GO Transit’s new double-decker bus unveiled
I was reading a post from the CPTDB (Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board) the other day and the post in particular have caught my attention. The post is about GO Transit’s newest addition to their bus fleet, the Enviro 500 by a bus-builder called Alexander Dennis, which is based in the United Kingdom - Falkirk, Scotland to be exact. The manufacturer has decided to market that particular bus for the North American market by doing some slight modifications to the bodies and fuel tanks. GO Transit has purchased at least 12 of the Enviro 500. The price for the deal: $11 Million CDN or £5.5 Million GBP. Metrolinx (formerly known as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority or GTTA), the operator will oversee GO Transit has an option to order 10 more. The buses will be numbered in the 8000 series.
Don’t expect to see those buses in any GO bus route anytime soon. These buses will be used initially for the Highway 407 GO Bus service. One of the routes will be the Oakville-Unionville route. These buses cannot be used as far as Hamilton as the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is very strict and well concerned about the height restrictions in a few bridges in Hamilton. This also apply to bridges/overpasses in other parts of the Greater Toronto Area in which GO Transit is served by.
Here’s a picture on what the new buses look like:
Source: GO Transit’s Accessibility Plan for 2008 (Adobe Reader required): http://gotransit.com/PUBLIC/publications/AccessibilityPlan2008.pdf
For seating configuration, see page 37 of the report or if you are lazy to read, the original thread about the new seating configuration and the questions about the new bus can be founded here: http://www.cptdb.ca/index.php?showtopic=3973
To see the “Full Monty” of the bus from the Falkirk, Scotland factory, you can see it here: http://www.britishbusesabroad.fotopic.net/p47273563.html
Here’s a video of an Enviro 500 in action (this is a video of a BC Transit Enviro 500 bus being allocated to Victoria, BC):
My question is now is, when could all the people could have a chance and/or opportunity to have a look around of that new GO Transit bus for the first time? My suggestion is that, showcase this bus at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada next summer, just like when Bombardier and Siemens showcased their new streetcars for the TTC’s new Transit City Light Rail Expansion plan. You got that right, showcase that bus at the CNE in 2008 for people to have a look!
The Canadian National Exhibition’s impact on the rising Canadian Loonie
Unlike my last posting about a common and fool-proof payment system that doesn’t basically exist, I’m switching hands to the impact on the rising Canadian Loonie for the annual event that is held from mid-August to Labour Day - i’m talking about the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although I shouldn’t post an opinion like that until the summertime, I just want to make a statement that if the price of the Loonie were to be at the $1.00 range or more at the time the CNE fair opens, I believe that the officials at the CNE must find a way to do something to deal with the economic impacts of the Loonie and they have to make sure that the CNE remains affordable for not only us locals, but foreign visitors as well (mainly from the United States). My idea is that vendors must accept American (U.S.) Dollars at par or at a special discount whatever possible.
The highest rate that surpassed the U.S. dollar took place on November 7th, 2007 at $1.1030 U.S. But suddenly it dropped down to $1.093 at 10:00AM U.S. Eastern Time. This is when China wants to diversify its $1.43 trillion U.S. (or approximately 10.6 trillion Yuan) of foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. Dollar.
For us Canadians, we are able to buy more U.S. Dollars. For example if you want to buy $125 of U.S. Money, you only pay $118 CDN. Just like the song by the Plain White T’s, “Finally it’s our time now….” I’m planning to go down to the states during my holidays soon to take advantage with this great deal. I wonder how the officials of the CNE will feel about the impact if the dollar was at the level of meeting parity with the American greenback…..it’s anyone’s guess how high the dollar will go to…
