VIN Update - Diesel Cruisers

17001-17039 - HP014227-HP014265

17040-17104 - HP014268-HP014332

VINs of the new Diesel Buses

What is known so far:

So far all of the buses that have been delivered have been 45 foot buses denoted by P in the fourth digit of the VIN. If a bus is 40 foot, that will be an S. The lower case x will denote the check digit which is easily (?) computable for each bus within a group.

16000's are 2016 buses (VIN year code G)
16001 1M8PDMBA6GP14021 (NJT livery)
16002 1M8PDMBA5GP14060 (Academy livery)
I hear there are other 16000's

17000's are 2017 buses (VIN year code H)
17001-17023 1M8PDMBAxHP014227 through HP014249 (Coach USA Community)
17024-17028 no VINs yet (Coach USA Short Line)
17050 and 17053-17054 no VINs yet (Coach USA Suburban)
17063-17064 no VINs yet (Saddle River Tours - NOT Ameribus!, using the old style SRT livery. Really nice looking bus!)

The Bi-Annual Post?

Hello, it's been a few years, but I am back in the bus business.

For the past several days I have been trying to get Blogger to publish static pages. It does not seem to want to work, so it's entirely possible that I may be shutting down business here. I would really like to publish the roster data and pictures again, but a personal website does not seem to be the way to go any more. I shut down davemackey.com a few years ago due to lack of funds and minimal interest in the blogs I was hosting, finding social media to be a much better audience (and more targeted too).

I would love to start contributing my research (which is now spanning a 27-year period) to one of the several wikis that have sprung up. The cptdb.ca wiki seems to the the most likely candidate but I hear that only members can contribute data there. As I have records on nearly every bus that ran in the NJ Transit era, I would think that my research would be much welcomed, from both the standpoint of NJ Transit history as well as the histories of the companies involved.

That said, here are my gaps in knowledge:

1. Missing CONFIRMED front end (first 8 digits) VIN components from Flxible buses, mostly earlier models (the 870 non-rebuilds and Metro A and B models). I got a list of the rebuilds in the 2000 series (probably the work of Murray Kramer) a number of years ago and have used it to correct the listings on other wikis and websites that have perpetuated some errors in transcribing the data. Flxible VINs can be a bear with all the different codes for engines and body styles being the main sticking points. The complete 17-digit VINs on most of the other buses that have run for NJT have been verified, including all the Novas, MCI's, Eagles, Neoplans, Volvos and NABI units.

UPDATE: We have confirmed the 1000-1270 VINs as beginning with 1GF4AB6KxBD.... Still working on the others.

2. Those pesky DesignLine buses need to have their VINs matched up with the license numbers. I don't know which buses belong with which VINs and you can't really go in order with these, because production and delivery was so spotty. Copying my recent post on nyctransitforums....

Also, I have the 14 VINs for the DesignLine CNG buses... if anyone has old SAFER reports so we can match up the license plates to the VINS, that would be extra helpful.

The plates are: 7201-OYA6711 (I think this is CC665058), 7202-OYA5322, 7203-?, 7204-OYA6727, 7205-OYA6712, 7206-OYA6924, 7207-OYA6935, 7208-OYA6935, 7209-OYA6961 (VIN is confirmed from SAFER: DC665062), 7210-OYA6975, 7211-OYA6976, 7212-OYA6977, 7213-OYA7932, 7214-OYA7945. All these plates come up dry in AutoCheck and similar searches.

The unmatched VINs are: CC665054, 055, 057, 059, 060 (all 2012 buses), then DC665061, then 063-068 (the 2013 buses). All those VINs are confirmed as having vehicle history on AutoCheck so they have to be the NJT buses. I don't think DesignLine placed these anywhere else.

There was no 7215 for DesignLine. 

There is also no 7362 CNG MCI D4500CT.... so fix your wikis, gentlemen.

UPDATE: The DesignLine VINs are:

• 7201-7207: 1D9422CNxCC665054-665060
• 7208-7214: 1D9422CNxDC665061-665067
• The undelivered 7215 would have been 1D9422CN3DC665068

3. The high-1500 series Novas NJT got from Academy. I don't have any idea of original fleet numbers, and not all of those buses from the batch Academy got went over to NJT.

UPDATE: These buses are 2001 Nova Bus 82VN's. Academy's original fleet and VINs were:

• 1042-1048: 4RKENTFAx1R835281-835287
• 1049-1058: 4RKENTFAx1R835409-835418

We do have one positive match: Academy 1046 became NJT 1587.

We can track down VINs of current buses if we have their license plates so I'm willing to accept any such data in the form of comments to this post. This will help immensely with the deliveries of the new 17000-series cruisers underway. Thanks for reading!

What's Up, NJT?

NJT learned nothing from its abortive purchase of Millennium transit buses a number of years ago (remember those?) After delivering a paltry number of coaches, Millennium went belly-up and NJT instead turned to the more stable NABI for its new transit fleet. I believe all those buses have now been delivered.

So flash forward a few years and NJT again is in the market for cruisers. Their MCI fleet is aging and the first target is the natural gas buses garaged at Howell. So, let's see.... hey, let's try this Design Line company, they have absolutely no track record in the United States... we'll give them a big order and see what they can do!

From their U.S. plant in Charlotte, NC, Design Line delivered exactly 14 buses - 7201-7214 - to NJT before going bankrupt last fall, and those 14 buses aren't running revenue service as far as I can see. NJT has now ordered about 85 new CNG cruiser buses from MCI, which should more than replace the 77 or so MCI 102D3's at Howell, in terms of both number of buses and passenger capacity (the new buses are 45 foot models). Delivery should begin in the summer. Meantime passengers can still enjoy the 7000 series buses for another few months. You can't say NJT doesn't get the most out of their buses. Witness those Flxibles that NJT kept online for almost 20 years! I think they still have some on their roster!

We are presently unable to update our static (non-blog) pages at this time due to computer software issues but soon we should have an updated roster. Bear with us.

New MCI Spotted

NJT adds on to its fleet of MCI D-series coaches for private carrier use. 8952, a 2012 MCI D4505, was spotted in Academy Lines livery over the weekend. It is not yet known how many coaches are in what is perhaps the last order from MCI before the new Designline coaches arrive.

Bus Service Mostly Restored

As of this morning, NJ Transit is now operating a full weekday schedule on many of its bus lines. All three light rail lines (Newark Subway, Hudson-Bergen and River LINE) are back in weekday service as well. There are service advisories on a couple of routes near the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne as there is still major flooding on Route 23, as well as many unannounced or unpublicized detours due to flooding, road closures, or power outages that are still bedeviling us after Irene's departure on Sunday.

Irene Shuts Down Buses

The entire NJ Transit bus and light rail system were shut down at 6:00 p.m. in preparation for Hurricane Irene, which blew through the state Sunday morning, leaving coastal and river basin flooding and downed trees in its wake. NJT's heavy rail was shut down earlier on Saturday.

The agency's goal is to have weekend-level service running by tomorrow, but a lot of that is dependent on getting buses through flood zones and places where fallen trees have blocked roadways.