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New Design for Cybrid Fleet

The winning “Cybrid” design has been picked for the 10-12 new Gillig hybrids coming soon to CyRide’s bus fleet. Just over 80,000 people voted in an online poll on CyRide’s website to pick from three different designs, with a landslide majority win for the “Gold Leaf” design. CyRide received $1.6 million in 100% federal funding through the 2009 Recovery Act to upgrade diesel buses to hybrid. It has been common for transit systems across the nation to specially brand hybrid buses to promote “going green” and the environmental benefits of riding transit. The first nine Cybrids are scheduled to arrive in Ames by July.

> CYRIDE: Cybrid Vote is Gold (Leaf)

Beyond Trastevere

January 16, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 3 Comments

Yesterday evening (Friday, Jan 15) I decided to explore beyond my neighborhood of Trastevere (photo above) in a direction I hadn’t gone very far yet. I had purchased five single ride bus tickets (BIT) earlier at the tabacchi so decided to ride the tram line 8 out to the endpoint at Cosatello and go from there. Throughout my explorations I discovered some more neat pedestrian-friendly and happening streets outside of the central city antiquity, and also picked up a few things about the transit system.

The tram ride to Cosatello took about ten minutes or so. As visible on the map, once away from the heart of Trastevere near the river, the urban pattern becomes much more gridded and regular. The area is of course much newer than central Rome but besides a few main thoroughfares, the streets maintain a human scale and the buildings are mixed-use, in many cases more visibly active than many buildings in the older parts of the city. Typical apartment buildings there are five to six stories and stucco with muted colors. Facades are generally plane, but made lively by inhabitants. Autos are much more dominant on the streets, which are certainly more “friendly” to cars. The tram past a Ford dealership, though still extremely tiny by American standards and fully contained within a building. Car lots are non existent here. There were also some larger gas stations along the main roads as well. A lot of places, especially closer to the center of the city, tiny filling stations are located along the side of the roadway and cars simply pull over. I’ve noticed all of them seem to have attendants so perhaps self service is either not customary or legal.

Once I reached the tram endpoint I backtracked a few blocks until I came to Via Edoardo Jenner, a pleasant street characterized by apartment blocks with specialty shops at sidewalk level. I stopped at one complex of four apartment buildings that had a nice entry courtyard in the middle to sketch. As I continued further down the street it turned into a much more active retail district. After a number of blocks the concentration of retail terminated at a piazza so I turned the corner and went a few blocks to another major thoroughfare Viale dei Colli Portuensi.

This street was much wider than the one with the tram, with several lanes and generous setbacks. The scale of buildings were similar, but most were not attached to each other on the sides. In one sense it felt very suburban, but at the same time most ground floors of buildings were active by shops, restaurants, and commercial entities. Aside from the architecture, it somewhat reminded me of the wide avenues in some newer areas in the District of Columbia. In fact I notice a lot of parallels in different parts of Rome to certain attributes of various American cities I’ve visited.

View ROME 5 – Beyond Trastevere in a larger map

Navigating Bus Stops
I originally did not intend to venture to far away from the tram and until one point, even when I had gone quite far, was planning to simply turn around and return along the same route. But once I had been walking quite a distance I decided to simply follow the major thoroughfares I came upon and make a big loop back to tram. You can see my large loop on the map. My turn on to Via Portuense was by a narrow sidewalk along an off ramp. When I reached the next major intersection I began second guessing my direction. However after pondering a map at a bus stop sign for a moment and looking at the route information provided on the sign, I was able to use the bus stop signs to confirm I was heading in the right direction.

For each route serving a particular bus stop, the sign lists every street it goes on and how many stops on that particular street. I noticed the majority of routes at the stops I was passing had final destinations at Stazione Trastevere. At one point I walked too far past a street I needed to turn on, but realized about a block past when there were no more routes listed for Trastevere. Eventually I simply stopped at waited for one of the Trastevere buses – took route 774 – to get back to the tram. Of course once I got on the bus I discovered the tram was only about a block further away.

It was an enjoyable exploration outside of central Rome, but nonetheless a bit tiring. By using the bus stops to confirm my direction, I was able to better understand all the information on the sides and now the system seems much more legible to me. For someone with a broad knowledge of street names in Rome, it’d be quite easy navigating the system simply using the information provided at stops. Unfortunately the Roma ATAC website is not quite as thorough, particularly for buses, which is why it was less clear to me at first. Of course, knowing where you want to go is critical for getting around by transit, which was my main inhibition at first – simply not knowing anywhere to go outside of central Rome. I look forward to exploring more of the Rome metro via transit.

