Hampton Cheesewagon Service: What should happen

What Hampton needs to do to its Cheesewagons: Orlando Speedway Figure-8 Cheesewagon Derby

Hampton's Strange Priorities

Above: Men's Bathroom stall with missing privacy door at Hampton Transit Center
Below: Hampton Cheesewagon, with a new paint job, being pressed into Route 110 service

I just got an email from Michael Townes, President & CEO of Hampton Roads Transit, replying to an email I sent about the oh-so-wonderful men's restroom at the Hampton Transit Center. City of Hampton, the ball is in your court. What are your transit funding priorities? My impression is that your funding priorities are Grey Area Cheesewagons.

This Gillig Phantom Cheesewagon is more important than a privacy door in the Men's room? As you can see, HRT is so willing to hang on to ancient museum artifacts that they can give them new paint jobs. Apparently, it's more important than a simple, cheap privacy door on a Men's Room stall.

Signs of PENTRAN

This is the bus stop at HRT Headquarters, 3400 Victoria Blvd, Hampton.

Note the PENTRAN sign. The schedule is still pretty much accurate

PENTRAN logo up close

The Virginia Beach delegation to the User Citizen's Advisory Committee had a bus blow by us: Route 526. We were both standing in plain view of the bus.

Wonderful retaining wall. Both sides of the shelter feature a knocked over retaining wall.

Hampton Cheesewagon in New Paint Job

Would you believe this 500 with a new pain job is also a glorified Cheesewagon? It's also running as Route 110 (HTC/NET Center/TNCC)

Bus Pictures

I was at the HRT Board Meeting yesterday and took these pictures of buses (as always, click any picture for a larger version)

Our old rustbucket 900s, but why are they at HTC? Also, note the Flixible Metro in the back of the line. These are HRT Cheesewagons

HRT Cheesewagon BTW: this is one of our old ratty Orion V 900s from my side

A Flixible Metro: very, very old. Makes the Northside's 500 series Gillig Phantoms look brand new

a 500 series Gillig Phantom. An Antique, but brand new when compared to the Flixible Metro pictured above. These Phantoms make our 900 series Orion V's look brand new. BTW: this is one of the Grey Area (legally) HRT Cheesewagons pressed into regular passenger service

Note the duct tape over the ACS Navigator passenger display

Hard to believe: a 2000 series Gillig Lowfloor on Route 33

Overall, what a day. Got to see some ancient machines in action

HRT's Hampton Cheesewagon Service

So, I found out Hampton's dirty little secret. The "Residential Service" is nothing more than a glorified Cheesewagon. Yeah, it's a grey area legally.