[Victoria, BC] Enviro 400 + ex-Seattle Enviro 500

Thanks to information provided by a good friend of mine, I made a day trip out to Victoria today and spotted two latest additions to the Cruise Victoria bus fleet: a brand new Enviro 400 open-top sightseeing bus, and  ex-Community Transit #27900, the very first Enviro 500 tested in Seattle 2 years ago! The E400 is used for the Cruise Vic hop-on-hop-off sightseeing route, while the E500 is assigned to the Downtown (Empress Hotel) - Butchart Gardens shuttle run.

Departing from the Empress Hotel, with the BC legislative building in the background:


Up on the top of Mount Tolmie, one of the best places to view the skyline of Victoria:


Reach for the sky......indeed!


Landmark of Victoria, the Empress Hotel


Old & New


Ex-Community Transit #27900, now renumbered as "C31", painted orange for Cruise Victoria. I believe this bus should be receiving decals in the near future.






Nothing really new and exciting for BC Transit lately.....tho I did get lucky first thing in the morning! Got off the ferry at Swartz Bay, and two very special E500s were parked one after the other as 70x and 72!

9527, E500H (Hybrid) on 70X


9528, former ADL demonstrator purchased by BC Transit in January 2013. I have been hearing mixed status regarding this bus: I have been told that the bus has already been sold to Maui, Hawaii, and should have left BC Transit 2 months ago, back in April of this year; on the other hand, I have always been told that the Maui deal actually never materialized, and BC Transit ended up purchasing the bus. Anybody knows which of the two is the true story? (or, neither? )


Beyond 9528, expect to see 9529 - 9531 joining the BCT fleet soon. These 3 buses are ex-Ottawa OC Transpo #1201-#1203, which I had the pleasure of spotting all 3 in Ottawa two summers ago!

ENjoy!

Dave

[ 本帖最後由 NewFlyer 於 2013-6-29 21:51 編輯 ]

Nice to find out familiar double-decker bus models at Canada !  Is the open-top E400 air-conditioned?

Besides, for the last 2 photos, it's interesting that the bus has a rack at the front!  Is it compulsory  for all buses in Canada?

原帖由 edylau 於 2013-7-2 20:08 發表
Nice to find out familiar double-decker bus models at Canada !  Is the open-top E400 air-conditioned?

Besides, for the last 2 photos, it's interesting that the bus has a rack at the front!  Is it c ...

In Western Canada, it is very common to see bike rack in front, but not compulsory though.

The Enviro 400 is air conditioned