> Photos: (005) Beyond Trastevere
> Photos: (004) Friday urban history walk at Forum and Colosseum.

Guest Post: Car-Free in Seattle

January 5, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 1 Comment

The following post was written by my friend Matt Herbst who recently moved to Seattle. Matt graduated from Iowa State and now works for Microsoft. So far he’s been getting around by transit and shares with us his experience living car-free.

The heart of urban thinking is how people live their day. Since a lot of Americans spend so much time in their commute, many times a couple hours or more every day, it makes sense to put emphasis on transportation in city planning. Unfortunately for midwestern towns like Cedar Rapids or Des Moines, almost all of the transportation eggs went into the wide road and plenteous parking lot basket. After living in Ames for about four years, a city which tells one of the only bus success stories in Iowa, I got used to seeing buses all over the place and consistently got lost whenever I used them.

Then I moved to Seattle.

While my hometown of Cedar Rapids has about a dozen bus routes, King County Metro (the Seattle area transit system) has over 200 routes, many of which run weekends and into the evening. Every part of town I’ve cared to go to was very close to a stop. I can even get down to Tacoma, 35 miles away, in just two transfers. Once I moved here, it was hard to come up with an excuse to have a car. But there are a few downsides to not owning a car:

1. Can’t leave the city. Renting a car is an easy option if this only happens once a month or so.
2. Slower on transit. For a commute, this is easily avoided, but unplanned trips across town can take 2-3 times as long if you’re unlucky.
3. Can’t haul stuff. Again, you can try renting a truck, but even if you have a car, it might not be able to haul big stuff anyway.
4. Buses don’t run at night. A taxi or a ride from a friend works in this rare situation for me.
5. Transit is inconvenient. If you don’t know the system, it can be a hassle.

Then again, there are a lot of reasons not to own a car:

1. Pollution, if you care. You can cut a lot of emissions.
2. Gas. Never have to buy it.
3. Maintenence costs.
4. Insurance.
5. Parking.
6. Dealing with traffic. Reading and texting are possible on a bus… so it’s no big deal.
7. Car depreciation.
8. Breakdowns and accidents.
9. Tickets of all kinds.
10. Inconvenience…

That’s right, cars are inconvenient. With a car, you always have to return to a parking spot… so your path through town needs to be a circle. With a bus, I can walk from one side of downtown to the other and then just grab a bus instead of walking back. Easy.

Certainly cars have a role in a good transportation system, but the fact that almost everyone in the US (4 out of 5) has a car is astounding. Perhaps people associate living without a car with the helpless feeling you get when your car breaks down. However, after learning a few bus routes, it’s nice not having to worry about all of those problems cars bring and it’s a bit liberating. If your city has a transit system, give it a try. See if Google Maps has transit directions for your area (but note that in Seattle, the KC Metro website has better directions). The folks you’ll encounter will help you out and you’ll be surprised how fast and easy it can be.

Final Recommendations for CR Transit Improvements

November 26, 2009 / Brady Dorman / 1 Comment

The third CR Transit Study open house was held this week on Tuesday, Nov. 24. I attended the earlier session from 1-3pm at the African American Museum. Both consultants Joseph Kern and Bob Bourne were there, as well as Sushil Nepal from Community Development / Corridor MPO. It was good to finally meet Bob, who was the director of CyRide for 25 years and made it what it is today. About 20 members of the public were in attendance, including a handful of concerned teachers and students from Prairie. Mayor Kay Halloran also made an appearance.

I was pleased to see recommendations for system improvements as well as route changes. Many of these recommendations echo changes I have suggested in previous posts to make the system more legible and user-friendly. Regarding marketing, operations, and fleet, a few recommendations include: a new system map, real-time bus tracking, getting on Twitter, and displaying a route number, route name, and destination on all buses.

Read my entire review of route changes over at the Cedar Rapids Bus Party blog.

Better Transit for Cedar Rapids

October 23, 2009 / Brady Dorman / 3 Comments

The second CR Transit Study open house was held on Tuesday, October 20. The study is being conducted by SRF Consulting Group and Bourne Transit Consulting to analyze the current system and propose route changes to improve service. Various route options were presented at this week’s open house. The consultant’s final recommendations will be presented at a third and final open house on November 24.

