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Buses normally don't stop in the lower-Deck HOV lane - except when they start filling with smoke
By adamg on Fri, 01/29/2016 - 9:13am
Rachel Michaud was among the riders of a route 354 bus forced to get off in the carpool lane around 8:30 a.m.
Well, the bus started smoking and we are stranded in the carpool lane on 93S.
The T sent a relief bus to pick up the evacuees.
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Comments
yup
The "newer" buses are starting to show their age. Sad to say now that along with the trains, the buses now have issues. At least when the buses were fairly new, they ran.
I got one a Neoplan the other day that had exhaust leaking into the passenger cabin. I was sick when I got off.
This is some world class transit we have going on here...
Bus was just rebuilt in the
Bus was just rebuilt in the last 2 years. Sounds like an anti-freeze leak.
MBTA has 369 new buses on
MBTA has 369 new buses on order and options to buy 446 more.
Express Buses are the last to get the new buses
I can understand why - the runs are fairly light duty and most run only a couple of hours twice a day at rush hour and back to the shop. The buses run on the 3 series express (325, 326, 354, etc.) are typically the oldest and nastiest in the fleet.
The 325 and 326 routes often have the noisiest, smelliest buses with horrible rattling problems even still. I was on a 326 once that had rear doors with a giant gaping hole, another had a overhead bar crash down in the middle of a run. I have only recently seen newer buses or rebuilt ones on these routes. All the same, I'm not at all surprised to see this happen on an inner express route.
At Charlestown Garage, where
At Charlestown Garage, where the 325, 326 and 352 run out of, part-time drivers with low seniority usually get the oldest buses. If a part-timer has work on those runs, that's what will show up.
The 354 runs out of Fellsway Garage, that garage only has one type of bus, 2004/2005 Neoplans all of which have been overhauled in the last 2 years. A bus can be on a Route 96 trip in the morning, and then on a 354 in the afternoon, there's no special group of buses at Fellsway that are just for the 354.
They're actually not the absolutle oldest
Unless the RTS's (the only remaining high-floor buses, #0001-0400, many retired) are working the Express routes. But the Neoplans like this one weren't really that great to begin with, and are now 10+ years old.
Coolant leaks can often get into the passenger compartment both due to where various mechanical components are located in the rear of the bus (like where the radiators are in the engine compartment) and also on some buses via heating components, if they run coolant through heat exchangers inside the bus. Not sure if any T buses use this setup, I've seen it over very different models of bus where I've worked in the past.
When did the buses ever not
When did the buses ever not have issues? Every one of the MBTA's "modes" has, at least since I started using it, been full of an entire set of vehicles decrepit beyond use but still in use.
By the time a new set is bought, the ones heading out the door are totally beyond use, and the next-oldest generation is starting to look as bad at that point. That's always been the cycle with the MBTA.
Ms. Michaud should have collected fees for that photo
Then used the money to buy her own WORKING bus. Or limo, whatever.