Old Metro Transit buses
 

That was the original intent of this topic, but feel free to share your knowledge about buses from other transit agencies, school buses, highway coaches, just about anything goes. I would prefer to talk about older buses though.

Many bus enthusiasts prefer the GM "New Look" bus, like those used in Speed. I was really into our 1983 GM TC40-102N "Classic" buses, which were assigned fleet numbers 870-881, the last of which were retired in December 2009, boo. They were the last buses in Metro Transit's fleet to use the Detoit Diesel 6V71 engine and display their destination on a rollsign. They were also the only Classics in this fleet in which the enclosures above the driver's window and the doors and the paneling above the windscreen were painted white. These were refinished in black on 873 and 877, and 871 eventually had only the paneling above the windscreen painted black. It was rusting and had a black patch panel on the driver's side before. 876-879 were fitted with Luminator MAX electronic destination signs eventually, this being done to 876 about a year before the end of its service life. 878 had the distinction of being the only '83 Classic, and one of only four buses altogether, whose stripes weren't made smaller when the 1999 livery was applied along with the painting of the then-new (and fire-prone) Nova LFS buses. I liked the 1983-88 GM/MCI Classic buses, but the '83s were my absolute favorites. The fleet numbers for all of them went from 870-940. At last check, only 934 and 937 remain, both 1988 MCI Classics. 937 was rebuilt last year, probably before the decision came to retire all of the Classics in 2015. A couple of Interesting videos:

A ride on 871:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jimXEpRiQGk

A 1983 commercial for Metro Transit, featuring bus 874, one of the last 1983 Classics to be retired:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8fjpqotMFM

Hi All;
The ones I liked and fondly remember was the about 1950's Round Corner Buses, they were white..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZLqAdR705s
They were replaced by the Aluminium siding buses in the 1960's.. I don't know who made them, but I suspose they were GM..
THANK YOU Marty

The replacements probably were GM buses. The "New Look" came out for 1959 and was very widely used. We had those too, the last ones going down with the 1983 Classics. The last of those were 1981-82 T6H-5307N models, purchased used from out west in 2003. Our fleet now is mostly New Flyer D40LFs and Nova LFS articulated buses, nothing to sneeze at. I heard a New Flyer go by a few minutes ago. Quite far from the roar of an '83 Classic going by here on a peak hour route, which is mostly what they did during their last few years. Another kind of bus we had was the 1992-93 MCI/NovaBus TA60-102N articulated buses. I'm only mentioning these because we had 14 of only 16 ever made, and none of ours were saved. They were assigned fleet numbers 701-714. Many, if not all of the Classics I mentioned before used Allison V731 transmissions that varied in their number of forward gears. The Classic artics used the Allison VR731, with retarder. The last one on the road was 706, which made its last run on January 18th.

Chad Hauris needs to chime in here. He collects TVs....and school buses too. And you thought YOUR stuff took up a lot of space! ;)

I always liked the KMB (Kowloon Motor Bus) coaches in Hong Kong...especially the old double-deck light yellow ones. I know NOTHING about them, but I find myself waxing nostalgic about the sometimes TERRIFYING experience of catching one and sometimes hanging off the side (this was the 70s and 80s). I still believe HK has the best mass transit I have ever seen...and is MUCH more efficient than owning any car.

San Diego and L.A. are so weird and complicated. I've only tried to brave mass transit here in the states a couple times.....and it's MUCH too complicated to work.

I have seen diecast models of them...but refrained from buying even ONE, or it would become a collection as well :)

Unknown private coach having a bad day. NOT affiliated with any of our public transit agencies with excellent safety records and great drivers:

http://www.myconfinedspace.com/2011/...tle-bus-crash/

Ha, yeah, I saw his YouTube channel a long time ago. ;) I really like the design of his '83 RCA ColorTrak 2000 Digital Command console. I haven't been on a whole lot of school buses, much of the time I was either within walking distance or used transit. The school buses I have been on, for class trips and such, I preferred those with stick shift of course.

