Next Gen Busses

Lensman

Well-Known Member
Those busses need to run for hours and hours at a time and go for 600-700k miles without any major components failing. Diesel gets you that. Not sure if electric is there.....yet. Disney lives for the dollar. When switching to electric saves them money over diesel, they’ll switch in a second.
Because an all-electric drivetrain is so much simpler than even a diesel drivetrain, various electric buses are anticipated to have 30-50% lower maintenance costs than diesel. Proterra advertises that their bus passed 750,000 mile simulated durability testing. They are one of the manufacturers participating in a pilot in the NYC MTA electric bus pilot with New Flyer as the other provider of electric buses for the pilot. New Flyer manufactured much of the MTAs existing diesel and hybrid diesel-electric fleet. Factlet: The MTA purchases 10% of all the buses sold in North America each year and currently has 5,700 buses in its fleet.

At any rate, I agree with you that Disney will switch over to electric when it makes the most sense to do so. I bet they're waiting for the various municipal pilot projects to publish their findings and will switch over at close to the optimal time. I imagine that with so many municipalities looking to switch over, pricing may be coming down a nice curve over the next few years.

One nice side-benefit of a switchover to all-electric is that they'll be able to run the AC without subjecting passengers or nearby resort guests to fumes from an idling diesel engine.

Note: I appreciate your mention of the durability of diesel engines. Whenever I think of that, I think of Top Gear's Hilux episodes:
 
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Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
And remember, it's not pure diesel...it's biodiesel. I'm not absolutely sure what the ratio is (50%-50%?), but the oil that's used for everyone's chicken nuggets and fries gets turned into the bio in the biodiesel. If I'm not mistaken (@Driver)? There is a plant on property that refines and purifies the oil. At least that is a step in the right direction and saves WDW a LOT of $$ on fuel.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
And remember, it's not pure diesel...it's biodiesel. I'm not absolutely sure what the ratio is (50%-50%?), but the oil that's used for everyone's chicken nuggets and fries gets turned into the bio in the biodiesel. If I'm not mistaken (@Driver)? There is a plant on property that refines and purifies the oil. At least that is a step in the right direction and saves WDW a LOT of $$ on fuel.
We used bio-diesel up in Vermont for the city buses in the summer. It doesn't work in the winter, we had to go straight diesel. Within a year they had to stop using Bio because it was causing a lot of problems with the engines, mostly the injectors if I remember correctly. Even at it's highest it was never more the 30% Bio-diesel and 70% regular.
 

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
We used bio-diesel up in Vermont for that city buses in the summer. It isn't work in the winter we had to go straight diesel. Within a year they had to stop using Bio because it was causing a lot of problem with the engines, mostly the injecters if I remember correctly. Even at it's highest it was never more the 30% Bio-diesel and 70% regular.
That's because of your temperature...Do you keep a can of grease in the fridge instead of pouring it down the sink? The oil congeals...there should have been heaters on the tank to keep the fuel warm. Don't have that problem in Orlando.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
That's because of your temperature...Do you keep a can of grease in the fridge instead of pouring it down the sink? The oil congeals...there should have been heaters on the tank to keep the fuel warm. Don't have that problem in Orlando.
Yes, that is why I said that we used Bio in the summer. We couldn't in the winter. But, that is even more significant because since we were able to use it only about 5 months out of the year, the quick discovery of problems is more poignant. There was a huge promotion locally about the use of Bio-Fuel. All the drivers and other employees had to wear Bio-diesel T-Shirts as part of a uniform to inform everyone of the new policy. I still have one of those T-shirts. They lasted a whole lot longer then the use of Bio-fuel. When they stopped using it, not a word was mentioned to anyone and to my understanding still hasn't been. Of course, by now they might have added a number of buses that were engineered to run the stuff. I don't know... I have been retired for pushing 9 years now and haven't kept up.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
That's because of your temperature...Do you keep a can of grease in the fridge instead of pouring it down the sink? The oil congeals...there should have been heaters on the tank to keep the fuel warm. Don't have that problem in Orlando.
All diesels have return line fuel systems. They unused fuel that runs to the engine returns to the fuel tank warm. However, it can get cold enough that by the time it gets back to the fuel tank it is cold again. It doesn't take to long in -30 degrees to cool that stuff down. That said, we never even tried in the winter, we knew it would jell up. Even diesel itself can jell without a very expensive additive that is used during the cold weather.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
I just don't find the new wraps interesting in any way. As they did with the Skyliner, they could have used the pre-existing shapes and lines of the buses as part of the design, but instead they went in the total opposite direction and basically obliterated them with the character heads. While I do think this style of design is appropriate in small doses, at the size they chose it ends up looking tacky. Also, using the colors specific to each character for the entire bus is a bit much - especially for Pluto because his color makes it look like your average school bus with a Pluto head slapped on.

It's just too reminiscent of a mini-van that's been covered with kids' stickers.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
Omg here we go.

It’s not art. It’s a bus wrap. It’s commerce.

Established do’s & dont’s - come back when you’re a bus wrapping expert.

If you guys stop trying to elevate this theme park stuff to some kind of highbrow hobby, you won’t have to be mad at cartoons that belong there.
Some of us actually do have professional experience designing and wrapping vehicles. There are absolutely "dos and don'ts", and the Pluto wrap, especially, is painful to look at.
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
IMO, the simplicity of the older designs allowed other images to be evoked in your mind. Seeing "Disney" in the classic font is subtle and makes you think of more than just Mickey Mouse.

I dont mind the new design at all. I can easily imagine driving under the arches when we arrive and shortly after seeing one of the new buses pass by and it will put a smile on my face as I know we are "home". But the designs are very direct. You see a big Mickey face and think, "Mickey Mouse", not much else. Nothing wrong with that either. And dont get me wrong, I dont think there is a major psychological aspect at play and that a bus wrap should have your mind drifting into thoughts of fantasy and Walt sitting on a dirty park bench dreaming up theme parks.

Less can be more. Seeing an unwrapped monorail wizz by when your first arrive on property never gets old. The simple color stripe and design are enough. Granted, the monorail has a sleek design that speaks for itself (the inside is a different story).
 

Minthorne

Well-Known Member
quote-you-re-dead-if-you-aim-only-for-kids-adults-are-only-kids-grown-up-anyway-walt-disney-51435.jpg
Fixed that for you.
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Lensman

Well-Known Member
Has anyone heard whether they are going to extend the wraps to the existing fleet or will it be limited to only the new fleet? Or maybe just this particular order?

I'm not sure how I feel about the inconsistency, but I almost think it's better to have the wraps be limited to a subset of the fleet. That way it's not overwhelming at the bus depots at the parks. An added plus is that you would instantly be able to tell which buses have USB charging in case you need it.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
God forbid if Disney puts Disney Characters on a Disney Bus operated by Disney Transportation to transport Disney Guests around Disney property.

Well.... good thing no one has suggested that? It’s the way the design was done that some of us don’t care for.

I’m not a big fan of the Duffy the bear static clings at the Tokyo either.
 

Lensman

Well-Known Member
Can't please everyone. That's the way it is...
That might be true for some companies, but Disney has been successful in the past in pleasing virtually all of their fans, and to an incredible extent.

Just looking at wraps, there's much less complaining about the monorail wraps (but maybe that's because they're always temporary) and there seemed to be almost universal praise for the Skyliner wraps.

I don't mind these new buses so much. They're much nicer than my daily ride. And no USB charging on these buses...
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