Taken on Wednesday, May 7th 2025.
Today I took a ride on the 91C Woodbine from Eglinton Avenue East going Northbound towards its end point York Mills on board one of our city's brand new Electric buses, Xcelsior Charge NG (XE40 NG). These buses are part of an order for 300 New Electric buses, however the order is split between New Flyer and Novabus. New Flyer will supply a total of 204 buses, while Novabus will supply a total of 136 buses. This new order of Xcelsiors are very similar to our previous 40ft orders (3700-3724 2018-2019 XE40'S and 7200-7333 2023 XDE40'S) in terms of seating layout and interior design. However they also have their own differences as well such as the seats. Unlike the last orders which included the American Insight seats, these buses are equipped with the American Insight Prime+ seats, which are grey and don't have any fabric/padding on them like their Insight counterparts. Another big difference between these NG'S and the regular XE40'S is the doors, the front doors are not the same size as the older buses in the fleet. Instead door 2 is bigger than door 1 is and as a result it requires door 1 to close first instead of at the same time like the other buses in the fleet usually do. The rear doors are also a big change, just like the Proterra BE40 order (3725-3749) these new Electric buses are equipped with sliding rear doors instead of the usual doors that open inside. However unlike the Proterra's that used slide glide doors, these ones use rapid sliding doors from the Ventura Systems company. They also have the Rear door chimes from the 2023 Xcelsior orders (7200-7333 and 9400-9467). This order also has USB C Charging ports as well which is pretty nice and convenient. This order of 300 Electric buses is supposed to replace a majority if not all the remaining Orion buses in service from 2006-2012. This order is mostly based out of Arrow RD Division, however at the time this video was taken some units were sent to other Divisions to test charging infrastructure as well as Operator training and familarization. Units 6020,6026-6028 as well as 6030 and 6031 have been sent to McNicoll, 6022 is testing at Birchmount with the 3700's, 6025, 6061,6066-6067,6069,6071 and 6072 have been sent to Eglinton and 6078 and 6095 to Mount Dennis.
Manufacturer: New Flyer
Bus Model: XE40 NG
Unit: 6067
Motor: Siemens ELFA3 1DB2016 Electric System
Seating: American Insight Prime+
Destination signs: Luminator Horizon
Fleet: 6000-6203
Route: 91C Woodbine
Division: Eglinton
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