2003 Peterbilt 320 McNeilus Autoreach — Athens Services

Описание: After I wrapped up filming NASA in Pico Rivera early on a Friday morning I decided to check out Athens in the City of Montebello as both cities' Friday routes are adjacent. All I found was Athens' more modern fleet as I expected (CNG Amreps and Rapid Rails). That got me thinking about the couple of older Autoreaches they still run (ran?) in Monterey Park. I had been wanting to film those trucks for a very long time, and given that it was the last day of summer I decided it would be the perfect time to check them out. So further northwest into the San Gabriel Valley I rode! I had been to Monterey Park a few months earlier to the Friday route, but found nothing but CNG Amreps and Rapid Rails. There was one area, however, that I was certain that an Autoreach collected based upon how the empty carts were left (flipped lids, 3 feet away from the curb). That area was the first I checked when I got there, and sure enough, after a few minutes of searching I saw this truck coming my direction a few hundred meters in front of me. Luckily the driver revved about 75% percent of the time which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, this truck's overall efficiency couldn't be much worse. I followed for 45 minutes... which equated to less than 2 blocks being collected. Granted, that included a block of heavy apartment trash, but that's still pretty disappointing. Eli took a trip out here to try and see this truck the following week, but it turns out this truck is in fact a spare (which I kinda half expected). Apparently the Amrep he followed down this same street took care of it in about 10 minutes... over three times faster than the Autoreach lol. I think if this truck was the norm here, meaning the driver had more experience with it, if he double dumped, and if he really took advantage of the side-to-side swing this truck might be able to compete with the Amrep though.

I can't say how awesome it was to finally film one of these trucks. As I said in my recent Long Beach videos, McNeilus is pretty inferior in SoCal so it's nice to run into one of their trucks every once in a while (especially a sweet second gen Autoreach). Funny thing is, despite the uncommonness of McNeilus around here, these trucks are classic Los Angeles County trucks; one even has a brief appearance in National Geographic's "Garbage Mountain" and it wouldn't surprise if they're visible in CNBC's "Trash Inc: The Secret Life of Garbage" too. They were some of Athens' first automated trucks (after the late '90s Amreps) and any that remain don't have much longer as their Monterey Park contract expires next year.

Thanks to the very friendly driver. Athens often doesn't have the friendliest employees (which just adds to their sorta negative reputation they have) so this was a very refreshing change.