Neoplan Rosters

Picture on the left courtesy of Dennis Fane, production and pilot designer of Neoplan USA.
Picture on the right courtesy of Tadd Anderson, on the opening of the Silver Line 12/17/2004.

Later in 2004, the Silver Line section between South Station and Logan Airport will be open, and operating on that line will be dual mode buses 1101-1132.  (While the buses are built, selected 4100 series Neoplan trackless trolleys (wrapped in the Silver Line scheme) will operate in the Waterfront-Silver Line way tunnels, with New Flyer 6000-series CNGs picking up the remaining routes to the Boston Marine Industrial Park and City Point.)

1101-1132 will operate with dual-mode technology; that is, above ground these buses will operate with clean-diesel, DDEC Series 60 engines (almost the same as the 1000 series), but also have electric poles and equipment installed by Skoda to operate in the tunnels between New England Medical Center and the Waterfront, and then diesel again to Logan Airport.  Buses 1125-1132 will be operated in cooperation with Massport and feature luggage racks.

In 2004, all buses in the suburban areas and Charlestown will retire the 1985-1989 buses and replace them with either the AN440LFs or 1994-1995 delivered 0 series buses (0001-0400).  Currently, a version of these AN440LF buses operate the LMA shuttle between the Longwood Medical Area and Harvard Square, in cooperation with Paul Revere Inc.   The Neoplan 35 ft and 40 ft buses will look similar to the 4100 series trackless trolleys, except in the roof (no electrical equipment), seating (38 seats versus 31 in the trackless trolley), and power train (Caterpillar C9 engines vs. Skoda eletrical power).  Also, there is a difference in the rear of the bus - while the trackless trolleys have continuous sheet metal on the rear of the bus (also on the AN460s), the diesel versions have a more angular appearance.  For an example, see AN 460 NJ Transit Rear.

The low-floor diesel Neoplans are numbered 0401-0575.  The original order was for 40 foot buses and 35 foot buses; this was changed to 175 40 foot buses since there isn't as most a demand for 35 buses anymore (almost all of the 8000 series RTSs have been retired, and most of them ran in the Suburban division).  The 0401-0575 buses will operate on the Quincy, Fellsway, Lynn, and Charlestown-based bus routes, alongside the 0001-0400 RTS buses that were sent from Cabot and the former Charlestown garage. 
In 2005, the MBTA exercised an option to purchase 85 more Neoplans to retire the remaining 1989-vintage buses and any 0001-0400 RTS buses that were damaged beyond repair.  The number of buses were reduced from 85 to 45; to match the current fleet, they are numbered 0576-0620.