AFTERLIFE

Jetway Bus, on behalf of the New York Racing Association, purchased these ex-NJT Grumman 870's for use at Aqueduct Race Track, and both clearly show their age. The top bus was 1607; the bottom was 2027. Thanx to Jason Davis for sending these along!

NJT's MCI Order Is Done!

And we've got all the serials for you in the Roster!

Nate's Bus Gets Busted At Mohegan Sun

A bus belonging to Nate's Transportation was involved in a crash over the weekend where it crashed into a parking garage facade that was too low for the bus at Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. The driver was scheduled to take his passengers to Connecticut's other casino, Foxwoods.

It is not confirmed if the bus involved in the crash was NJT-owned 8703. which is the only NJT bus Nate's operates. I haven't seen any news tape of the incident.

Got a note from Jason Davis who sez that 8961-8969 were never built as D4000N's and the bus will not be made in a 96-inch width.

Revisions to the D4000/D4500 roster are ongoing. We have learned that Wayne Garage has taken delivery of D4500's numbered 8961-8969. These numbers were originally to be designated for the D4000N's. We are trying to find out if the four D4000N's that had been built have been renumbered or what.

Thanks to Trevor Logan, a fleet number and a pic of bus 8840, a new MCI D4000 that went up in an unfortunate accident earlier this week. The driver had parked the coach on top of a pile of mulch, and within minutes the heat from the engine ignited the mulch pile and set the bus on fire.

Also, check out this shot of bus 8880 taken by Trevor on Friday night. No one takes pictures of buses at night like Trevor!

Latest MCI sighting: 8900, a D4500 for Suburban Trails, in plain white with no Coach logos. Also, we are trying to get the fleet number of the relatively new MCI that burned up in service to Red & Tan.

Initial assignments of the demo Neoplan artics: 9601, Hilton, and 9503, Big Tree.

Impossible Legalese Explained!

K.C. Jackson, longtime fan/contributor to this page, offers this explanation of the NJT-2002-A Statutory Trust.

NJT2002 is a trust created by investors (usually overseas) who front the
money for the buses. KV Bank manages the trust for these investors.
NJT2002 then leases the buses to NJT (NJ Transit Corporation) who can
then do what they wish with the buses (send them to NJTBus or a private
operator).

From what I understand, the Feds only paid for the base order of 1244
MCIs at $500 million. The "option" buses fall under this lease arrangement.

The benefits of the arrangement are:
- No FTA purchase funds involved, just the lease payments from NJT
- The investors write off the depreciation against their taxes, which is
even more beneficial if the investor is not in the USA
- NJT gets more buses

This is exactly what was done with the 1994 Flxs as you mentioned on the
site - I beleive the investoir trusts were NBB-Linden for the transits,
and Sparta-something for the suburbans.

Trevor Logan sent along this pic of 9601. His site is still at sea but we are all hoping it comes back Real Soon Now!

And you thought Robair's site was the only one in the Mackey family with Legal Blather. This was seen on the side of a D4500 today.

LEASED FROM: NJT-2002-A STATUTORY TRUST
LEASED TO: NEW JERSEY TRANSIT CORPORATION
MORTGAGED TO: NJT-2002-A STATUTORY TRUST, as Head Lessee and
Lessor and K.V. BANK, N.A. as Agent for the Lenders

And you thought all that NBB Newark Lease jazz on the last Flxibles
was confusing?

Who owns these buses? NJT? A bank somewhere? HELP!

(BTW, the certificate lettering has not been observed on NJT D4000's because it doesn't fit!)

102D3 Of The Future?

At today's NJT Roadeo at Howell Garage, the few in attendance saw a rebuilt Bus 7065 through the raindrops. It now matches the appearance of the D4000's. I don't have any idea if the other 102D3 CNG's at Howell are being rebuilt.

This bus was the only noteworthy exhibit. Most of the historic fleet stayed home, though if one looked hard enough in the garage, one could find three MC-9B's still hanging around: 5113, 5117 and 5118. Look for pics of some of these and last year's winner's buses in the Gallery.

