31 replies to this topic

[Bus Driver]

The City of Prince Albert has put out the tender for the operation of Prince Albert Transit. The City is requiring the winning company to purchase 4 low floor buses. The city has puchased a bus from Flyer.
The 4 companies in the running are: Frist Bus, Prince Albert Northern Bus Lines, Grey Cab ( Taxi co.) and Hertz.
Its a good move for the city to have the low floors. Right now First Bus has the contract and they are running little ford para transit buses, with a capacity of 24 passengers.
Prince albert Northern ran it for over 50 years. The city elected a new mayor and instead of awarding the contract back to them they gave it to First Bus. The city revamped the system and with the small buses they were only transporting 1/3 of the pasengers that P.A.N. did. The city finally got there act together and put it back to nearly the way it was before. Ridership has gone up a little but not to the numbers of before.

[Bus Driver]

Bus Driver, on Sep 15 2009, 09:04 PM, said:

The City of Prince Albert has put out the tender for the operation of Prince Albert Transit. The City is requiring the winning company to purchase 4 low floor buses. The city has puchased a bus from Flyer.
The 4 companies in the running are: Frist Bus, Prince Albert Northern Bus Lines, Grey Cab ( Taxi co.) and Hertz.
Its a good move for the city to have the low floors. Right now First Bus has the contract and they are running little ford para transit buses, with a capacity of 24 passengers.
Prince albert Northern ran it for over 50 years. The city elected a new mayor and instead of awarding the contract back to them they gave it to First Bus. The city revamped the system and with the small buses they were only transporting 1/3 of the pasengers that P.A.N. did. The city finally got there act together and put it back to nearly the way it was before. Ridership has gone up a little but not to the numbers of before.

First Bus was awarded the contract.

[saskmatt7]

Bus Driver, on Sep 15 2009, 06:04 PM, said:

The City of Prince Albert has put out the tender for the operation of Prince Albert Transit. The City is requiring the winning company to purchase 4 low floor buses. The city has puchased a bus from Flyer.
The 4 companies in the running are: Frist Bus, Prince Albert Northern Bus Lines, Grey Cab ( Taxi co.) and Hertz.
Its a good move for the city to have the low floors. Right now First Bus has the contract and they are running little ford para transit buses, with a capacity of 24 passengers.
Prince albert Northern ran it for over 50 years. The city elected a new mayor and instead of awarding the contract back to them they gave it to First Bus. The city revamped the system and with the small buses they were only transporting 1/3 of the pasengers that P.A.N. did. The city finally got there act together and put it back to nearly the way it was before. Ridership has gone up a little but not to the numbers of before.

This is cool, i hope Prince Albert Northern gets the contract, and a low floor! sweet!!!!!!
Matt C from saskatoon

[A. Wong]

Bus Driver, on Nov 3 2009, 08:50 AM, said:

First Bus was awarded the contract.

[Bus Driver]

Bus Driver, on Sep 15 2009, 09:04 PM, said:

The City of Prince Albert has put out the tender for the operation of Prince Albert Transit. The City is requiring the winning company to purchase 4 low floor buses. The city has puchased a bus from Flyer.
The 4 companies in the running are: Frist Bus, Prince Albert Northern Bus Lines, Grey Cab ( Taxi co.) and Hertz.
Its a good move for the city to have the low floors. Right now First Bus has the contract and they are running little ford para transit buses, with a capacity of 24 passengers.
Prince albert Northern ran it for over 50 years. The city elected a new mayor and instead of awarding the contract back to them they gave it to First Bus. The city revamped the system and with the small buses they were only transporting 1/3 of the pasengers that P.A.N. did. The city finally got there act together and put it back to nearly the way it was before. Ridership has gone up a little but not to the numbers of before.

Just to give you an update on P.A.
There seems to be some sort of "misunderstanding" with the terms of the contrract between the City of Prince Albert and First Canada. First Canada was under the impression that the City was going to buy the new buses and First Canada would operate and maintain them. I talked to one of the owners of Prince Albert Northern and when they were thinking of bidding he told me that the company awarded the contract had to buy the buses except for the one that the City of Prince Albert bought. The City did purchase one New Flyer piggy backing onto the City of Saskatoon's order. With this misunderstanding City Council is now going to review the contract and it may cost the City another $83,000. The City has the option to reduse the length f the contrct from 5.5 yrs down to 3 yrs. They will have their desision on April 12 at the Council meeting.
In my opinion they should make First Canada buy the buses or get out of the contract with them ASAP.
I herd that Pacific Western Transportation was interseted in bidding on the contract but because of the Olympics they just did not have the time to study the contract. If PWT would have been awarded the contract they could have sent 5 or 6 buses they used for the Olympics to P.A. and everything would have been fine.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Bus Driver, on Apr 10 2010, 09:27 AM, said:

Just to give you an update on P.A.
There seems to be some sort of "misunderstanding" with the terms of the contrract between the City of Prince Albert and First Canada. First Canada was under the impression that the City was going to buy the new buses and First Canada would operate and maintain them. I talked to one of the owners of Prince Albert Northern and when they were thinking of bidding he told me that the company awarded the contract had to buy the buses except for the one that the City of Prince Albert bought. The City did purchase one New Flyer piggy backing onto the City of Saskatoon's order. With this misunderstanding City Council is now going to review the contract and it may cost the City another $83,000. The City has the option to reduse the length f the contrct from 5.5 yrs down to 3 yrs. They will have their desision on April 12 at the Council meeting.
In my opinion they should make First Canada buy the buses or get out of the contract with them ASAP.
I herd that Pacific Western Transportation was interseted in bidding on the contract but because of the Olympics they just did not have the time to study the contract. If PWT would have been awarded the contract they could have sent 5 or 6 buses they used for the Olympics to P.A. and everything would have been fine.

