I love the look of a bus with stainless steel front and siding, and up here I never see any still in revenue service. I was in Manhattan for a couple of days this week, and I was shocked and happy to see the fleets of NYC express buses up and down the avenues with their stainless steel facades and sides. I figured at first that they might just be the remnants of an old fleet about to be replaced, but then I never saw any smooth sides at all - and the whole fleet can't be old! Looked up the fleet when I got home, and they are mostly D4500's from the 2000's, up to 2008, S60's and B500 up to 2002, C13/B500 after that.
Very interesting to me, anyway, and even after two days the sight of a stainless steel bus still caught my eye!
Brian
I think the older buses belong to contractors like Peter Pan or Yellow Cab, 12 years is when they start to replace the MTA buses you are seeing the 2000 model 4500 MCI buses on the market now from NJT and MTA.
I was reading where because of the budget some new buses were on hold wait till they dump 2000 of those on the market think buses are cheap now LOL
good luck