Whoa, no way a driver here would allow that. I heard tell of a visiting Brit who was complaining about how many bus stops there are here. Perhaps a similar system to that in Hong Kong is used in the U.K.

I remember the Twin Coach and Flxible buses that were all over Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s, plus a few GM "fishbowl" buses there, too.

I live a few miles from the Gillig bus manufacturing company, so I see buses on the road from various cities here when they are being test-driven.

Ah yes, "fishbowl", a popular nick for the GM New Look series. A Flxible appears twice in Napoleon Dynamite.

NEWS FLASH: The axe has fallen on 934 and 937. I recently checked the flickr photostream of a Metro Transit driver who posts a lot of bus pictures. That's it, all of the buses I actually liked are now gone. 937 gets rebuilt last year, marked for scrap this year. One job requirement for management there must be a lobotomy. R.I.P. 934 and 937.

I would like to collect buses that where used in Romanian cities, but I don't have any money for that :cry: And from 1990 to 2009 in Municipiu of Mirecurea Ciuc where in service 3 1965!!! "F.B.W." B71U Swiss Made buses!
I also miss the '90's "D.A.F." buses (in fact, only the chassie, the steering and the things on which wheels are staying where made by "D.A.F."... the motor and the gear box where German, the body work Spanish or Greek, and the seats - execept for #205 (1st bought) wehere Romanian).

Hehehehehe..I was at a Truckstops of America several years ago, up past Abindon, Virginia, about at the I-81/I-77 interchange, & there was one of those GINORMOUS "Motor Coaches" trying to get a drink of Diesel. The ANCIENT wife was trying to maneuver it into the pumps, but she got it into a big concrete planter/barrier instead. And she obviously had NO idea what she was doing, the more she tried to extricate her likely half-a-million dollar "Palace On Wheels" AWAY from the planter, the worse she'd GRIND it into it... It was PAINFUL to hear. People were yelling, waving their arms, TRYING to help, but she was either VERY flummoxed, or stubborn, or maybe both...We finished up filling up my Dad's Ram Diesel, & left, so I NEVER knew how that story ended up..

A ride on Metro Transit 928, the last of the 1987 Classics to get the axe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP1P3f7Sn7M

Ride video starts at Sackville Terminal, ends on the approach to Cobequid Terminal, which is where 937 was photographed. The video then cuts to a shot of 928 leaving Scotia Square, far away from where the filmed part of the ride ended, probably on the return trip, as route 80 ends on the other side of the road. Also, 1992 MCI articulated Classic 703 is seen passing by at the end of the video.

Warning: deadly poison at 4:50.

Is there any love for the swoopy GM buses that came out in the eighties, the ones w/the curved blackout windows ? They always kinda looked like toys to me.

I remember first seeing those articulated busses. They reminded me of a REAL cheesy movie I saw as a kid called "The Big Bus"....which I have here somewhere. They were so novel when I first saw them, but now those things SNARL up traffic with their ass-end still HANGING out into traffic when they stop. Those will make left turns and then there will be a STOP close to the corner. Once again...the ass-end of the thing sitting out in traffic, or worse....TWO of them will gridlock an intersection.

205, that's within the equipment number range of our long-gone 1984 Scanias. They were numbered 201-212.

I hear that a lot of our drivers don't like the new Nova artics. Confusing controls, dome lights that flood out the interior (I have seen them switched off completely on one side), and doors that open way too slowly. Sometimes one has to bolt through the rear doors because they close so fast on many of these. I have been caught between them before. Just like the 1999-2000 40-foot Novas, these use an annoying motion sensor that one has to wave a hand under to get the doors to open.

No, 205 was the number of the vehicle ... http://ratb.stfp.net/index.cgi?ttx=Af&veh=205&all=Y
It was partially low-floor! (the only kind of "D.A.F." of that kind in Bucharest!). Initially it had an clasic display for indicating the route and the number of the route. Since I've 1st sow it I knew it wasn't like the others.

Why the '80's "G.M." buses had such Spartan interior?