It's midnight. It's raining. I am still going to the Roadeo tomorrow. See you all there!

It's 5 a.m., and I just found some errors in the Flxible 1500/2000 page. I have fixed them and the revised page is now up.

Trevor Logan sent along this picture of 4001. His website is taking a little breather, but he'll be back soon at www.transitalk.org.

Also, I have received the final piece of the puzzle that is the NJT roster. The complete list of 2000-series Flxibles is now up. Thanks to Fred McGullam and Jim Bowman for the data!

Read the press release on today's appearance of the Hybrid Cruiser and Transit Buses!

Nova Bus Hybrid Now On Property

NJT has taken delivery of a Nova Bus 82VN hybrid bus. Fleet number 4001, serial number 2R835580.

Don't Tip This Driver!

Passengers on a Coach USA/ONE Bus route the other day were a little shocked to find out that the driver who was collecting fares was actually a vagrant stealing the money for himself.

Elizabeth police took Raymond Hamlin, 21, of Irvington, into custody. Charges against him include theft, receiving stolen property, and driving without a CDL. Bail is set at $100,000.

Police charge that Hamlin stole a bus from the depot on Frelinghuysen Avenue, covered the fare box with a sign saying it was not working, and followed the route, picking up passengers and pocketing the money for himself. He was found with about $32 on his person when arrested.

First Neoplan Suburban Artic Arrives At NJT

Bus 9601 (Neoplan AN460, serial number 3L013234) has arrived on NJT property as the demo bus for the new suburbans which will replace the Volvo B10m articulated buses which are nearing 20 years of age. Photos hopefully soon!

New D's Sighted

Saw a few new units today including 7682 and two for Academy, 8944 and 8946. Details to come.

What's Up With This?

Check out the license plate on 7879. Aren't Omnibus plates supposed to start with OXX, not XXO? Somebody must have been asleep in jail the day they made the plates for this bus. (Thanks to Joe Wasielewski for his heads-up work on getting this photo!)

Former NJT Veep Indicted Over Kickbacks From Vendors

A New Jersey state grand jury handed down a 14-count indictment against former NJT Bus/Light Rail vice president Maureen Milan. WINS reports the Westfield resident accepted gifts valued at over $17,000 over a period of several years, including World Series and Madonna tickets, from vendors including MCI, Nova Bus and Atlantic Detroit Diesel. If convicted, Ms. Milan could face 20 years in prison, fines of $300,000, and payback to the state.

Motor Bus Society has its Spring 2003 meeting information available at its website. It is the weekend of April 26-27, 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

We are working on changing over the Gallery pages to the familiar format. In the meantime we've put up some new pictures of 3000-series Suburbans taken by Tony Merced. Thanks Tony!

We have some new shots over in Bus Gallery. A 96A2, some Green Bus Lines and others, from the Dave Mackey archives.

We have reformatted the 1994 and 2002 Fleet Snapshot pages. We also added one bus to the Gallery, 2564, shot at last fall's Transit Festival in Hoboken.

Due to our new webspace being so much bigger, there are many more pictures that are going to be phased in. If you have some favorite images you've snapped over the years, I am more than willing to showcase them. Drop me a line at the ol' NJT mail slot and I'll be happy to oblige. Make sure the pictures are nice and big and magazine-clear. Thanks!

Also, I have some changes from Trevor but they're in my other computer. I will get to them later. Thanks always Trevor!

NJT has retired the final three MC9A's in NJT paint, 6102, 6103 and 6104, and sent them to Caven Point for decommissioning.

Come see 9501 outside NJT Headquarters in Newark tomorrow! Photo op for first of the Neoplan artics!

End Of The Line For The 5000's?

D4000's have been seen on the 559 route, heretofore the exclusive domain of the remaining 5000 series buses. (One of those seen on the line is 7492, a 2003 model D4000.) The line will take some additional observation to see if it is indeed the end for the MC9's on this line.