MIAMI-DADE TRANSIT AGENCY ROSTER AND UPDATES
The "fine" vehicles you see rolling along Miami's streets are owned and operated by Miami-Dade Transit- formely known as Metro-Dade Transit. It is an Agency of Miami-Dade County, which supposedly is the largest metropolitan government in the southeastern USA. These buses are operated by MDTA's Metrobus division. There are 3 garages- Coral Way, Central, and Northeast. Here is the full roster.
FLEET# MAKE/MODEL YEAR COMMENTS
1000-1259 GMC RTSII 1980 all retired*
1901-1920? Blue Bird 1999 25' buses, began running Oct. 18,1999
4001-4040 American Ikarus 1994 Articulateds
5001-5026 American Ikarus 1995 More Articulateds!
6001-6046 Ford Startrans 1996 Minibuses**
7001-7129 Flxible Metro 1987 Some retired.
8001-8087 Flxible Metro 1988
9001-9094 Flxible Metro 1990 1st with W/C lifts
9201-9215 Flxible Metro 1992 Originally were CNG's
9301-9373 Flxible Metro 1993
9401-9430 Flxible Metro 1994
9701-9750 North American 1997 NABI is Ikarus' new name***
9801-9820 North American 1998 Low floor- began running 3/15/99
9901-9992****North American 1999 More LF's began running 7/27/99
Here is Coral Way's roster:
RTS: 1070,1077,1078,1079,1082,1087,1091,1098,1099,1171,1207*
FLXIBLE:7002-7055,8011,8020,8063-8068,9067-9073,9201,9202,9204,9205,9211-9215,9301-9350,9426-9430
NABI: 9701-9707,9742-9750,9801-9807,9918-9934
Ford/Startrans:6001-6046
Blue Bird: 1901-1911
Coral Way began running these buses on March 15,1999:8063-8067;9201;9801-9807.
EXTRA NOTES:
OFF ROSTER:
BUS# REASON WHY:
7001 Suffered severe damage in a wreck
8005 Smacked into a wall at Central
6026 Your guess is as good as mine**
9076 Roasted on the turnpike in Cutler Ridge on 4/1/93- bad brake job started a fire
4015 Retired after engine fire on Flagler Street in August 1999.
7013,7014,7020,7033,7036,7037 Retired October 1999
7002,7022,7039,7044,7046,7061,7068,8072 retired November 1999
7006,7008,7026, 7045, 8011, 8024 retired December 1999
7055,8020,9068 retired January 2000
* Coral Way retired it's last RTS' on Friday March 12. On Monday March 15, the 9800's hit the street, and RTS' were replaced with some 8060's from Central/Northeast. Central retired it's RTS' in late July, and Northeast in August. They were replaced with the 98000 and 9900 low floors.
** OK- my guess is that it was badly damaged in a wreck. One day last October, I think, a car ran the light at the Busway and SW 168 St. It plowed into a northbound Busway Local (at midday- the time of the wreck [just before evening rush hour began, actually], as well as in the late evening, the Local uses minibuses.) causing some heavy damage to the front door area of the bus. I'm not really sure because the news footage wasn't clear about the fleet number.
**** This shipment has been arriving in batches. The latest batch arrived 2 weeks ago.
What's New as of Friday November 5, 1999
Some Flxibles are being retired. Here's the details on each one:
7002 retired, junked for parts. Ex- Banana Republic bus.
7013 retired, junked for parts.
7014 towed away 11/4/99. Ex- Power 96 bus.
7020 also junked for parts. Ex- Deering Hospital baby-wrap bus.
7033 sat behind the shops for a month, was towed away 11/4/99
7036 junked, only one clearly labeled 'For Parts' in spray paint on the front bumper, still has MDCC baby-wrap on it, ex-Guess Jeans bus.
7037 junked for parts, pads on seats have all been removed
7039 junked for parts. Ex Guess Jean/Banana Republic/Power 96 baby-wrap bus.
7046 junked for parts. Ex- Power 96 bus.
What's New as of Sunday October 3, 1999
Metrobus has retired all it's RTS model buses. Northeast still has some of them, including the last surviving 'Love Your Neighbor' bus, 1144, as well as 1057, 1217, and a few others, some of which have been stripped of their markings. The big group of RTS' that were at the Lehman Metrorail shops have been sold off. Some, including 1036, have been reassigned within the county. This bus and two stripped ones are sitting behind the South Dade Goverment Center on SW 211 St. Specifically they're in the County lot behind the South Dade Regional Library and the MDPD's Cutler Ridge precinct (Which has been featured on 'COPS'.).
Meanwhile, Central has just received a ton of more 9900 series low floors- they go as high as 9951 so far.
Coral Way and Central played musical buses last week. Central got 9203. Coral Way got 8011 through/and 8020. Also, 7053 and 7055 have returned to Coral Way.
This same yard also has some new 30 foot Blue Bird buses, to complement the mini-buses.
What's new as of Wednesday August 11, 1999
The new 9900 series buses are on the road. They are 1999 NABI low floors, and are identical to the 9800 series buses. I'm not sure how many there are, but it's a bigger group than the 9800's. The highest I've seen so far is 9933, which was on route 35/70 today, and it was running a test pattern on it's destination sign, which read MIAMI METRO and TEST PATTERN . The bus propmtly scooted off to Miami-Dade Community College's Kendall campus. I then promptly boarded Busway Local, 9342, which promptly took off for Dadeland South, and then promptly stalled at the SW 184 Street Busway station. That story is here. The RTS's have pretty much been retired, so the 7000 series Flxibles are now the most senior buses in the fleet.
What's new as of June 21,1999:
RTS buses are still running out of Central, including 1035,1133,1144, and 1199. Another one, 1070, is a refugee from Coral Way. This bus was overhauled recently and will probably be the last to be retired...1144 is painted red with the words "Love your neighbor" across it in English,Spanish and Creole. There were 3 buses like this, but the other 2- 1113 and 1161- were retired last summer. The RTS' generally run on route 77.
Also, 9744 has been repaired and is back on the streets.