Classic (transit bus)

History

When GMC in the United States decided to replace the New Look with the RTS II series in 1977, they hoped that they would win over operators in both the US and Canada. But the design and the futuristic look turned off most Canadian transit operators. In 1979, GM Canada's Transit division decided to continue producing New Looks until 1982, when it unveiled the Classic. Several orders for New Looks were still accepted, built and delivered until 1986 for U.S. properties, although the buses were made in Canada.

The Classic proved to be a popular in the U.S. as well, where the Utah Transit Authority would be the first American operator, in 1984, to order the buses, which was later followed by orders from DDOT (Detroit), Grand Rapids, Connecticut Transit, Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica), and the contract bus operators serving the New York City metropolitan area (who used single-door Classics for commuter routes).

In 1987 GM sold the transit bus division to Motor Coach Industries (MCI). By 1993 the bus division had changed hands again, this time going to NovaBus. During the two transitions the Classic continued to be built until NovaBus discontinued the model in 1997, as most agencies preferred the new low-floor LFS design. The last Classics were built in 1997, for the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) of Gatineau, Quebec. At the same time the RTS model was discontinued, leaving the LFS and its derivatives as the only bus available from NovaBus.

NovaBus also assembled Classics in the US in 1995 and 1996 from its now-closed plant in New York state. They were delivered to Buffalo, Connecticut, Rochester, the suburbs of Chicago (Pace), and Pittsburgh, which was the last US transit agency to receive Classics. These agencies have retired the American-built units, but some have been refurbished and rebuilt by third-party distributors.

Retirements

As of 2016, Transit Windsor, Halifax Transit, STO, Saint John Transit, and Saskatoon Transit were still running Classics; however there are fewer and fewer left. Pittsburgh, Montreal (including Laval and the South Shore agenices), Ottawa, Buffalo, Levis, Toronto, Santa Monica, Connecticut, Rochester, PACE, Quebec City and Winnipeg have retired most of their Classics due to increasing maintenance costs, difficulty in obtaining replacement parts, and the agencies' plans to convert to low-floor fleets. However, a few transit agencies began purchasing used Classics due to rising costs and lack of funding for new buses. Regina Transit had acquired used Classics due to provincial and government funding issues, which lasted until early 2014 when they finally received funding for new buses and to retire their last MCI Classics, becoming 100% low-floor. Metrobus Transit (St. John's, NL) retired their last Classics in January 2016, Calgary Transit retired their last Classics on December 18, 2014, and their fleet is also completely accessible. Quebec City's Réseau de transport de la Capitale retired its last Classic on March 3, 2016. NFTA Metro's Classics retired in 2016 when the NovaBus LFS CNG buses arrived.

Preservation

As of 2015, notable Classics from Calgary, Connecticut, Montreal, New York City, Santa Monica, Toronto and Winnipeg have been preserved by local non-profit bus groups.

All 16 of the articulated buses were scrapped upon their retirement, but some parts from the Halifax Transit fleet were saved to be used on their remaining refurbished Classics.

Models

The model designations used for Classics consisted of two letters followed by a series of five numbers then another letter. The only versions built were the TC40-102A, TC40-102N and the TA60-102N. All were equipped with an automatic transmission. (Some TC40-102As with no center exits have been erroneously identified as SC40-102As, but a true Suburban version would have had all forward-facing seats, no center exit, a lowered center aisle and underfloor baggage compartments.)

The 60-foot version was not introduced until 1992, after MCI purchased the Classic design, and only 16 of these articulateds were ever built: 14 for Halifax Transit (Nova Scotia)), and two to Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) (Quebec City, Quebec). NovaBus discontinued the articulated Classic in 1993. (This bus is not to be confused with the New Look TA60-102N, a 60-foot articulated bus manufactured by GMC in 1982, which had a Classic front end grafted onto a New Look body, which allowed for a wider front entrance.)

Seating capacity ranged from 39 to 52, and included wheelchair lifts which were optional for Canadian operators but were required for American operators, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

There were many optional feature for the Classics, including the rear exit doors. Most orders specified the wide versions, but a narrower single-stream door was also available. A majority of orders had either large or no rear windows, but a few opted for a small rear window at the top of the rear cap. The rear window was dropped as an option for US-built buses due to revised air conditioning equipment and a stand-out exhaust deflector that extended the upper half of the rear cap by a few inches. Another modification during the production run was the size of the front destination sign. A taller and wider version was offered from 1990 as more transit systems specified larger electronic signs. The major exception was Montreal, as MCI and NovaBus built an "M-version" which retained the narrow destination sign windows, and was ordered primarily by properties in the Montreal area.

Neither a 35-foot long nor a 96-inch wide version of the Classic was never made. However, GM, MCI and NovaBus did build a commuter version with all forward-facing seats and no center exit.

Currently Dupont Industries, a Quebec City-based company, is refurbishing and rebuilding retired Classics into trolley-like sightseeing buses. Dupont's refurbished Classic is called a Dupont Cartier.