Chicago CTA Proterra Electric Bus 4K

The CTA recently started using 6 Proterra Buses on the Route 66 Chicago Ave bus. Come along of a ride!
I’m sorry about the poor audio quality. I need to upgrade my camera.

[@dangelohartley5977]

I've been on this bus and it's the first time riding on a Proterra bus and I love it!

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Good, I enjoyed it too! It’s a nice bus.

[@waynewright2886]

Been Trying to Ride the Proterra's Out here in Suburban L.A. for Foothill Transit, but its Hit & Miss, I've Only Ridden the BYD Busses that Long Beach Transit Operates & they Run Good, Despite Bad Stories of Quality from BYD.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@waynewright2886 Speaking of BYD, so far TTC didn't have any problems with the electric buses from BYD. Did BYD improved or something?

[@waynewright2886]

@@dangelohartley5977 They DAMN well Better! BYD is Building the 1st of Metro's 65 Busses they Ordered a Couple of Years Ago, 60 40 Footers for the J Line (Silver) & 5 Artics for the G Line (Orange), to go with the New Flyer B.E.B. Artics already on the G Line a Couple of Prototypes have been Assembled at its Plant 70 Miles North of Downtown L.A. in Lancaster, Calif in Northern L.A. County, Proterra has its Plant in the San Gabriel Valley in the City of Industry in Eastern L.A. County & Built Foothill Transit's Newer 40 Foot Busses. But as for BYD, its Quality got A Bad Rap, Mainly due to Battery Issues, Metro Recieved 5 40 Footers Over 5 Years ago the 1000 Series & was Assigned to its Division One Bus Yard. & Problems Began... Busses were Tested on its Busy Lines 16 & 18, there were Issues that the BYD's were Slow Climbing Up 5th St over the 110 Freeway, West of Downtown L.A. the Battery Life was at 100% Range & there were some Breakdowns, Metro Pulled the Busses Out of Service, BYD Bought them Back, Metro Got Credit from those Busses for the 5 Artics on Order for the G Line & its a Wait & See for Metro when they Recieve these Busses. In Addition Long Beach Transit, also in L.A. County Has 10 in its Fleet & Another 14 or 15 on Order with BYD & they had Small Issues with its Busses, also UCLA has them in their Fleet also & G-Trans, Gardena's Bus System also in L.A. County has about 2, but I haven't seen their BYD's in a while.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@waynewright2886 Indygo in Indianapolis, IN got some 60ft articulated BYD buses (K11M) in 2018 & 2019 and experienced problems with the buses, mainly the battery as you mentioned before.

[@wongjames001]

Love your in-depth observation and discussion with drivers! This is a big step forward for eco-environmental friendly transit! It definitely reminds me the San Francisco trolley bus, fast acceleration with the motor sound. The rear door is a great improvement! No need to hold the door any more!

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Yes, the back door is much improved in my opinion! I’m happy for this green change, and I hope they speed it up. Get rid of the smelly, dirty diesels!

[@ussvoyager8650]

I'm from the UK & I'd like 2 say that American buses look really cool

[@kaisteward6638]

This is a great start! Thanks for sharing :) You can definitely see the difference in acceleration. I can't wait to ride it myself.

[@wilfredoechevarria5279]

I LIVED IN BUFFALO NY FOR 27 YEARS, THEY HAVE A NICE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, BUT I LIKE TO VISIT CHICAGO IT A GREAT CITY!!!! THE WINDY CITY!!!!

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Chicago is a beautiful city with its very unique El system! I love living here!

[@Jeremiah3322]

It’s a really really cool feeling to see these because I play OMSI 2 Chicago and I hope the electric fleet goes good as a plan

[@unitedstatesdale]

BEAUTIFUL !!! Kudos also to the bus drivers. That's Skill !!!

[@Jackyliu009]

I love your in-depth observation and discussion with drivers to the point where I should get up and do the same too. These buses are nice especially with the LCD screens and the rear windows. By the way, CTA has ordered a contract on February 2021 for the purchase of 100 (an additional 500 if all options are exercised) clean-diesel buses form Nova. We also got the 7000-series railcars running revenue service for testing.

[@SuperShadow]

wonderful video! it looks so pretty. 2040 is wayyy too late imo.

[@mikedrown2721]

I like the sound of it 👍😊❤️ Looks good too

[@kjchicago1]

I think the CTA(Chicago Transit Authority)has sure picked a winner with this Proterra Electric Transit Bus-The drivers also like it too and so do the passengers

[@Thomas1980]

Excellent Bus Video Luke!!! Kind regards

[@InvalidAuthorization]

Wow so quiet. Like riding the PATH train. As someone who lives next to a bus line, would be great if all coach buses got electrified and as quiet as this one. Go Proterra!

