New Buses Come In While Old Ones Get Rebuilt, Route Names Change As Well.

Metropolis, BR. September 21th, 2014

Over 25 brand new New Flyer Xcelsior Buses are in service for Metropolis Transit

Metropolis Transit recently spoke to legislation about restructuring the bus system as new buses come in and begin to replace the old N.A.B.I. & Orion buses that were not rebuilt. Over 25 brand new buses have been put into service out of Ran Mourie Depot in Bay of Silence. They are mainly seen on the 36 line with spotty trips on the 58 & 28N lines. The new buses use clean diesel engines that are powerful enough to get the buses up and down the hills of West Metropolis and take it up the climb to Lover's Lookout. Drivers of the 36 bus prefer these buses mainly to traverse the Lover's Lookout incline but also because of the change look on Waves Avenue.

The first Xcelsior articulated bus arrives. 

Along with the 26 Xcelsior buses in service, the first of 90 articulated Xcelsior buses arrived on the morning of September 20th to Ran Mourie Depot for evaluation. The new "artics" feature the same new things seen on the smaller counterpart like, backup camera, added security features, air soft suspension for easy traversing hills, and the signature padded strawberry seats. These also have the same powerful engine to go up and down hills with ease. The first bus will be tested before entering service but expect to see it on a line near you soon.

Some existing Bus Routes will soon see a name change. 

As with the changes to the size of the fleet. Starting October 6th 2014, letter prefixes will be dropped from certain lines to reduce confusion. Originally, lines with letter at the end of a number were express line but over the years, budget and perminiate route changes made some Number/Letter lines to become local. So in order to reduce the confusing all express lines are getting the suffix "X" while local number/letter lines will either drop the letter or the number completely.

Routes Affected: 
18L Now Becomes The 18X
19A Now Becomes The 19
28N Now Becomes The 28
28X Remains
32F Now Becomes The 32X
36C Now Becomes The 36 (Interfair Branch)
52G Now Becomes The G
63Q  Now Becomes The 63X
67A Now Becomes The L
74A Now Becomes The 74X

Positive Reviews For Metropolis Transit's New Buses

Metropolis, BR. June 26th 2014.

Metropolis Transit's New Buses Are The Rave.

After 30 days of service on the 28N & 58 Lines, five brand-new buses from New Flyer Industries receive great reviews from riders, and drivers alike. The trial included 2 of buses operating on the 58 line from Central Station to Woodbridge Commons and 3 on the busy Downtown to Little Paris 28N Line. Passengers were happy to ride on padded strawberry seats and hear crystal clear announcements. The biggest thing though on these buses is the rear view backup cameras that driver love. A bus operator on the 28N line said these were his favorite buses strictly for that reason. Metropolis Transit purchased the buses with backup camera to reduce depot related accidents and park more buses in a closer space without worrying of damage.

As of June 26th 2014, only five buses has been delivered to Ran Mourie Depot in Midtown Metropolis adjacent from Metropolis Transit headquarters. There's 80 more buses set to come and possibly 100 new trackless trolley models to replace the current aging fleet on the R, 13, 25 & 40 Lines. New Flyer Industies is happy to be a part of Metropolis Transit's bus fleet for over 10 years now, and recently New Flyer became the leading bus company of the United States after beating out NovaBus in a 3-4 vote.

Metropolis Transit Goes For New Flyer Order Option, 100 More Trackless Trolley.

Metropolis BR, June 2nd 2014

More Trackless Coaches Are Heading To Metropolis. 

After talks with New Flyer and having bus #1800 go into service, Metropolis Transit exercised the option for 100 mores buses. These being trackless trolley coaches for service along the 13, 18, 25, 40, 44 & R Lines which use overhead power pole to move instead of a dirtier diesel engine. These new Trackless Trolley will have option for 2.3 Miles of off-wire full movement by use of a battery and will also contain a small diesel motor to be used during longer reroutes but at slower speeds then using electricity. They will also feature new SwivelTech Trolley poles which will ease turning with trolley poles and creating a faster moving coach.

Older coaches will be replace by the ones above. 

These 100 new coach will join the 10 that are in production with the current order which also contain two variants of the diesel motored buses. These new "Xcelsior" coaches will replace the 100 North American Bus Industries coaches that have been in service since 1998. The first of the new trackless coaches will arrive in 2015 and the last one is set to deliver in mid-2016. By then, the last N.A.B.I. Trackless Coach will be around 18-years-old.

Say Hello To Your New Bus

Metropolis, BR. May 2nd 2014. 

Metropolis Transit's 2014 New Flyer Industries Xcelsior Bus

Back in December, Metropolis Transit announced New Flyer Industries would be builder of the next 150 buses for the agency, then on Fashion Week last March, the first bus was unveiled. Painted more like trolley then a bus, the new vehicle had a flash red face over silver and dark grey. Probably the most noticeable change was was the addition of "Local Bus Lines" underneath the logo mimicking the similar "Trolley Lines" writing on trolleys. The bus went back to New Flyer to be improved even more, now it's back! The bus is currently sitting in the Ran Mourie Depot prepping for it's big debut. It will most likely debut in time for the Jack Russell Vs. Yankees game on May 10th. Metropolis Transit current has no statement to give on the bus other than "just wait and see". This is an exciting moment for the city because these new buses will soon be a familiar face.

Metropolis Transit currently has the option to by 100 more trackless trolley buses of the same make and model if the buses are successful. The 100 Tracklesses will replace the current 90s vintage trackless trolleys from the Ikarus/North American Bus Industries company. There's another option of 100 more split down the middle as 50 single buses & 50 articulated buses. If exorcized to the fullest, there will be 350 buses ordered in total.

DashTransit's Christine-SPL Airport BRT To Start In Late July

Alexandra, BR. April 27th 2014.

DashTrasnit To Start BRT Service Using These Buses.

DashTransit and the State of Bridgerissa has been in talks for the longest for a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line utilizing the Christine Bay Bridge to connect Downtown Metropolis to South Portland International Airport. The BRT Line will run from the brand new Bay of Silence Bus Terminal through Downtown Metropolis then using Ballerman Blvd and Lindsay Avenue to reach the Christine Expressway where it use it private lane at each major exit to stop right on the off-ramp. In Port County, there is space to add a two new private bus lanes to run BRT down the median of the highway where buses will have their own dedicate stations that passenger can walk up and wait for the bus.

There is no talk of how the line is going to be named, what the finally paint job would look like or where the buses will even stop, but it's clear what buses are going to use the line. DashTransit ordered 50 New Flyer Industries Xselsior Buses that run on both electric and diesel power. 40 of these buses will be dedicated to the service with the last 10 being use for the branch-line service that will connect Hook Beach and Pier Village to the BRT Line in Port County. 

Drawings of the Xselsior Buses being use for SPL BRT.

Currently only Metropolis Buses 17 & E buses connect to the Airport and both do not touch Downtown Metropolis forcing passengers to transfer to either the 47 Elevated or Woodland Subway with heavy loads of luggage. The transfer between the Rt 17 bus and the Woodland Subway requires a block long walk to the 36th Street subway station that is NOT wheelchair accessible nor has an elevator. When the SPL BRT opens, passengers can have a one seat right to Downtown & Midtown Metropolis without the need to lug heavy belongings down or up long flights of stairs. The service is expected to go live late July-early August. No word on how fares will be collected but we can expect something similar to the DARK Busway in Glittertown.