nd revival of the Classic era and see more and more Classics returning to the road. Perhaps only for rush hour service, but with the ever growing demand, they are still needed, and the STM knows it. (Or else they wouldn't have been putting offers on the table to lease buses from an outside source!)(1) (1) Sources: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/200809/08/01-661761-moins-dautobus-plus-dattente.php |
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