[@Austin-uj4re]

Great video as always! Can you please do more construction update videos of the Metra projects and the red and purple modernization program?

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

I will.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@Luke_Starkenburg I recently heard that one Metra station is delayed again and a upcoming Metra station on 79th street

[@randomcontentgenerator2331]

I can't say I'm a huge fan of how the Proterras look, but it's nice to see the CTA getting battery buses and the livery looks nice!

[@NathanaelTan]

Shit man, these bots don't even grasp the context of the comment lol though I must say, it's rare to come across nice looking American buses at all.

[@homersimpsonIV]

Been really loving all the great Proterra content on flixzone lately!

[@travelplanet4422]

It's amazing and informative travel video. Greetings from New Delhi, India 🙏 Jai Hind

[@KimuzNet]

This is an amazing video my friend!!! Like 278 👍 !!! Keep up the great job 👌!!! Greetings!!! 👋👋😁👍🙏

[@skullgeezer7174]

Must say, these buses do sound similar to the SWITCH Metrocity here in the UK. Never did I think EVs could sound so good. As well as that, Sliding rear doors also mean that the risk of having your feet trapped in the doors is nonexistent

[@mammottplays7888]

Vancouver BC’s Translink needs those Proterra buses!

[@crazybusdriver1]

The recharging system is very clever, have to give credit to the engineers who worked on this.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

What I didn’t include is that a couple times, the operator didn’t park the bus in exactly the right location and the bus wouldn’t charge. They had to re-set the charger and back up or move forward and then deploy the charger again. Hopefully this is just an operator training issue and once drivers have enough practice they know how to do this successfully 99% or 100% of the time.

[@ajaytransitproductions]

I'm not a fan of the electric New Flyer buses but these buses are pretty good from what I heard. Also CTA will not go full electric by 2030. An average bus life is about 12 years and CTA is getting more Novabus Diesel buses next year which won't be gone until around 2034.

[@waynewright2886]

We Have the 60 Foot B.E.B. Artics here in L.A. for Metro's G Line (Orange) & they Run Smooth 24/7 & No Complaints Yet, its the 5 B.E.B Artics that the G Line will Recieve from BYD & as you Heard BYD has Quality Issues with its Busses.

[@ajaytransitproductions]

Yes. BYD is pretty bad. Heard LA tried them out once but failed but they giving them another try. Imma be honest, when these electric buses take over, riding CTA buses will never be the same. Gonna miss the diesel and hybrid buses, the buses k grew up with. I'mma enjoy them while they still here because they will be outta here by 2040.

[@waynewright2886]

@@ajaytransitproductions Metro Ordered 65 BYD Busses, 60 Forty Footers for the J Line (Silver) & 5 60 Footers for the G Line (Orange), the 1st 5 BYD 40 Footers Failed because of Battery Limit at 100 Miles & Busses assigned to Lines 16 & 18 couldn't Climb up Hills Fast Enough & Other Issues.

[@Mrcharles.]

I actually prefer diesel buses over electric ones. I like the sound an engine makes when it roars and with electric buses you’re basically turning it into a library which I something I dislike.

[@sitdowndogbreath]

@@ajaytransitproductions The Cheeky Broward County Transit was trying before the pandemic you can see it on I-95 then all of a sudden they stopped byd buses a switch to proterra

[@ajaytransitproductions]

CTA has approved an order for 22 more Proterra buses, bringing the total to 45 buses in total so far.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Yes, but I wish we had so many more. I've been to London and love how quiet the streets are because (in part) of all the electric buses. They are wonderful to ride, quiet and smooth! From Wikipedia, "There are 3,835 hybrid buses, 950 battery electric buses, and 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses operating in London, as of March 2023, out of a total bus fleet of 8,643 - this is around 56% of the bus fleet."

[@Carspotter682]

I actually seen one of these back in the summer of 2021.

[@jiszoo]

Luke, havent seen any new videos clips from you, missing you so much.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Thank you! I will start uploading again soon!

[@michaelwise6970]

Man those are some really nice electric buses, I believe they're made by Proterra... If so there $900.000 each.. replacing all 1800 of our CTA fleet of buses is going to run the city $1.6 billion. Not including the charging stations.

[@michaelwise6970]

But then again maintaining our fleet of CTA buses is around 5 to 7 million a year, not including almost a million dollars just in fuel.. so this could actually be a great benefit to Chicago.

[@dickriggles942]

That is so dumb.

[@Arda.K.]

