New Disney Bus Paint Scheme

Monorail Mike

Monorail Mike

Well-Known Member
I am happy to see that they are not only paying attention to the paint scheme, but improving and expanding the bus fleet as well. There's nothing more annoying than having to wait 30 minutes at a bus stop during your premium-priced Disney vacation!
Recently I got bored and looked up pricing info on Gillig buses... they cost about $250,000 each in base trim and WDW has been buying about a dozen a year since 2004!
 
Chas. Harding

Chas. Harding

Member
Monorail Mike said:
I. There's nothing more annoying than having to wait 30 minutes at a bus stop during your premium-priced Disney vacation!
Recently I got bored and looked up pricing info on Gillig buses... they cost about $250,000 each in base trim and WDW has been buying about a dozen a year since 2004!
Click to expand...

At $250,000 a pot, for them there buses, do you reckon that's why the Disney Vacation's are Premium Priced!

Chas H.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Chas. Harding said:
At $250,000 a pot, for them there buses, do you reckon that's why the Disney Vacation's are Premium Priced!

Chas H.
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And that's a basic price. The worse strain that any bus can take is stop and go short distance operation. Many of the engine, transmission, suspension, electronics, atmosphere controls and so on, must be super sized to deal with that stress. That price is close to a standard bus shell. Everything is there to make it a bus, but extras that extend the life of it, are quite costly.
 
Chas. Harding

Chas. Harding

Member
Goofyernmost said:
And that's a basic price. The worse strain that any bus can take is stop and go short distance operation. Many of the engine, transmission, suspension, electronics, atmosphere controls and so on, must be super sized to deal with that stress. That price is close to a standard bus shell. Everything is there to make it a bus, but extras that extend the life of it, are quite costly.
Click to expand...

I wonder how much the Monorail costs?

Must be frightening!


Chas H.
 
Cosmic Commando

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
And that's a basic price. The worse strain that any bus can take is stop and go short distance operation. Many of the engine, transmission, suspension, electronics, atmosphere controls and so on, must be super sized to deal with that stress. That price is close to a standard bus shell. Everything is there to make it a bus, but extras that extend the life of it, are quite costly.
Click to expand...
I would bet the WDW buses actually have a pretty easy drive compared to some of the stop-and-go city traffic that many other buses must see every day.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Cosmic Commando said:
I would bet the WDW buses actually have a pretty easy drive compared to some of the stop-and-go city traffic that many other buses must see every day.
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Could be, but, from my experience it isn't too much different. Short distance, stop, go, high heat, AC pumping away and usually pretty good sized crowds. I read someplace a few years ago that they had a number of buses with over a million miles on them. The weather in Florida keeps them from corroding. We could never have made them last that long in the northeast. :)
 
Cosmic Commando

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
Could be, but, from my experience it isn't too much different. Short distance, stop, go, high heat, AC pumping away and usually pretty good sized crowds. I read someplace a few years ago that they had a number of buses with over a million miles on them. The weather in Florida keeps them from corroding. We could never have made them last that long in the northeast. :)
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Those commercial vehicles can hold up much better than you might think, if they're maintained well. I live in a salt state, and there was a truck at work that must be around 700,000 miles by now. :) Somehow that doesn't translate to my car, though! I've started listening to the Car Talk podcast and I'm amazed by all of the '84s, '91s and even '78 cars that people are calling about! And when I say amazed, I mean incredibly jealous! My 2000 car is just about rusted to the point of no return from all of the salt around here. :rolleyes:
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Cosmic Commando said:
Those commercial vehicles can hold up much better than you might think, if they're maintained well. I live in a salt state, and there was a truck at work that must be around 700,000 miles by now. :) Somehow that doesn't translate to my car, though! I've started listening to the Car Talk podcast and I'm amazed by all of the '84s, '91s and even '78 cars that people are calling about! And when I say amazed, I mean incredibly jealous! My 2000 car is just about rusted to the point of no return from all of the salt around here. :rolleyes:
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I drove for and was in management in a municipal bus company in Vermont for a number of years. We could have gotten them to run for a million miles (depending on how much money we wanted to pour into them) but within 6 or 7 years that body would fall off. All bolts and metal structures would rot from salt and other chemicals. Mechanically, yes...physically, although possible, not to be expected.
 
S

Sassagoula-Rvr

Well-Known Member
One of my family members works in transportation (director), sometimes on vacation he will tour a city's facilities. He's always wanted to see Disney's...And I've tried the last two trips to find a contact that can make it happen. But alas, no luck so far.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monorail Mike said:
I am happy to see that they are not only paying attention to the paint scheme, but improving and expanding the bus fleet as well. There's nothing more annoying than having to wait 30 minutes at a bus stop during your premium-priced Disney vacation!
Recently I got bored and looked up pricing info on Gillig buses... they cost about $250,000 each in base trim and WDW has been buying about a dozen a year since 2004!
Click to expand...

Heard a good rumor that they are no longer buying the buses, but now leasing them.
 
wdw71fan

wdw71fan

Well-Known Member
There are several busses that have been repainted at this point.. They were 'all over' during spring break week in central Florida.. You'll definitely continue to see them more and more frequently...

AS far as leasing over buying..... Not to my knowledge.. Perhaps your source was referring to the cruise line and magical express busses?
 

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