Honolulu TheBus - Route 6 - 2025 New Flyer XD40

Alright, here's my first ride on the new 2025 XD40's, and quite the unexpected way to get on one; I wasn't even scouting out a plan to catch one on this day. OTS seems to be just testing the waters with these ones for now, as just a mere 3 of the XD40's are operating on routes as of Jan. 7, 2025: 4043, 4044, and 4057. As for my thoughts, yeah, it's really nice to just see something that isn't a Gillig Low Floor being the new bus. It does feel quite smoother in the back than in one of the XD60's. Additionally, It looks like there's more standing space in the front, with the single seat rows, could be quite nice for crowded routes (*cough cough* Route 13). The feature that intrigued me the most is the old-school Stop Request light-up sign. As someone that rode the 1990s Phantoms (and a 1990s Low Floor once), I'm pleasantly surprised of this small blast to the past. Though, I think that one more of the newly introduced digital boards would've been better suited at that spot; One in the front, one near the rear door just feels better imo instead of ...looking backwards if you're at the front. Oh yeah, what do I think of the digital boards? They're alright. The programming and design there is painfully simple, and a noticeable amount of the stops don't have the stop number, but its codename/abbreviation(?). The stop announcement/landmarks text looks like they just copy pasted the text from the old boards into a text box on the right. I know, it's the first time they're doing this kind of board and all. A bit more "character" or anything other than just next stop arrival times and idle picture slideshows would be great updates. A simple one would be to pull up pictures of the stop and its points of interest when the announcement triggers. Possibly a map of the route? Smooth animations/transitions? Lastly, better late than never to find out that I'm gonna have to deal with the board flickering in the video just like with ye olde Alpha LED signs, some things never change, wahoo. Overall I'm gonna like these guys, but I'm more excited to see the Nova 60-footers that seem near-ready to begin service.
Honolulu TheBus Route 6 Eastbound - Woodlawn Drive, Manoa Marketplace via U.H. Manoa on 2025 New Flyer XD40, Bus 4044. Video shows stops from Kona St. & Keeaumoku St. to Maile Way & University Ave.
Route 6 is a local service route between Pauoa Valley and Woodlawn Drive and is one of the routes that connect to UH Manoa along with Routes A and 4, also from Downtown, and 13 from Waikiki. Route 6 is useful to connect to a wide variety of routes in the system, such as Routes 1 and 2 on King St., and many others in Downtown and Ala Moana. In U.H. Manoa, Route 6 will run on the opposite road of Westbound Route 13 through it's path in U.H.'s campus, except during morning, late evening, or Sunday hours, where it will stay on University Ave. into Oahu Ave.
Notable areas covered on this route are: Pauoa Valley, Downtown Honolulu, Ward Center, Ala Moana Center, King Street, UH Manoa, Manoa Marketplace, East Manoa Road, and Kolowalu Trail.
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