Eugene, as always you bring a big smile to this blind man's face with these driving videos! LOVE the sound of how you drove this bus through PA. :-D You put the 'Hound drivers to shame! LOL Also love hearing the power steering pump as you were turning this coach.
Thanks for doing these video sir....I'm ony way to driving for Peter pan bus lines one day and I'm excited to get trained to do so....these videos just help to know the feel of what I can expect....thanks again for this
I'm glad you were able to get a feel for it! I'm realizing that these videos are interesting training opportunities for a lot of people, which is nice to see!
Oh man I trully love to watch on roads in the United states. I wish we have it here in Slovakia 🇸🇰 too. No bumps no potholes. Smooth ride. Nice driving video as always 👍
The H3-45 lasts forever. During the time our agency had the H3-45s (18 years old and more than 2 million miles), we've gone through three fleets of J4500. The H3-45s hardly breaks down and doesn't get replaced, everything on them just gets rebuilt and upgraded (you can get a 2003 model to look exactly like 2021 model, though the engine stays the same, an overhauled Detroit S60). Some drivers prefer the J4500 for its stability, because the H3-45 rides like a cloud or a boat and gets them a bit "bus-sick". Many 2003 models had short axle ratios (4.30:1), which gets you that jetliner-like beast squashing acceleration and making that huge bus really zippy around town.
Sticking to one manufacturer makes sense if you're buying new, if your agency is public and funded by the state and if your fleet is very large (more than 100 buses). Buying a new city bus by the hundreds gets you a discount but it still costs $600,000 to $750,000 each. Hybrid buses can cost over $1 million each. For smaller fleets, buying whatever you can find saves a lot of money ($600,000 can buy you seven used city buses or six used coaches, all in good condition).
@texasabbott is correct. However, our transit fleet is now all Gillig as of 2015, when our Flxibles retired. Our coach fleet consists of two Setras and now seven MCIs, and we switched from Setra to MCI because Daimler no longer distributes new Setras to the US. I guess you can say that our fleet has been consolidated to only a couple brands for the very reasons you mention!
All our vehicles are purchased new made to order from the manufacturer. Our agency is large for a university standard, but not nearly as large as a city transit agency. Since 2001, we have only purchased from Gillig for our transit fleet (Phantoms, Low-Floors, and hybrids). We've had a fleet of coach buses exclusively made up of Setra S417s from 2003-2017. And a fun fact: The Setras and MCIs in our fleet use the same motor! The Mercedes-Detroit OM471 and the DD13 are the same engine. Agencies with many types of vehicles will also purchase around to test manufacturers and parts and reliability and will eventually try to settle on what works best for them
Excellent video! I love coach sounds! Do you drive the Allison Transmission with the PERF MODE ON (if it's programmed in) to get a bit more acceleration? Our mechanic says it does help a bit only if the bus had a lower horsepower engine like a 380 hp Cummins L9 or a 350 hp Detroit S60. In the case of buses with tall axle ratios like a 2010 to 2021 J4500, "Perf Mode On" might also help with hills, on-ramps and overall acceleration by holding onto those lower gears longer.
Thanks @texasabbott. I do not drive with performance mode on in the MCI's B500 because it does not make much of a difference. I expected shifting to occur noticably later in the rev range and for downshifts to happen when going uphill, but it drives the same as performance mode off! On our Setras, that is not the case, so the Allisons on them must be programmed differently... Performance mode on the Setra Allisons are something else!
@@eugew23 A J4500 and Setras 10 years ago would have axle ratios (4.10) to typically have its engine doing 1300rpm @60 mph in 6th gear. A J4500 now has a rear axle ratio choice so tall (3.58) that it can have its engine spinning at 1000rpm @60mph in sixth gear. Agencies choose these ratios to save fuel, though they kill the performance! Enjoy your J4500, they're beautiful!
Coaches and transits are two completely different animals, made for two completely different tasks. Coaches are lovely on the highway and mediocre in the city/campus. Transits are great for constant acceleration deacceleration, but not good on at high speed. Transits have better visibility, and coaches have more features. Overall, I enjoy the comfort and power of the coaches more than anything in transit buses.
Whether its'a Blue Bird, MCI or Prevost, many of their steering wheels are made by one manufacturer, which allows the bus maker to glue their company logo in the hub, and bolt on other accessories like cruise control, engine and transmission retarder controls.
