I watch this stuff while is sleep, Very relaxing. Its not really anything that will keep me awake. Just looking at it and generally thinking about being warm and comfortable. I enjoy these videos ❤
Good luck in the future! I just got my CDL at age 19 to drive buses for Unitrans in Davis, CA; if you really try for it, you're gonna be a bus driver sooner than you think.
Quite frankly, they were quite poorly maintained more recently than not. They were also absolutely abused. The fact that they are still in service is a testament to their design and build quality.
Don't ever come to the UK cause the buses here totally suck. I drive 2021 Yutong E12 electric buses and watching your video just now I feel terribly jealous at how cool your bus is. Maryland looks like a cool place.
Old but gold, might be an old bus but she still sounds good and for the fact that she has a lot of milage on her, it makes her special. Lot of history on that machine. The squeek sounds also makes a good noise to sleep not gonna lie, I might sound weird but i love the sound of an old "truck" with the good old noises from the chassis. Keep up the good work, I love these kind of videos. Much love from Portugal
We have a 35 ft Phantom in our fleet too. They bought it used in 2017. It's sweet lol. The AC is ice cold, it makes it a freezer in there. I love it. It's the most diverse fleet of buses I think in existence.
back when i was younger my family didnt have a car so we used to wake up at like 5am and get on the bus so i could get to school and just any bus related stuff makes me super nostalgic
Watching from India. So calming to see how you followed each traffic signal and co-operated with the passer bys .. so satisfying. Thank you for the video.
Very enjoyable video and I could watch this all day. I'm a 20 year bus driver and I miss the old cooler buses here in the UK but every day it's a boring electric bus.
Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by buses with a horizontal steering wheel. I have a vague memory of sitting in the driver's seat of one but I've no idea how that's possible. Anyways, thanks for the video!
I was also intrigued by them lol. I still don't understand how some people drive with the wheel completely horizontal, as I adjust mine to be as angled as I can handle.
From August 1991 to May 1999, I frequently rode on a Gillig Phantom bus similar to this one, operated by Butte County Transit and CATS, consolidated recently as B-Line. They circulated the streets of Chico, California, six days a week, some of them as late as 10 PM. Rides were free with a current California State University id card, called a "Wildcat ID card", I am not sure if the University of Maryland does the same thing. Busses were, more often that not, crowded on rainy days. Even after May 1999, SamTrans used Gillig Phantoms for many years after that. I rode the line 250 from just outside my apartment in Foster City to the Hillsdale Caltrain rail station and back, and those Gillig Phantoms used reminded me very much of what I rode in college.
The University of Maryland buses are free for all. Routes that operate primarily on campus do not require any form of identification to ride. Routes that operate as commuter lines require university ID or town/city identification. These Phantoms are a dying breed. I'm surprised Shuttle UM has held on to them as long as they have, considering that they were poorly maintained in more recent times. They are not in good condition. All the agencies nearby who had Phantoms recently retired them all, so it is kinda sad to see them go.
Back in April 1959 they have used All buses like that and many years back in 1903 back of those days I didn't have like that most of the time it wants to know where they came from Robbie hagberg
As one that takes buses all the time I am bus crazy. I love the bus. I am totally blind and a business owner. Bus is the way to go man. They can go places where a train can’t go. I have some headphones and I put them on and listen to this bus and man!!! It feels like you are actually riding on the bus. It is that good the quality of the video and headphones makes you feel like you are on the bus I mean you can hear the pre trip and radio chatter a little and it is something else. 3d sound here. You got to do more bus driving videos. Also wonder if you can get your hands on an old Chevy suburban and drive that. Those things were like buses. The old suburbans. Not the new subs but the old ones. I wonder if you can get your hands on one of those. It would bee fun to hear a P.O.V. Drive in an old suburban. I remember back then in the 1980’s and such people would call everything a truck or bus hahahaha cause it was so huge back then. But i do recall very plainly people would talk about the suburban like a bus. They would say things like this. “Well, I got to get the bus.” “Let me pull the bus around.” And everyone knew what you were talking about back then. Cause the sub was like a little bus. Those giant suburbans. Hahaha keep those bus videos coming. I always tell people when they ask me what mode of transportation do I think is used more for commuting I always say well, it is said that the bus is more of a commuter transport. I mean you have commuter rail but the train is a little different. It is more for long haul and romantic time. It makes you feel that romantic feel as it lolls you to sleep its got more of a gentle sway to it but the bus is more for commuting and daily work. Plus the movement of a bus is a bit different. Feels more like you are commuting. It’s bouncier and it has more of a jerky feel. Greyhounds are used for long haul of course not to say that their no long haul buses of course their are and tour buses but all in all when you think of a bus the bus is used for 2 things really. Taking kids to school or commuting to and from work. Course you have buses for cross country and tour but really when I think of the bus I think of more of a commuter vehicle. And you are sitting more rigid. In the seat. The train seat you are more layed back and relaxed. The bus is top heavy and bouncers and there is a jerky feel to it. Really the only thing you feel in a train’s travel is the bumps of the rails and maybe a jerk from the engine but it is more sway like and quite romantic in its travel. Where the bus speaks more work life and school life.even between the two buses. A school bus feels different than riding a transit bus. Yes. You actually feel a little difference. But a bus is a form of transport that will have you commuting to school or work. I guess it is like backpack and brief case although you have professional backpacks as well but kind of the same thing. Trains were meant for nostalgia and romantic feel long haul ground travel the bus is their to commute and go to school or work. With the exception of cross country greyhound buses and tour buses. That is an exception hahaha. Someone asked me though one time which mode of transportation I thought was meant more for commuting and I answered back that even though their is commuter rails in some places the bus dominates the commuting world. You use the bus for school and you use it for going to work more so than a train. A train won’t get you to school or to work. I mean in some big cities there are exceptions that a train will get you close but not exactly to close like a bus can. So it’s common sense that the bus is used for commuting. People take more buses for commuting than trains. And if it is commuting by car or bus or truck or van, I would think that that is a bit harder to say but i think its half. But I don’t know. When I hear a train I really don’t think of commuting. When I hear a bus though I think of commuting for sure. Buses move us from point a to b every day where as a train with the exception of new York or Chicago even then they have buses but the bus rules the commuter world. So for commuting it has to bee the bus.