Nice video ! I like it 👍

[@aaronbounds1336]

2040? I bet they'll do it by 2030 after they finish their testing. Saving $, more pleasant riding experience, cleaner air. Everyone wants those things.

[@ajaytransitproductions]

Not true. CTA has placed a order of more diesel buses from a company called Novabus to place some of the most of the older buses(including the box shaped buses that you see everywhere).

[@TabsStudio18]

They are already in service at 77th garage and on the north side

[@alpzepta]

The bus sound like Bombardier MITRAC IGBT propulsion found on a new London Underground Stock

[@xxblood-basherxx6830]

Imagen a Double Decker Eletric Bus now that would ve lit

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

I was just in London and rode lots of battery electric double decker buses! They are so nice! London has hundreds of them already in 2023!!

[@bobcheng5179]

Huge bus. The future is here now.

[@anteliomonteiroabellan1214]

Amazing electric bus! But it is most expensive either.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

$900,000 per bus. Yes it’s expensive compared to most buses around 4-500K. The prices will come down. Also these buses are cheaper operate and maintain.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

$900,000 per bus. Yes it’s expensive compared to most buses around 4-500K. The prices will come down. Also these buses are cheaper operate and maintain.

[@jcolbyt7518]

Check out $Idex and Wave

[@jcolbyt7518]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIOlYmmQaKuHaas

[@anteliomonteiroabellan1214]

@@jcolbyt7518, incredible! Thanks!

[@naturallyherb]

Really awesome!

[@larrybethune3909]

So how's the electric bus thing working out for you? Pantera's' in a bit of a pickle no?

[@albertavlogger]

In my city Edmonton Alberta Canada we have had these sense 2020 beautiful buses love the ride

[@OliversElevators]

5:40 lol I guess people aren't used to having light-rail-style doors on a bus.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

It took her a few seconds to figure out to press the button.

[@dangelohartley5977]

It should be a sign telling passengers to press the button to open the doors

[@OliversElevators]

@@dangelohartley5977 there is a sign below the buttons that explains how to open the door. It's on the right door panel.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@OliversElevators Oh ok, I didn't noticed the sign

[@OliversElevators]

@@dangelohartley5977 yeah, but obviously it didn’t do its job... lol

[@scenicdepictionsofchicagolife]

I heard that they've been having issues with heating in the winter using up more energy than the drivetrain itself and that they have to carry around a diesel oil furnace heater on board for extreme cold (not every day cold but the rare polar vortex level cold snaps). Why? Because they have not fitted these buses with heat pumps... which makes no sense to me. Hopefully they retrofit these buses with heat pump systems and larger battery packs in the future to make them way more efficient and to not require an on board diesel oil supplementary heater.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Thanks for the comment! I was wondering about how well they work during extreme cold. I agree that they should be using heat pumps.

[@bloblin1267]

It sounds awesome! Not too keen on the blue paintjob so hopefully they could paint it to the traditional white livery but otherwise these look sweet

[@raymondj.2351]

The Proterra's have been holding up well with the New York City MTA, so they should do well in the long run in Chicago, hopefully these buses can officially call Chi-Town home.

[@jc9109]

Great video!!!

[@siamimam2109]

great video brother

[@ASURLUIS]

Nunca debieron abandonar el trolebús, estas cosas son carismas y de poca durabilidad

[@irfsayan]

Outstanding ❤️

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Thanks!

[@gradientgamer5480]

Luke did u ride the new ATS Since November 3rd, it is OPEN from 10:30 am to 10:30 pm

[@mgk920]

The next step is to string trackless trolley wires, creating a more of a 'Back to the Future' thing

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

neat! ⚡🚌

[@waynewright2886]

We Aint got Proterra here in L.A. Foothill Transit Does, its California Factory is in the San Gabriel Valley, Nearly 30 Miles from L.A. in Eastern L.A. County. Metro Already has 40 BEB New Flyer Artics for its G Line (Orange) in Service & will have 60 BEB BYD 40 Footers for the J Line (Silver) Plus 5 Artics for the G Line Also. The BYD Factory is 70 Miles North in Lancaster in Northern L.A. County & its Crazy Busy Building Busses for Agencies. But I Wish Metro would Snag the Proterras for its Fleet in the Future.

[@brewmasuisui2216]

Those rear doors are quick.

[@KenAdomaitis]

The overhead chargers are made by Heliox-Energy.

[@markdangerfield8140]

When will the electric buses be out

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

I think they are running every day, probably from 5am-midnight or something like that. There are only 2 or 3 buses operating at a time so you may have to wait up to 45 minutes to see an electric bus pass by.