Ok... This is interesting and yes, I admit, this is a bit of an older post. So what's the latest on this issue?

[Bus Driver]

MBTA9244-9640b, on Jun 19 2010, 05:19 AM, said:

Ok... This is interesting and yes, I admit, this is a bit of an older post. So what's the latest on this issue?

I have not herd nothing yet. I'll check with my contact and give y'all an update.

[Bus Driver]

There is going to be some route changes and fare changes. They are changing the name of "rush hour express" to 15th St. Shuttle. They are finally changing the times that the buses leave Central Ave. and 14th ST. to :15 and :45 the way it was when Prince Albert Northern had the contract and I drove there. These changes will take place on August 30, 2010. The West Flat will interline with the 15th St. Shuttle when it is in service. 15th St. Shuttle will run from 6:45-9:45 and 15:15-19:15 Monday- Friday. The current departure form Central and 14th is :25 and :55. By changing to :15 and :45 it will bettter serve the people who use the bus to get to work downtown and other places and hopefully increase ridership. Fare is going up $.25 across the board making adult fare $2.25.

[Seashore_518203]

It appears that Prince Albert has a D40LFR. A small photo is shown in the PDF file on their website that shows how to ride the low floor bus. It is numbered 10-0068.

http://www.citypa.ca/Portals/0/PDF2/Public...ide%20guide.pdf

[A. Wong]

Interesting! Will have to add that one to the wiki!

[general682002]

Seashore_518203, on Dec 7 2010, 04:49 PM, said:

It appears that Prince Albert has a D40LFR. A small photo is shown in the PDF file on their website that shows how to ride the low floor bus. It is numbered 10-0068.

http://www.citypa.ca/Portals/0/PDF2/Public...ide%20guide.pdf

Piggyback from Saskatchewan order. First LF ever for their fleets?

[Seashore_518203]

A quick update from Prince Albert ... both Classics (62 and 65) are retired. Bus 62 had a accident recently and it will not be fixed. Bus 65 has frame issues and will also not be fixed.

Both RTS buses (66 and 67) have been sold and are no longer on the property. Apparently they were sold to some guy in town who wants to convert one into a motorhome. I was not able to track them down while I was in town.

The active fleet consists of 10 buses --- 1 D40LFR (10-0068), 4 Girardin cutaways (09-2538 to 09-2541), 2 Corbeil cutaways (R196-97), one spare El Dorado cutaway (FB11) and two Bluebird Q-bus (3303 and 3045).

They have reallocated one more Bluebird Q-Bus from First Canada. Bus 3039 is at the garage but needs to have a safety done before it is legal for SK roads.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Seashore_518203, on May 25 2011, 08:11 PM, said:

They have reallocated one more Bluebird Q-Bus from First Canada. Bus 3039 is at the garage but needs to have a safety done before it is legal for SK roads.

Interesting! 3039 should be a former Airdrie Commuter unit from Calgary that operated for Cardinal Coach Lines under First Canada. I have not seen these buses in use as of late, but just yesterday I spotted one of them at the body shop in Calgary with freshly painted wheel rims. I believe it was 3043 that I saw, but didn't really take note or photograph it having a 45 foot MCI coach right on my bumper as I was passing by.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Well I finally paid a visit to Prince Albert earlier this month only to find the one D40LFR was not on the road, but it was at a body shop. Here are a few images including vin plate and an interior shot of D40LFR #10-0068. I am told that they do have more buses on the way, but I do not recall what type and model.

http://www.busdrawings.com/Transit/sk/prin...40lfr/index.htm

[MCI Classic]

Good to see they got a real bus but the livery is PAThetic. Could really use some colours lol.

[Seashore_518203]

BCT-3122-D800-10240, on Jun 19 2011, 11:13 PM, said:

[color="#4169E1"][font="Comic Sans MS"][b]Well I finally paid a visit to Prince Albert earlier this month only to find the one D40LFR was not on the road, but it was at a body shop. Here are a few images including vin plate and an interior shot of D40LFR #10-0068. I am told that they do have more buses on the way, but I do not recall what type and model.

It is too bad you did not get 10-0068 on the road. Here are a few shots I got of it about three weeks prior to your visit. They are taken at the new downtown transfer point which appears to have opened only recently.

Attached Files

•  Prince_Albert_Transit_10_0068___24MAY11.jpg   122.14K   91 downloads
•  Prince_Albert_Transit_10_0068___Terminal___24MAY11.jpg   124.24K   76 downloads

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Seashore_518203, on Jun 20 2011, 03:56 PM, said:

It is too bad you did not get 10-0068 on the road. Here are a few shots I got of it about three weeks prior to your visit. They are taken at the new downtown transfer point which appears to have opened only recently.

Ah yes I thought that Transit Centre was brand new. I stayed at the Hotel right across the street from it. I think it was the Quality Inn. Great Photos Kevin and thanks for posting them!

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

I have added 24 more photos to the Prince Albert Transit Photo Gallery on my website on this direct link: http://www.busdrawings.com/Transit/sk/princealbert/index.htm .

I have also edited the WIKI slightly to show that the Nova RTS 06's were 1997's and not 1998's as earlier indicated. Here's a vin plate showing the build date on RTS bus #66:

http://www.busdrawings.com/Transit/sk/princealbert/rts/080611-07876prince66.jpg

[buswrappervern]

I left my mark in Prince Albert. 10-0068 Newflyer got a makeover. Next I return to do 3 bluebird Qbus.

http://www.panow.com/node/270358

[A. Wong]

Cool stuff!