That's what I meant, the fleet number. By classic display, do you mean a rollsign like the one in the attached photo?

No idea why GM buses had interiors like that. 1988 was the last year for the blue seats here.

No, I meant a board with writing on it. Only the old Swiss buses converted into trolleybuses (the buses where bought second-hand) and some newer trams (streetcars) had that advanced analogical display sistem. That's why, sometimes, when you've runded after a bus you could get thiking is runing for e.g. on route 101 and in fact runed on rute 311 - some of the drivers didn't changed all the boards... somtimes up us displayed for e.g. route 311, but at the base of the screen was a hand written board with 101 (this meant the bus runed on rute 101, thoru all that the above dispay sayed route 311).

Oh wow, I had never heard of that sort of thing before. A lot of our old buses had the route number displayed in the rear window on a card in a special bracket, or used flip number cards, some had the bracket but lacked the route number altogether, and occasionally, if I recall correctly, some displayed the incorrect route number in the rear window. The buses that did have rollsigns, many drivers would just set them in between exposures while out of service, or just scroll to an exposure for a defunct route, rather than scrolling all the way to "out of service". 872 at least also had an exposure that read "next bus please". That particular bus apparently carried its original paint all the way to its retirement. It was very worn. One day, as the daylight was fading, 872 was approaching my stop. I didn't realize that it was a 1983 Classic until the driver turned on the rollsign's backlight and started to pull over. He said that he normally didn't pick up anyone there (it was so close to the end of the peak-hour route).

P.S. flash forward, exactly 100 fleet numbers to a 1995 Novabus Classic that I couldn't care less about. It's only noteworthy to me because I was on it the night after Halloween in 2006 when someone tossed a pumpkin into its path, which crashed through the windscreen. It has a split windscreen of course, said pumpkin went through the door side. Casing on rear view mirror was broken as well. Nobody hurt.

Except for the Hungarian "Ikarus" 260 buses and Hungrian-Serbian "Ikarus" Zemun ("Ikarbus") IK4 and some '70's Romanian buses and trolleybuse which had "M.A.N." 750 body stile (the buses where made under "M.A.N." licence), all the buses and trolleybuses that runed in Bucharest since I was a child had a syde display too - some indicating only the number of the line, other more infos (the 2 ends of line - at digital display, the 2 ends of line + an intermediary pass and analogical display - only "Saurer" 5DUK-A buses converted into trolleybuses had such display and it was a rolling one). But it was intresting that some drivers, at Romanian <<Dac>> x12E and x17E trolleybuses put also the ends of the line and an intermediary point on the side card.
And intresting form of dispay was this: http://ratb.stfp.net/Data/A/s/304-781-Dn:1.jpg (nice "S.A.V.I.E.M." SC10U buses bought from Paris)
All the Romanian (except for the 2 axeled ones, which runed on rute 44 up until aorund 1985) and Czech trams (streetcars) had side display too. The ones bought second-hand (s.h.) in Bucharest from Germnay didn't - except for the "Rathgeber" P 3.17 + p 3.16 (so called "Rathgeber" "gras" - "fat" "Rathegber").
http://ratb.stfp.net/?ttx=Tr&veh=2008&all=Y
http://ratt.stfp.net/?ttx=Tr

Hope I dind't poluted your topic with Romanian stuff :tears: If any one is intrested, I can open a topic about public transportion in Romania.

Hope one day one of your old "G.M." buses will parade to the streets of Buchaerst! :yes:

No worries, keep it coming. I just talk mostly about Metro Transit because that's what I know. Will edit this once I have had a chance to process the rest of what you spoke of.