During the summer I took a stab at my own hypothetical plan for improving the CR Transit system, developing a nearly complete system of modified and new routes. While my plan was much more idealistic and simply based on my own general knowledge and assumptions of transit operations and Cedar Rapids, I ended up not completing it. My original intent was to create a new route system with multiple transfer hubs – downtown, Lindale, Westdale, and the AEGON area at Blairs Ferry and Edgewood Road NE. My incomplete proposal is seen below. Click the image for an interactive Google map.

Laying out the routes proved more difficult than I figured, because I attempted to maintain similar route distances between hubs so buses could realistically be scheduled to meet at the same time. Using the distance and schedule of CyRide’s main fixed routes (Red, Green, Blue, Brown) as a rule of thumb, I tried to keep each route at around 7.5 – 8.5 miles (in each direction) to correlate to about 35-40 minute of travel. I was also hesitant to remove much existing physical service, even though a big issue with the current system is routes that loop throughout residential streets simply to increase the physical transit coverage without adding addition routes, but at the expense of directness and travel time.

A route hierarchy system was something I tried initially, with a system of four to five high frequency cross-town routes between major hubs, complemented by shorter, less frequent “normal” routes. This was based on Metro Transit’s High-Frequency Network in Minneapolis, with twelve major crosstown routes that operate buses every 15 minutes or less throughout the day. I quickly discovered a hierarchical system would not really work in Cedar Rapids because of its relative compactness (compared to MSP) and low ridership. However, a higher frequency could make sense along certain corridors, such as First Avenue between downtown and Lindale, which is a consistently busy route section already.

Proposed Route Modifications
It was interesting to look at the consultant’s proposed route change options and see how they compared with my own ideas. Generally I agree with most of the proposals and think they will help the system function more smoothly and provide more opportunities for alternative transfer points and route connectivity later on. Each route was provided a minimal modification scenario and a moderate modification. I won’t go through all of them since I wasn’t actually at the open house, and Samantha Dahlby has already written an extensive review on several of the route modifications on her Bus Party blog. However, I would like to comment on Route 3 and the 5’s.

Above is the minimal and “moderate” route modification proposed for Route 3 that was presented at the open house this week. The green represents unchanged sections of the route, red is removed sections, and blue is for new sections. As you can see, the minimal modification is just that, only removing a few small loop sections, but the route stays essentially the same. These minor changes would reduce overall route distance slightly, allowing the bus to run a full trip within 60 minutes without having to fight the schedule. Next, the “moderate” modification is actually quite extreme – it removes the route all together. The justification is low ridership and that a few other routes serve the area close by, including 4, 6 and 5B. Personally I have issues with this because it is the route I’ve used the past three summers to get to work, because it runs right behind my house. The Route 5’s, which run along First Avenue East, is about a five blocks away, which isn’t bad, but it certainly wouldn’t be as convenient. Luckily, I don’t foresee this option being implemented, but we probably won’t be seeing any service frequency increases on Route 3 anytime soon.

Route 5 is currently made up of three separate routes: 5B, 5N, 5S. All three run along First Avenue East from downtown to Lindale Mall, which from there they split into three different routes. 5B serves northern Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha via Blairs Ferry and Boyson roads. 5N (5 North) continues into Marion and loops around the northern half of the city. 5S (5 South) runs through the southern half of Marion. One of the 5 buses departs downtown every 30 minutes, providing half-hour service along First Avenue between downtown and Lindale during all hours of service. But each individual bus only actually runs every 90 minutes, so beyond Lindale Mall, the 5’s only ever run at that frequency.

All of the consultant’s proposed modifications to the route 5’s are past Lindale. I don’t have much to comment on the changes specifically, but ultimately I think the areas served by the 5’s, particularly Marion, would be better served by making the segments beyond Lindale separate routes with individual identification. In my proposal, I had a route running along First Avenue between downtown and Lindale, then connecting routes would run into Marion and north Cedar Rapids. Since the heaviest ridership on the 5’s is along First Avenue between downtown and Lindale, it might be feasible to have a shorter route with an even higher frequency than the current 30 minute headway. Then Marion could be served by either one or two looping routes, providing more frequent (likely 30 minute) service within Marion, with connection to routes at Lindale to go toward downtown Cedar Rapids or elsewhere in the northern area of the metro. Separating the three 5 routes individual would also help avoid the confusion of having three separate routes all numbered 5.