[@worldwidebear1967]

Cool. I like it.

[@gradientgamer5480]

Ats should be open by August i hope

[@3506Dodge]

The bus sounds like it's held together with superglue and old screws. Will it fall apart quickly?

[@szaky7399]

Proterra share holder here let's go ..

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

ahh, wonderful quiet

[@Rahul1Chennai]

👌👌👌

[@shauncline5055]

The driver hit the curb 🤣🤣1:13

[@unique_view0101]

Informative

[@yodude8932]

15 min rapid charge at the end of the route? Never work on alot of the routes. They don't give us enough time to do the route itself. Get to the end pull in and pull out. Especially on the weekends.

[@MrSquareart]

First!! good video!!!!!!

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Thanks!!

[@jcolbyt7518]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIOlYmmQaKuHaas

[@IainHendry]

Luke where have you been?

[@officemusic3088]

Спасибо за видео!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@QuarioQuario54321]

That bus is anything but silent

[@nascarfan20105]

Not a big fan of this but hey they're coming either way, I would of preferred New Flyer over Proterra as far as electric goes.

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

Didn’t one of the New Flyer’s catch on fire. Maybe this scared the CTA away from them. Why do you prefer them?

[@trainrover]

oh yeah! buses manufactured around Can o' duhh customarily catch on fire....the lengths that mobby Montreal went to hide this scariness from the public....their engines become i n f e r n a l in less than 2 minutes' time

[@nascarfan20105]

​@@Luke_Starkenburg There was a small fire that put #700 out of service for a few years but both have recently returned to service as of last year. I prefer them because they're more of a proven manufacture than Proterra right now, Also New Flyer has a variety of options to choose from that CTA could of went with.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@nascarfan20105 So far, only 701 is back. I haven't seen 700 yet. The XE40's are now equipped with a overhead fast charging similar to the Proterra Catalyst BE40's

[@nascarfan20105]

@@dangelohartley5977 You haven't seem them but I have, 700 is at 74th garage now.

[@bklmiami9796]

This is the future for sure.

[@dickriggles942]

No.

[@hye-seonjeong8442]

cool!

[@atyourservice]

OMG OMG OMG !

[@NuYahWuhSent]

Nice

[@playgt326]

Not only bioelectricity, also we need buses that runs on biofuels, green hydrogen and e fuels, for sustainable balance and green, all working together, we will get the net 0. ♻️

[@nickmasino]

ACTC loaded up 100 shares.

[@T-Dog_nation]

What's your average cost?

[@gledatelj1979]

6:04 and people living nearby who don't have to listen to the engines and smell the diesel .

[@ajaytransitproductions]

I honestly prefer hearing the diesel engines of buses. It’s not the same feeling with electric buses.

[@ericmedrano9239]

Wow

[@KRHEE]

ACTC

[@trainrover]

Montreal bus acquisitions omit the adjoined pair of forward-facing seats for several years already; no longer any chance of _that_ idle admiration of lovers on a city bus ride if you catch my drift....oh! and *too* few stanchions/grab bars all in some abominal quest at granting access to multiple disabled; the operator gets quite an earfull from me, because they've not re-humanised the seating on the new fleets that c h a o t i c a l l y jeopardised more than one dozen elderlies who'd boarded at an east end bus stop here, i.e., nothing to grab onto to acclimatise to the refreshed advent of augmented accelerations nowadays....the fear and anguish on those 80- and 90-year-olds' faces as they flailed about still haunts me, one third of them had tumbled onto the floor, nothing short of c r u e l terror was what that ride bore them :pfft:

[@liokruz390]

Dont like how the back looks but im glad they making a change

[@fabio5208]

Um dia vou em estados unidos

[@ericmedrano9239]

Todo para el norte de chicago nada para el sur de chicago

[@egseven]

Good to see our tax money used well

[@sumangiri9323]

8kk kmki iu. M’hyl

[@Trackmindlikeme]

and poeterra went to shit lol

[@jcolbyt7518]

Wave wireless is better, recommend, you check out $idex

[@Luke_Starkenburg]

I was appalled with the audio when I was editing the video. I shot mainly with my iPhone, but maybe I’ll start looking into better microphones.

[@trainrover]

he's talking about a whole new all-electric power supply (see another link to a youtube video that Jcolby'd posted in an earlier[?] thread here), but I've a hunch it be wholly unhealthy....spikes in cancer rates, for instance, occured everytime industrialists augmented electricity in its various forms at advancement (ha ha) for over a century already....and wavelength happens to have been the signature of the debilitating ailments....sheds light on manufactured human dissatisfaction, no?