Good to have those links to check out, I can get a better idea of what you speak of. That first photo though, I probably misunderstood what you said, but I don't see a side sign. Also, I had never heard the term "analogical display" until you mentioned it, what is that? All that information is quite the learning curve for me. Lots of trolleys, that's something that hasn't been used around here for a very long time unfortunately. The buses we have had since new, those with electronic signs had a second sign on the side as well, the exception being 1987 MCI Classic (MCI took over production of the Classic that year) #925. There were obvious indications that it had one at one time though. The 1981-82 GM T6H-5307N buses purchased from B.C. each had a hand-cranked rollsign box on the side, but no sign in them. These were numbered 510-515 in our fleet. I saw pictures of them before we got them. Back then they had 3-part rollsigns in front, two for the numbers and one for the route name as I recall. While we had them, they used one-part signs. 512 however, was later fitted with an electronic sign in the front. On another note, I recall a bell sounding in 510 when the rear doors would close. This was soon disabled.

Yes, it would be good to hear tell of a GM Classic, especially one with a Detroit Diesel 6V71 showing up where you are. :) As far as I know though, none of Metro Transit's buses these days get sold, just scrapped. I wonder if what is probably a 1983 or 1984 model I heard tell of is still in use at the Fortress of Louisbourg...

Many around here would like to see electric transportation gone, becuase they dosen't run on fuel - and bus drivers are stealing fuel. But it's intresing that Ploieşti (Ploieshti) (Youarerains), administrative city ("capital") of Ptahova county - a big oil producer haves both trams and trolleybuses!
Other say that trams (streetcars) and trolleybuses and causing traffic jams. But in fact, when the days when more strets had tram (streetcar) and trolleybus routes, there wheren't so many traffic jams. Why? Because they where less automobiles. I know in U.S.A. many people do love automobiles, but I had enough of drivers parked wherever they want - caussing traffic problems or parked on the sidewalk - so you can barley pass or you even have to walk on the street!

Analogical display = with board or that rolling sistem
Digital display = with some moving circles forming digits (1) or with L.E.D.'s (2)
(1) http://ratb.stfp.net/?ttx=Af http://ratb.stfp.net/?ttx=Li http://ratb.stfp.net/?sta=21&ttx=Ar http://ratb.stfp.net/?ttx=T3
(2) http://ratb.stfp.net/?ttx=Ae

I'll put more infos later!

Somehow I think that if trolley buses were still used around here, public transit would be a lot more efficient. The traffic jams and lateness of buses can be a nightmare. There has been talk about a commuter rail service, but the big wigs have said that it's not feasible. I haven't researched it recently, so I don't know what's going on with it right now. Wow, the only vehicles I have seen parked on sidewalks around here are city service vehicles.

The digital displays with the moving circles, magnetic flip-dot signs I guess, same sort of technology as the Luminator MAX/Super MAX signs that were/are used around here. The dots forming the numbers and letters though, not circles. They're oddly shaped. The Nova artics and New Flyers use LED signs and certain older 40-foot Novas LFS buses and certain newer Classics have been retrofitted with LED signs.

I have attached a couple more photos, first a 1981 T6H-5307N #512 that had been retrofitted with a Luminator MAX, picture taken by yours truly in 2008 (wow, auto image scaling really messed up the quality). Next up is a photo of 871 with 874 parked behind it and 919 in the background after retirement, 871 displaying an outdated route on its rollsign and 919 showing only the last five letters of "out of service" on its sign.

Oh, and before I forget again:

That sounds like it may have had a Detroit Diesel 6-71, the inline-six predecessor to the 6V71 I'm guessing. They sound very similar.

Unfortunately I have no idea what those are.

Hi All;
I wasn't refering to the sound, even though now I can appreciate it.. It was the look, of the old style Busses..
The Bus in your picture on the left, the # 512 is mostly sort of the look I was refering to as the kind of Bus that replaced the older busses, except the sides weren't painted, and they had that aluminium siding look on the sides with the slanted windows.. And these were in Denver, Colorado..
THANK YOU Marty

Marty - I happened to find this photo while digging around the transit board, taken in 1980. A bus like the one you posted a video of can be seen sitting beside the main subject of the photo, Metro Transit 135, a 1971 GM T6H-4521. Both of these buses were purchased prior to the time Halifax and Dartmouth merged their transit companies to form Metro Transit.