Information and Marketing
Additionally, better information and marketing would help make the system easier to understand and potentially more attractive to “choice riders” – those riders who are not dependent on transit as their primary means of getting around. It is important to make transit information readily available in a variety of mediums: on board, in bus shelters, and online. The only information currently provided consists of individual route maps and schedules, displayed in the temporary waiting room trailer at Lot 44, in pamphlets on board buses, and on the CR Transit website. There is now a comprehensive system map available on the Corridor MPO website, but it is not available directly from the transit website, nor is it available to those without internet access. Graphically it is not very professional or legible. A professionally designed system map needs to be made to improve legibility, as well as public image of the system.

Service stops along bus routes are currently marked with generic bus stop signs that denote which route or routes serve that particular stop. Several stops around town have bus shelters, but they do not display any addition transit information than a stop with only a sign. These shelters would be a good opportunity to improve convenience / user-friendliness by displaying a system map and schedule information for the route or routes that service the particular stop.

Another information improvement would be to standardize and rename bus routes. Instead of just being numbered, each route name should also include the major destinations or endpoint of each route. It might also be helpful to specify the direction of a bus along a particular route when applicable. Another strategy to make routes more identifiable and easy to remember is to assign a particular color to each route. For example, CyRide identifies each route by number, color, direction, and endpoint destination, such as #1 Red East / Mall via Hospital. Since Cedar Rapids has 12 – 14 routes (depending on how you count the 5’s), that may be too many to effectively distinguish each route by color, but including major destinations and endpoint in route titles would be useful. Especially now that CR Transit has four new Gillig buses with programmable LED destination signs, with more coming, they need to be utilized. Right now they only display the route number, providing no information on where it is going or what you connect to from it. (There are a few exceptions – some of the old RTS buses have roller signs with some detail such as “Route 1 – Ellis.”)

Another key part of improving transit and attracting more riders, is to promote the system through branding and better marketing. I don’t mean advertising, but some simple steps to increase visibility and making the system more attractive and user-friendly. A new website, perhaps even with its own URL ( www.CRtransit.com instead of www.cedar-rapids.org/transit maybe?), with useful, easy-to-navigate schedules, detailed maps, and information on transferring between routes would be a helpful resource. Getting on Facebook and Twitter, too, could increase visibility even more, and be used to provide instant service information to riders. These would be relatively inexpensive, yet critical, ways to make transit more accessible and attractive to choice riders – those who are not dependent on transit. Additionally it would finally provide those dependent on the bus system the most basic of transit information.

Like all across the country, more people in Cedar Rapids are looking to transit for an alternative to driving everywhere. Environmental concerns, a renewed interest in urban living, and most importantly, rising gas prices have created a renewed interest in transit and demand for more service all across the country. The Cedar Rapids Transit system has been lacking for years and is long overdue for improvements so it can be a more viable, efficient means of transportation. Now is the right time for us to be planning and implementing initial transit changes, just as we are planning for an even better Cedar Rapids as we rebuild following the flood. The increased public interest, particularly among younger, potential choice riders makes me optimistic for the future of transit in Cedar Rapids. The third and final transit open house will be held November 24, where final recommendations for route changes will be presented.

> CR Transit Study Open House 1 – System Analysis (9/22/09)
> CR Transit Study Open House 2 – Proposed Route Modifications (10/20/09)

Overheard on the Bus

October 3, 2009 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

I came across the “Overheard on Cambus” blog, where passengers and drivers alike can submit stories “overheard” on the bus. It was started in mid September but already has dozens of posts. After doing a quick search I discovered there’s also an “Overheard on CyRide” blog, which actually appears to have been started a month earlier in August, but so far has not picked up like the Cambus blog has.

Cambus is the university-operated campus shuttle system at the University of Iowa and is nearly entirely student run. CyRide is operated by the City of Ames, but the majority of passengers are Iowa State students. With a large proportion of student drivers, including myself, CyRide combines the fun and easy going culture of a college bus, with the professionalism and customer service of an urban public transit system.

> Overheard on Cambus
> Overheard on CyRide

New Gilligs Now in Service

August 3, 2009 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Two of CR Transit’s four new 35 ft. Gillig Lowfloor buses began their service life today on routes 1 and 2, in units 2092 and 2093, respectively. They were all supposed to be ready to go by today, but in the words of my afternoon bus driver, “you know how these things go…” These are the first brand new buses for Cedar Rapids in 15 years or so. Today is a good day for the future of CR Transit. Additional Gillig buses will be purchased over the next few years to further modernize the fleet.

