Awesome video, excellent commemoration for this legend of transit! Loved the RTS in the late 80's on the x27 out of Gleason with the expeess seats ...and in the mid 90's with the raised cloth seats and Alcoa wheels when the x27 switched to Ulmer - right before the arival of the great MCIs...😎👍
In the RTS 03 segment, the photo featured for the T8H-603 was NFTA bus 5023 assigned to the Cold Springs Garage working the (defunct) 9-Parkside route in Buffalo, NY. NFTA was the very first recipient of that variant, receiving sixty five of those buses and placing them into service November 1978. Their fleet numbers (5001-5065) corresponded with the serial numbers 001-065. In 1980, another batch was put into service, fleet numbers 5066-5078. Among the differences with these, besides updated trim, was the addition of a rear door wheelchair lift.
Also, after the 04 rolled out, transit agencies already running 01s and 03s retrofitted them with either rear mount or roof mount aftermarket AC units. The rear mount units required a fiberglass cowl to cover it, thus eliminating the distinctive slope on the rear of the bus. The only agency to keep the slope, but refitted with roof mount Sutrak units was SEPTA (Philadelphia).
One of my favorite transit busses. I didn't know they were made for so long since TARC[who I was hoping to see a pic of] stopped using them well before their last Flxible Metro said bye-bye in the early 00s, that ran with them. I wonder if they ever got passenger friendly windows, that was one thing people hated about them, especially the non a/c models with the back window.
I believe Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) in North Carolina was one of the longest running operators of RTS buses. They had them from 1980 until 2021. Their last models were rebuilt 2000 Nova Bus RTS-06s.
My personal nickname for this model (when they were in use in my city) was "moon buses". They looked science-fictional, like Star Wars Imperial stormtrooper armor. You could have plunked one down on the set of the 1980's original Battlestar Galactica, or had Gil Gerard behind the wheel as Buck Rogers, and it would have fit right in!
There are rumors about RTS Articulated, it's supposed to Puerto Rico AMA 84813 to 84820. Because this ones and the MAN SG310 84801 to 84812, originally supossed an Articulated Fleet of 20 units like the information on AMA 1983-1984 booklet. But AMA reject the RTS Mega due to one reason, they need a rear axle turns like front axle to curve on narrow streets
It wasn't a matter of canadian TA not giving them a chance from the start. The canadian government didn't allow them until Novas models. There was on a few imported from the US, those were in B.C with Charter Bus Lines who used them on the YVR airport shuttle. They had a few more on their way up when customs flagged them. Thats when it was found they snuck a few across already. Those busses were grandfathered into Canada, but the new shipment was denied. Canadas answer to the RTS debacle was the Classic. Which to me, being a T.T.C brat, is superior to the RTS as thats what i grew up with dad driving. Tho i do love the RTS as well
12:07 what a great product! They executed it so well keeping the clean look. Wish it succeeded. Less than 40 were made. Probably only 30 on the road still. Mostly in good Texas weather.
Being born in 2007, i was lucky I got to ride on the RTS-06 buses as the Winston Salem Transit Authority (North Carolina) ran them up until 2021. 1600-1620 were RTS-06 from 1996 and were retired around the time the Gillings were brought in by 2010 and 2013. I'll get the rest of the facts from a Wikipedia page i found for the WSTA and give an update
@Sonic57053 fr I can't believe I managed to ride on the 2000-2002 RTS's as well. 1021-1039, 1139-1142, 1242-1245 I was on all of these buses years ago, which is something I never thought I would get to do. Fun fact about 1142 it was the last un rebuilt RTS-06 the WSTA had. We also had the RTS-03, and their fleet numbers were 1000-1020 but we're most likely retired by 1996 when we got our RTS-06 models
I miss the RTS Bus. I used to like hearing the back door slam when I was a kid. And I loved to see when it scared someone out of their sleep. 10:39 The back door was LOUD.
