Maneuverability, reliability, mechanical performance are the major concerns of the developing concepts on the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses today, the idea of being low floor in these buses even complicates the matter. Signs are indicating that these innovating technologies are still not mature enough. Here is a brief comparision between the Diesel and CNG buses.
Top photos: 9392 and 9388 were seen in Oct and June 1998, these buses have been taking more tough duties recently after receiving the first 6 year rebuild by the TTC. Much few breakdowns have been observed compared with their younger siblings- 9200 and 9400 series CNG buses.
| 9361(1989) | TTC 9361 (BD 3738) was a 1989 Orion I CNG demo bus. The same bus (now BJ 8410) which now carries the GO Transit livery was seen at the parking lot of "Master Mechanic" on May 1 2002. Here is the front view of the bus, the back of the bus, the rear door, ,the gas tank. This bus can sometimes be found at Markham Miller yard. |
| 9374/9394 | The rear view of 9374 and 9394,the first generation of Orion5 CNG bus built in 1991. The TTC only bought 25 and no further example was ordered. The photo was taken in Jan 98 at Wilson station/ |
| 9387 | 9387 just received the new painting scheme in April 1997. |
| 9393 | 9393 replaced the 9200 Orion 6 CNG buses for a full day shift on 29 in Nov 1998. |
| 9403 | 9403 was less than a year old when photographed in April 1997 at Bathrust station. |
| 9414 | 9414 returned to active service in spring 1998 after receiving a new gas tank. 9414 was running on Bathrust #7C, the photo was taken in Apr 98. |
| 9444 | 9444 was on layer over at York University in a November 1998 afternoon. In April 1998, 9444 had mechanical problems with smoke coming out from the engine area at Finch station, fire trucks and police cars were at the scene briefly, the wood ashes on the ground is the result of some leakings from 9444. |
Bottom Photos: Left is 9437 in a makeshift platform at Ossington station in Sept 98. Right is the July 98 view of the rear of 9439 and the recently rebuilt 1981 GM 8583, 8583 is much more sturdier and reliable than 9439 even she is 15 years older.
Bottom Photos: show the 9215 and 9226 parked together at the unused Wilson North platform. These buses were withdrawn in Sept 98 for the safety concern. See another photo on 9244 taken at the same place. Right: The rear of 9212 ( photo taken on Apr 13 98). Click for larger size photo.
| 2000 | The first Orion 6 CNG bus arrived in Toronto in the summer 1997 and the fleet # was 2000, the 2000 series later became the 9200 series such that the 2000 series was for the rebuilt GM buses in Sept 1997 as GM 8571 became the current 2000 later. Here, Orion 6 CNG 2000 was seen on a trial run on 7C. (Toronto Star photo) |
| 9202 | 9202 was just 3 weeks old when she was on Dufferin 29. Here is another Dec 28 2001 photo. |
| 9218 | 9218 was still assigned to lighter route 98 on April 30 1999 after receiving the new wheel rims. |
| 9229 | Apr 13 98 view on 9229. There are only 27 seats and the legroom of these buses are also smaller than the regular buses. |
| 9233 | 9233 was seen at Wilson Station on Mar 25 98, the first day 9233 entered service and worked on Dufferin #29. These buses are the first batch of low floor bus in the TTC fleet. |
| 9239 | 9239 returned to active service in late February 1999 after being out of service for 5 months. She now has new silver color wheel rims. |
| 9246 | 9246 attended the bus roadeo at Arrow Road on May 2 1999. This is the rear view of the one and a half year old bus, but at least 6 months of her life was spent on the storage yard. |