Additional CR Transit bus photos on Flickr.

Why CR Transit Needs System Overhaul

July 12, 2009 / Brady Dorman / 2 Comments

I started a summer job last week, only a little late in the season, at the Facilities office at Kirkwood Community College in SW Cedar Rapids. Living on the opposite side of town, I elected to ride to bus to and from work, through a combination of choice and necessity. I never had my own car in high school and have, so far not found the need, desire, or financial surplus to purchase my own during the past four years of college. I have also become quite an advocate of public transit over the past few years, and admittedly a little bit anti-car.

Living on the northeast side of town, my commute requires transferring routes downtown at the long-term temporary transfer site, Lot 44, at 12th Ave and 2nd Street SE. Before last year’s flood that claimed eight transit buses and extensive damage to the city bus garage, route departure times were at consistent intervals, and service headways were pretty much the same for every route. Generally all routes had half hour service during the moring and late afternoons, with hourly service during the midday and Saturdays. The only anomaly was the Route5’s (5N, 5S, 5B) which all run along 1st Avenue to Lindale Mall, then diverging along three different routes – serving north Marion, south Marion, and Hiawatha respectively. A 5 bus would depart downtown ever 30 minutes, but each individual route (5N, 5S, or 5B) would actually only leave every hour and a half.

When transit service resumed after the flood, there was limited service – I believe all routes started with hourly service during the day – I imagine due to a combination of lost busses, new flood-related expense circumstances, as well as assumed temporary decreased demand. Since then some routes have increased service to 30 minute headways in the morning and afternoon, but not all routes, including Route 3, the one that I can conveniently catch right behind my house in NE Cedar Rapids and ride downtown in about fifteen minutes.

The way the bus routes are laid out in a “spoke and wheel” fashion, makes it generally easy and convenient to commute to and from downtown if you’re near a route, but mobility between different areas of town – especially if they are on the same side (east or west) of the river/downtown – is much more difficult. Every single route originates in downtown and extends outward, like spokes in a wheel. Some routes occasionally cross each other but there is no systematic coordination for transfers between any routes outside of downtown. It is probably possible in some cases (I haven’t studied the schedules close enough), but it would be up to the passenger to investigate ahead of time on their own.

In my case, I’m traveling from the NE side of town to the SW, so transferring routes in downtown is convenient and efficient. But I still have problems with differing service frequency among routes and the fact that it takes me 50 minutes to ride to work. My “home” bus stop is along Route 3 at Lindale Ave and Tiffany Drive NE. Route 3 continues to operate “hourly” (70 minutes in the afternoon) all day, since service reductions after the flood. To get to Kirkwood I take Route 7 from downtown. 7 has resumed half-hour “peak” service in the morning and afternoon. My general working hours are pretty standard, 8am – 5pm with an hour break for lunch. The times hourly Route 3 meets up with half-hourly Route 7 to transfer do not work very well with my given schedule.

Route 3 At Lindale Ave	Route 3 Arrive Lot 44	Route 7 Depart Lot 44	Route 7 Arrive Kwood
6:25am	6:40am	6:50am	7:15a
– – –	– – –	7:20am	7:45a
7:25am	7:40am	7:50am	8:15a
– – –	– – –	8:20am	8:45a
8:25am	8:40am	8:50am	9:15am
Route 7 Depart Kwood	Route 7 Arrive Lot 44	Route 3 Depart Lot 44	Route 3 At Lindale Ave
4:15pm	4:40pm	– – –	– – –
4:50pm	5:18pm	5:30pm	5:45pm
5:15pm	5:40pm	– – –	– – –
6:00pm	6:28pm	6:40pm	6:53pm

As you can see I am pretty limited to certain times I can go to work and what times I can leave. Fortunately my workplace is pretty flexible so I just come in early at 7:15 (taking the 6:25 number 3 bus), but I still must stay there longer than an eight hour day in order to take the 4:50 Route 7 bus in the afternoon that will connect me to Route 3 in a timely fashion. Additionally, taking 50 minutes to travel a mere 10 miles or so is also not very convenient for me. In the current route structure, many routes loop around and a number of different streets in effort to cover the most physical area in a single route. This makes getting to your actual destination very time consuming and extremely inefficient. Bus routes that serve major destinations such as Kirkwood or large employers like Aegon and Rockwell Collins need to have more direct routes.