I enjoyed watching this. I have autism and I have a fascinating with all types of buses. From School Buses to City buses and every other bus in between. I use to ride the city bus in the city I use to live in. I glad you recorded to have an up front view from the drivers seat.
Doesn't all buses squeak all day, especially with hard plastic seats? I don't understand why US and Canadian transit bus look uncomfortable compared to European buses from the same era? Most US and Canadian transit buses from the late 90's and early 2000's seem to prefer having hard plastic seats instead of fabric.
@@user-df3ty8ei2u Well some bus routes can be very long. The fact you don't need fancy-looking or comfortable seats on buses isn't really needed, but some people still prefer comfort. Buses having hard plastic seat still doesn't stop people for preferring more comfortable seats.
To give you a perspective New Zealand since the mid 90s had been churning out super low floor buses while the USA was still producing these beasts. The last major high floor order was in the mid 90s.
Yeah it's crazy how late North America kept making high floors. Gillig made the last high floor in 2008. They did also start making low floors in the mid 90s but it did not catch on until a while later.
That’s a interesting way you guys spec your mirrors compared to other transit companies most transit companies use 1 peace mirrors it’s rare to see 2 peace mirrors
All our buses through 2010 have this two-piece design. Quite frankly, I don't mind the way they look and the convex mirrors on these older models are larger and more useful than the newer ones.
What was so wrong with two steps? I wish low floors buses never existed. Handicapped lifts, I never minded waiting for! Just two extra steps give you so much more interior room, seating and comfort. Great bus!
Low Floors are superior in terms of efficiency You can easily get on and off the bus it allows for more space to bring stuff up High Floors do get up there for their handling and nostalgia however we need Low Floors and tbh buses like the Orion VII OG and 3rd Gens are perfect low floors
My state has retired some gillig phantoms from early 2000s, we had some gillig phantoms from the late ‘90s, they began retiring the fleet in 2018 and now this year there’s no more of the ‘90s phantoms
You have very good visibility from there, the buses I drive here in Buenos Aires an extra pillar on the sides or wide singles. Every corner requires some forward tilting to see round the corners.
For a highway bus yes, but for stop & go it is up there for most agencies. However in reality I agree the buses have plenty of life left at that point.
Some of our 10yr old Volvo 8400s already have 999999 on the odo 😂. They make 4 trips a day traveling 200km from our city to the sea beach. Those huge ass multi axels with huge ass engines go down single lane highway at 100-130km/hr .
it shows because being from 2001it looks like its from 1980, there are buses in my european town from the mid 90s that look 30 years more modern than that bus.
That's because this bus was designed in the '80s haha. North American bus manufacturers don't really change their designs often, especially GILLIG. Their low-floor model has looked virtually the same since 1996.
bir onların yaşadığı ülke Bak bir da bizim yaşadığım ülke Bizim ülkede Trafik kurallarına hayatta kimse uymaz bunlar ne kadar derli düdenli bir şekilde kurallara uyuyorlar vallahi helal olsun
Im not a big fan of the American buses because of their long wheelbase but its a great video! I also want to be a bus driver in future, but i live in europe where i think the buses are better (!OLY MY OPINION!)
North America does have its fair share of short wheelbase models, namely the 1st and 2nd gen Novabus LFS, it's a great aesthetic. I'm partial to the giant round headlight design myself. :)
Those was phased out real quickly here in Cincinnati as I got older for reasons although I've seen a couple for those just sitting at the bus station while one needs a rear airbag replaced. How do you feel about the newest ones?
I miss driving Phantoms. These are the only spec that I've driven (Cummins ISM + Allison B400R) and the old school feel and power simply can't be matched with the modern ISLs and L9s with all the emissions regulators and DEF. Where I work now has newer Phantoms with the ISL so I wonder how it compares. I don't like the newer low floor buses as much.
University of Maryland should buy some new buses because the new gilligs are pretty cool. My town is gonna get rid of the 2 2014 buses soon and will then only have 2015 and on buses. My town has these pretty cool 2021 gilligs that have pretty cool new features for both the driver and passengers. It's always nice to have a new bus on the route because they are quieter and smoother. But the old buses are so nostalgic. And pretty soon my towns transit system is gonna take delivery of some electric gilligs.
UMD has been ordering new buses throughout the years. They don't stick to a replacement schedule like many places so they have the "luxury" of having some old buses around. There are some 2019 Gilligs featured on my channel if you're curious!
