Type Bus Also called Thomas MyBus | Manufacturer Thomas Built Buses Production 1980-present | |
 | ||
Assembly United States: High Point, North Carolina (Thomas Built Buses) Body style School bus
MFSAB (Activity bus) | ||
The Thomas Minotour is a bus body manufactured by Thomas Built Buses since 1980. The smallest vehicle sold by the company, the Minotour is a bus body designed for cutaway van chassis. Primarily sold for school bus usage, the Minotour is also produced as a MFSAB (activity bus) or in specialized configurations specified by the customer.
Contents
The only current Thomas Built Buses vehicle not to use the Saf-T-Liner nameplate, the Minotour is manufactured alongside the full-size Thomas school bus line in High Point, North Carolina.
Background
In the 1970s, the design of small school buses underwent evolution. As the redesigned Ford Econoline and Chevrolet G-Series/GMC Vandura were introduced, the full-size van segment saw the advent of a new type of commercial vehicle: the cutaway van chassis, a van chassis with bodywork unfinished beyond the front seats. In the context of school bus manufacturing, this allowed practical small school buses that were no longer adapted from passenger vans or full-size SUVs.
In 1973, the first cutaway-chassis school bus was produced by Wayne Corporation; the Wayne Busette was a body built on a Chevrolet/GMC van chassis. In 1975, Blue Bird introduced the Blue Bird Micro Bird. While not the first cutaway-chassis school bus, the Micro Bird introduced several features that were adapted on virtually all subsequent models; it featured a full-height entry door and additional glass ahead of the entry door to aid loading visibility for the driver.
In the 1970s, Thomas Built Buses produced small school buses with two versions of the Mighty Mite. Initially produced as a narrow-body version of the Saf-T-Liner Conventional, it was replaced in the mid-1970s by a bus (a Type B configuration) produced on a stripped chassis produced by Chevrolet; it was produced with relatively few changes until 1995.
In 1980, seeking to supplement the Mighty Mite and replicate the success of the Busette and Micro Bird, Thomas introduced the Minotour on both Ford and General Motors chassis.
Body
The Minotour body is produced in three different versions: one for single rear-wheel chassis along with standard and extended lengths for dual rear-wheel chassis.
Since its 1980 introduction, the body of the Minotour has seen relatively few changes. During the 1990s, a floor-level rub rail was added. In the early 2000s, the front bodywork above the roof was modified to improve body aerodynamics. In 2008, the taillights were updated (to share a similar design with the Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 and Thomas Saf-T-Liner HDX). Following various chassis redesigns, the window forward of the entry door has grown in size.
Chassis
Introduced on a dual rear-wheel chassis for both Ford and General Motors, the Thomas Minotour became the first cutaway-chassis developed for a single rear-wheel chassis; in the early 1980s, Thomas developed a narrow-body version of the Minotour for a single rear-wheel Ford chassis. Currently, the General Motors chassis is available with two gasoline engines and a diesel engine; the Ford chassis is available with two gasoline engines.
In addition to gasoline and diesel versions of the Minotour, Thomas offers two alternative-fuel versions. On the General Motors chassis, the Minotour can be equipped with the option of CNG (compressed natural gas) or propane-fueled powertrains.
Although Thomas Built Buses is owned by Freightliner, a Daimler AG company, the Sprinter van family (badged as a Freightliner or Mercedes-Benz, or initially as a Dodge as well) was not adopted as a chassis for Minotour for several reasons. In addition to the Daimler-produced Sprinter being unable to directly compete with its Ford and General Motors counterparts in terms of cost, engineering concerns came into play. In the mockup of a prototype, Thomas engineers discovered that the heavily reinforced body design of the Minotour far exceeded the GVWR rating for the then-current version of the cutaway-chassis Sprinter.
MyBus
The Thomas MyBus (marketed as MyBus by Thomas Built Buses) is a variant of the Minotour marketed as a MFSAB (Multi-Function School Activity Bus); it is a vehicle intended for entities transporting children (or other individuals) in a group setting, but are not making use of traffic-control devices; these vehicles have been required to take the place of 15-passenger vans due to the risk of rollover in the latter.
Sharing the basic body of the Minotour, the MyBus differs primarily in its more aerodynamic front and rear roof cap styling. In addition, due to its use as an MFSAB, the MyBus is not allowed to be fitted with warning lights, a stop sign, nor can it be painted school bus yellow (conversely, the Minotour is required to be painted that color if it is a school bus).