I’ve come up with four main criteria to evaluate the CR transit system:

   1. Can I get to my destination on the bus routes?
   2. Can I do so at a time that works with my schedule?
   3. Can I travel by bus in a timely manner?
   4. Is the bus comfortable and attractive?

In my case, the answer to criteria one would be yes. I can catch the bus right behind my house and get off the bus right by the building I work in at Kirkwood. For criteria two, the answer would be “sort of” – it is possible to get to and from work reasonably within my required timeframe, but there is certainly no flexibility. Three, can I travel in a timely manner? Absolutely not. A more direct route from downtown, or wherever routes connect, to Kirkwood could decrease my travel time. And, finally criteria four – the current bus fleet of majority older buses does not make for the most pleasant ride, but even more so, gives the system a less than stellar public image.

Fortunately all these issues may start to improve. The fourth issue should be the most visible improvement to come. Four brand new buses have arrived this month and should go into service within a few weeks. Additional new buses will be purchased over the next few years to replace older vehicles.

Regarding the first three issues, the Corridor Metro Planning Organization has issued a request for proposal to consultants for a fixed-route system analysis and recommendations for system improvements including changes to routes and schedule. According to the RFP, “The proposed routing options should focus on reducing travel times, increase the service area and increase the transit ridership. The analysis should include specific routing options, service schedules, expected ridership and driver scheduling.” A consultant is to be selected by July 17, and work is expected to be completed by mid November. The study, partially prompted by criticism of the system during the Neighborhood Planning Process earlier this year, will include three public open houses.

There are obviously many improvements – large and small – that could make CR Transit a much more effective system. In a future post I plan to further explore improvements and specific changes I believe will be necessary to bring Cedar Rapids’ transit system up to par. It is critical that Cedar Rapids becomes a more transit-friendly city.

Finally, Brand New Buses in Cedar Rapids

July 9, 2009 / Brady Dorman / 1 Comment

The four brand new 35 foot, 2009 Gillig Lowfloor buses for CR Transit have arrived. They are not out in service just yet, but I was able to get a few preliminary photos of the new buses from fellow transit enthusiast James Roach. In these photos, a few details remain to be added (like the CR Transit lettering, 5 season tree logo, etc). Also the front of the bus below the windshield is green like the sides, it’s just still covered up with wrapping in the photos.

The exterior color scheme follows a new “CR Transit” branding that’s already in place on the eight used TMC RTS buses purchased earlier this year for flood replacement. The system officially dropped it’s former “EAGL” moniker and became known as CR Transit / Cedar Rapids Transit over a year ago. The existing older buses – old RTS’s and the Thomas Dennis SLF lowfloors – were not repainted but “EAGL” has been removed and replaced with the stylized “CR Transit” lettering.

This arrival is a pretty big deal, being the first brand new buses Cedar Rapids has seen in 10-15 years. Bill Hoekstra, head of the former combined transit and parking department, was an advocate of purchasing refurbished used buses instead of buying new. This saved the city some money but has done little for the bus system’s image. CR Transit will be purchasing additional Gilligs over the next few years to finally modernize the fleet. The new buses, units 2091-2094 (2 is the city dept. code, and 09 refers to year of manufacture). They should be in service within the next couple of weeks.

Check back frequently for new photo updates and other CR Transit news.

CR Transit Goes Green

March 21, 2009 / Brady Dorman / 2 Comments

CR Transit maintains its presence at Lot 44 at 12th Ave SE and 2nd Street SE, for transfers and now dispatch. Trailers have been set up to provide an indoor waiting area with vending, public restrooms, and office for dispatchers.

Eight used 1992 TMC RTS buses were acquired in December and put in to service earlier this year – replacing buses lost in the flood. These buses debut the new green livery design and CR Transit branding. Older buses have not changed except the “CR Transit” lettering has been added to some of the newer Thomas Dennis SLF’s (but not all of them…?).

A few of the new RTS’s had bike racks installed, which was a previous plan to add bike racks to most of the bus fleet.

Four brand new 35 foot Gillig Lowfloor buses are due to arrive in April, an order unrelated to the floods. Additionally, CR Transit will be getting four new large buses and one medium duty bus with funding from the economic stimulus package.

See all new photos on Flickr.

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