Calgary Transit Articulated Bus Trial

From June 10th to 17th, 2004, Edmonton Transit System (ETS) unit 4908 joined the fleet of Calgary Transit for a week an a half. 4908 is a 2003 New Flyer Industries D60LF articulated bus. Based on the 40 foot version (D40LF), the D60LF features an articulation joint and an additional axle. Edmonton Transit System has 13 D60LF's (4900-4905 yr. 2001 and 4906-4912 yr. 2003). #4908 is powered by a Cummins ISL engine with an Allison B500R5 automatic transmission. It carries many of the same features as the D40LF does, such as kneeling capability with a retractable ramp and various other features. The bus has 57 seats and room for approximately 50 standees. #4908's has shell seats with a thin layer of padding, these seats look attractive and offer more leg room than the thicker padded more bulky seats that are standard on Calgary Transit's D40LF's. #4908 has a Luminator Horizon LED destination sign. The extra 20 foot length of this bus does not greatly affect the turning capability of the D60LF compared to the D40LF. This is because of the articulation joint that allows a driver to make a turn in a similar fashion as if it were a standard 40 foot bus. The articulation joint and length causes an articulated bus such as this one to have a more bouncy ride than a 40 foot bus. This is particularly noticeable at the very back of the bus.

Calgary Transit ran the articulated bus on Routes 3 and 101 each rush hour from June 7th to June 17th. CT has built the D60LF its own peak service run. To view the schedule please click here (Scroll to bottom)

Calgary Transit claims it has no immediate plans to purchase any of these buses. However if the Bus Rapid Transit route (starting September 2004) is successful, a bus of this size would be practical.

Photo Captions- The front and rear views are arranged in the order they were taken. I only had one day available to take photos. Therefore, all of the photos below were taken on June 11th, 2004. Here we go with a summary of the captions! At 1412 #4908 has just gone into service at Sandstone Terminal, ready to head downtown on a Route 3 City Centre (Photos 1 , 13 , 14 ). Just as the bus left the Sandstone Terminal I also took 3 interior shots (Photos 21 , 22 , 23 ). I took a seat at the very back, the interior was pretty clean and looked very nice (except for a few small spots of graffiti). The Cummins ISL engine sounded smooth through it's cycles. As the bus traveled south towards downtown, I got off on Centre Street at 16th Avenue North for a quick photo (Photo 2 ). I got back on and we made the rest of the trip towards downtown (Photos 24 , 25 ). Once the bus arrived downtown I got off at 2nd Street on 6th Avenue S.W. (Photos 3 , 15 ). I then headed over to the first stop on #4908's run on Route 101 Coach Hill that started at 1518 (Photos 4 , 16 ). I decided to sit by the articulation joint to get some unique photos (26 , 27 ). The Route 101 took us up towards this long hill on Bow Trail. With about 25 people on board, the bus was able to maintain a speed of about 40km/h all the way up and keep up with a Cummins ISC powered D40LF of Calgary Transit. Shortly after we got to the top of the hill, I decided to get off for some photos on Old Banff Coach Road just north of Bow Trail (Photos 5 , 17 ). The bus would come back in the opposite direction (still on Route 101) after doing most of it's drop offs in about 10 minutes. So I headed to the stop across the street and was able to get photos of #4908 turning onto Bow Trail from Old Banff Coach Road and doing it's layover at the southeast corner of that intersection (Photos 6 , 7 , 8 ). I then boarded and was told by the driver Dan Jaremchuk, that the load for the inbound 101 trip that day was lighter than usual. #4908 only had 2 passengers all the way from Coach Hill back to downtown. I took this opportunity to take interior photos (28 , 29 ). There was a Route 104 (also headed downtown using the same route as the 101 ) that was directly in front of #4908 the entire time and #4908 was placed in between two regular Route 101 runs, this contributed to the light load. As we got downtown, I got off the bus at 3rd Street on 9th Avenue S.W. (Photos 9 , 18 ). As the traffic was very heavy along 9th Avenue, I was able to get over to the northeast corner of 1st Street and 9th Avenue S.W. to get photos of #4908 heading to it's last stop on Route 101 at 7th Avenue on 1st Street S.W. (Photos 10 , 11 , 19 ). As #4908 went out of service, it's last run for the afternoon before heading back to Spring Gardens Transit Garage was Route 3 Sandstone starting in downtown at 10th Avenue on 4th Street S.W. at 1633. I headed over to a photo spot at Centre Street and 5th Avenue S. where I got 2 photos of the bus navigating a left turn trough the intersection (Photos 12 , 20 ).

Front Views
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Rear Views
13
14
15
16
17

18
19
20

Interior Views

21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Back Home