Freaking love that deep bass from that reving 6V71N, that power steering effect (good god that sounds awesome!!), and this bus looks beautiful. Fantastic video.
Some rts busses were offered with the Cummins 8.3 and the series50 I would have loved to heard one with the Cummins l10 but don't think the l10 was ever offered in the rts LA metro had neoplans with the Cummins l10 and they sound sharp they also are all but gone now or the last ones are being fazed out but also another beautiful sound to hear and also the tmc rts busses in Chicago I think they had the 6v92ta but they sound so good they are also all but gone but my favorite rts bus was the GM rts with the 6v71 and that is exactly what is in this video❤
I don't see why these weren't utilized as school buses for cities. They had a lower center of gravity than average school buses. When seeing some news stories on school bus accidents, buses would turned on their sides after an accident. Surely this was because of the average school bus center of gravity being so high.
The rts was available with a few different motors when GM was building her all Detroit's the 6v71 the 6v72 the 6v92 and later with the Detroit series 50 cause GM only wanted to put the motors they made in their bus it was a smart business desion on their part to sell as many busses and motors as possible but with the rts and it's stainless steel structure the bus would live a lot longer than they wanted it to it didn't rust out like other busses and wouldn't have to be replaced as often and thes only 65000 transit busses in the US transit fleet and once the rts caught on and was a major bus on the road they weren't building as many cause they didn't need to be replaced every 7yrs I thin the last rts bus to leave Kalamazoo was 27yrs old and no other bus is going to last that long so unless they were totalled out in a accident they didn't need to be replaced when GM built the rts they went overboard on building it so they built themselves out of the coach buisness
I drove for metro for 10yrs the rts had the 6v71 we had 1 rts we got from another transit system it had a 6v92 for some reason it was slow it was also the only rts 04 in the fleet all of the original rts coaches were the 03 with the ac put on the back getting rid of the slopback the rts busses were big tanks you always felt safe in them
The Eldorados served about 5yrs and ended up being sold to los angelas mta and the Gilligs are all that's left running the streets now it's a new lowfloor era for the transit industry the rts is no longer being produced flxible went to China I drove charter and tours for b&w charters now I'm a truck driver but the flxibles metro was the most comfortable thing Ive ever driven I didn't even like the flxibles but they had a nice ride I never liked the series 50 the series 40 Detroit with was actually the international dt466 was a cool sounding motor for the Gilligs and the easyrider witch was a quick powerful little bus the easyrider were only 30 foot but quick but the ride was rough and it was also a lowfloor bus we got a couple flxibles from a transit system out of Illinois they had the 8v71 I think we got 7 of them for the western campas run they were the first 40 foot busses we had in our fleet until they arrived everything had been 35 foot about 5 of the original flxibles were 30 foot we only had about 50 to 60 busses in our fleet then we got 1 flxible from muskegan it had the 6v92 it was a 35 foot it also was slow on the takeoff but the rts busses with the 6v71 were my favorite they sounded the best the rts was just a brute tank never did I not feel safe in the rts and they were the only bus I wanted to drive
We had the GM rts busses in Kalamazoo the best built busses on the road then the flxibles came in to replace the rts busses but the flexibles were all retired before the last rts was removed from the garage then the Gilligs and Eldorado easyrider came in the Eldorado s only lasted about 5years the Gilligs are running the show now but we had an accident where a car went through the front of the bus this would have never happened with the rts
OMG I grew up at Kalamazoo in early- Mid 90s, I rode 1002, 1004, 1007, 1013, 1015, 1018, 1021, 1023, 1024, 1032 (At Battle Creek as 2nd Hand as 309), 1041, 1044-1049 but 1049 was my personal Favorite and was one of last remained 3 that ran until 1999, 1052 (at Battle Creek as 2nd hand 307) and 1056. I remember 1004, 1013, 1048 and 49 were the last ones remained until Gilligs came in service. I've rode all the Flxible Metros (1067 was my favorite) and I remember rode 1071 that had 6V92TA engine that was rejected order from Muskegon MATS, And later, they had 4 Former Lansing CATA's 1988 Flxibles (30 Foot) include one I've rode many times at CATA as 452. I hear many drivers HATED those Eldorados when they came to service, some did prefer RTSes over them. I think one of RTS did caught fire in 1995 and later 1 Flixble got in accident that was similar to that Gillig Accident you mentioned. I think they should've order Nova RTS instead of Eldorados in my opinion
The rts busses were replaced because they were obsolete to the lowfloor not because they were rusted out plus they were heavy and used more fuel than the lightweight busses of today rumor is GM planned on building a aluminum rts but aluminum wouldn't hold up to the stainless steel standards and the unique build of the rts so only 1 was ever built out of aluminum the design of the rts was to heavy for aluminum
The classic was popular in Canada and the rts was popular in the US it had its problems like any other vehicle but they were soon worked out and the rts went on to be a hard working beutiful coach that will forever be in the bus history GM sold to mci tmc witch continued to make the rts and then later a front door lift rts the 08 for a few yrs then novabus built the rts and the rts wfd and later milliniuen made the rts and with some interesting t drive versions witch I thought were sharp but offered cattipiller and Cummins and some were up to 43feet
The Gilligs advantage and Eldorado easyrider came in and they were both equipped with the Detroit series 40 but the Eldorados had to to be pulled out of service cause the motors fell out out them so the frames had to be renforced I never liked the whole lowfloor bus because if you get into a head on or even side impact what ever hits you is going to come in the bus and eventually it did happen a car hit one of the Gilligs and went right through the front end landing on the driver it's a merical she wasn't killed
The flxible metro came in to replace the rts the flxibles had the Detroit series 50 they were slow on the takeoff but the flxibles were the most comfortable coach I've ever driven the erases were around for spares but they out lasted the flxibles the flxibles ended up being retired before the last rts was removed from the garage the Gilligs and Eldorado easyrider came in before the last rts left the garage for the junk yard
Sure now we have some busses now that have some nice curves on them because with fiberglass you can mold it in any shape but it's not crashworth and the lowfloor Alowes another vehicle in a headon crash to ramp up into the bus and just ride through it this no only happen in Kalamazoo but in boston where a schoolbus hit a lowfloor bus headon and the schoolbus ended up driving all the way back to the back axal of the lowfloor bus if this were a standard floor transit bus this would have never happened
So GM decided to keep the rts stainless steel at one time GM was building 3 different busses the newook the classic and the rts the newook was on its way to being replaced by the classic but a few systems still had orders for them so into the newlook order was filled it was being built along side the classic in Canada and the rts was being built in Pontiac michigan until GM got out of the bus buisness at the time the rts was the most futreristic thing on the road be it car truck or bus Nothin had the cane close GM took a wild shot with the rts cause it could have gone the other way and people could have been scared of its looks so they had a backup plan the classic witch Canada loved but was scared of the rts how ever the rts ended up doing well in the US not for GM but for all of us bus nutts