A couple notes about the Evelution of the RTS in 1958 a sketch of the RTX apeared in the GM design studio In 1959 the Newlook went into production in 1968 3 RTX prototyps were built 2 3 axal lowfloor and 1 3 axal standard floor all were 45' long and all compleatly made of fiberglass wich made them light weight only 6 tons they were built for the Transbus project and for GMs gas turbine project in 1969 1 of the RTX busses was used for deplay at GMs Progress of Power event when and the RTX busses were also used in a few citys for testing poupouses however the buses being lowfloor and fiberglass they didnt pass GMs crash test in 1970 the RTS T3 was built the floor was raised to standard tranit height and the body and sub chassis was made from stainless steel with lower fiberglass side skirts the RTST3 it was only 40' 2axal bus because the transit agencys didnt want a 3 axal bus so GM decided to go with 2 axal it being a 2 axal bus it was gona be to heavey to be 45' for only 2 axales at 16 and a half tons because the RTST3 would pass GMs crash test The 3 were built the transbus progect got canceled GM put the Transbus ,RTX,and the RTST3 in storage GM started working on replacement for the newlook in 1975 the Classic bus went on the drawing board however the design studio started working on the RTS ll the RTS ll word got out that GM was working on the RTS ll and it apeared at a apta show and some transit agencys wanted the RTS ll GM wasnt planing on producing the RTS because they were going to go with the Classic for repacesment of the Newlook and do long term testing on the RTS and by the time the classic needed to be replaced the RTS would be ready however there were problems with the Classic deign and deveopment work continued on the RTS ll the demand for the RTS ll higher than the Classic in the USA so GM decided to build both the Classic and the RTS ll in the Newlook bus production would only come from GMDD out of canada and production of the RTS ll and Classic began the Classic was having production problems so profuction of the Classic was held up until 1982 when production was also moved to GMDD so GM Truck&Coach could spennd all their efforts on the RTSll since orders for the RTS were more than for the Classic as fasr as articulated RTSs there were 3 prototypes built by GM a 55' a 60' and 65' atrticulated none were ever ordered so production of the RTS atics never went any further than the 3 prototypes and as far as a 30' 'RTS The transit agenceis asked for a 30' but GM refuesd to build a 30' vertion dont know why GM refuesed to but all the other Manufactures did end up building a 30' vertion of the RTS so if you see a 30' RTS with a GMC badge on it its a cut down or someone has placed it on there themselves i love the RTS 😊
@@HCHxxiv Bus fans don't even know it exists. I agree. NJ Transit had to work with them and who knows. I hear Texas A&M really likes their millennium rts. They handle the best and are comfy according to drivers on miscellaneous transit threads.
@Sonic57053 it's an Epic Global disaster movie where global warming brings the planet into a modern ice age in the Northern Hemisphere and cities are experiencing natural disasters that are irregular to its area. Such as Cantaloupe size hail in Tokyo, multiple tornados and super Tornado in L.A.
@Sonic57053 a tsunami hitting NYC and cities within the 3 eyes of the storms are freezing anything and anyone by pulling super cold air from the upper troposphere that contains nitrogen. Anyone walking in the eyes instantly becomes frozen, literally freezing people to death, covering them in ice
I never knew they had a hybrid or a fuel cell version I miss the RTS bus PVTA was my home system for 16 years so I have mixed memories of that area but PVTA is a good system overall.
This year makes the 40th anniversary of the MTA enhanced RTS', and this 2 years since the retirement constance of our buses. This buses are best awarded with square backs and diesel powered source(RTS-04s and 06s). I wonder what the hybrid sounds like with these models. But the CNG powered version of these are fuel efficient, but not enough power to it's design. My favorites are these buses with Series 50(even with DDEC version) for less pollutions(except for the engine noise volume). 2019 was the end of the legacy of the countrywide RTS'(except for the privately owned RTS'). Happy 40+ years of these high floor advanced buses.
Has anyone ridden the new NYC hybrid buses? My god these rattle traps are worse than the GM "Fishbowl"! What a pity the RTSs were discontinued. Smoothest riding buses ever. What was the "thinking" behind eliminating them? Yes a lot were 40 y/o but they could be refurbished virtually forever.
The WFD (Wide Front Door) RTS increased the value of the RTS, it provided front door wheelchair lift access, which was a big request for years from transit properties. CTA was the main one and the launch customer for it.
Of course they did. That was their purpose back in the 70s. They were known to be futuristic in their time before it slowly began to rather be a standard model then becoming known as a 'modern' looking bus.
Believe it or not, the RTSs we had (like the one at 6:48) were hated after their rehabs, mostly by the drivers. Before 2000-2001, the drivers never had any problems with them. But afterwards, they were real hated. From slow takeoffs, to them breaking down alot. I rode a few that was in decent shape, but also some that were falling off the idge. The ones that didn't get rehab (the most decent ones) were retired by 2005. The entire CTA TMC RTS fleet was retired on December 22,2008.
I feel bad that CTA had to deal with the problematic RTS-08s. If they would of gotten better ones like the 06 Models, then there would of not been problems at all
@@Sonic57053 the thing is, CTA was the first company to order the RTS-08. Reason being is they didn't want the wheelchairs to be in the back. So the 08 is basically the CTA style RTSs, which is why the 08 is sometimes called the Chicago Style RTS. But I do agree with you on that.
The 08 model the CTA had also originally did not come with air conditioning, thus the tri-windows which all opened and a rear-window. That changed after the Summer of 1995 when a deadly summer-long heat wave hit the Midwest. CTA then had air conditioning installed during the rehab process.
@@selliott00 true. But this came with a cost. From what I heard, due to the installing the AC on the buses, the buses basically became snails. The ones that didn’t receive the ACs were retired in 2005.
I remember I heard about a Zinc Air battery RTS demo bus built by Novabus Here a link to a video about this Since Air battery RTS bus ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yLJwtuCQi0c.html