Weird city buses

[Dan05979]

This is what the RTS was supposed to look like: (found these online)

 

 

Renault MTA city bus.....

 

[MattTrain]

Those are some unusual looking buses.

[KNIGHTRIDER3:16]

Yo Dan PimP my bus lol

where the hell did you find that RTS?

[Dan05979]

Yo Dan PimP my bus lol

where the hell did you find that RTS?

 

Subway.org, bus section, nyc transit bus

[RokuSix]

The RTS isn't all that much different...but that round back is quite odd...

[St Louis Car 09]

That RTS sure has some big windows.The Renault on the other hand looks like an orion 5.The renault looked ahead of its time.BTW what were the years on these pics.

[Eric B]

I was looking for a picture of the Hino demonstrator to post, but what I did find, was this list of allt he demonstrator models; some of which I did not even know about:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retired_demonstration_Metropolitian_Transportation_Authority_(New_York)_bus_fleet

 

I always wondered what the powertrain of the Transbus was.

[SevenEleven]

The RTS isn't all that much different...but that round back is quite odd...

 

Yeah. Those were the RTS buses before they had to come manufactured with AC units. (Hence the square, boxy backs on today's units)

[Cait Sith]

That "RTS" in the first photo is actually an "RTX", the predecessor to the RTS.

[Dan05979]

That RTS sure has some big windows.The Renault on the other hand looks like an orion 5.The renault looked ahead of its time.BTW what were the years on these pics.

 

late 70's

[Grand Concourse]

Very nice pics! Interesting, a 3-axel RTS bus...

[Dan05979]

Very nice pics! Interesting, a 3-axel RTS bus...

 

Too bad thats the only pic I can find on that bus.

[Grand Concourse]

I wonder where that pic was taken from.

I would say it looks like the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction, except the Target center wasn't built till this decade.

[MAA89]

Those RTS doors seemed to open quite wide. I dislike the RTS' doors because it is simply to hard to get through if you are carrying lots of shopping bags/personal items, etc.

[lrk]

The RTSesque bus in the first photo appears to be low-floor... thoughts?

[SoSpectacular]

That's what I was thinking, looks like GM was experimenting with low-floors back in the day?

[Novabus 5000]

That is NOT an RTS. It is an RTX, a 3-axle version of the RTS. BTW, Nice pics.

[NX Express]

Queer buses, nice pics!

[R10 2952]

This is what the RTS was supposed to look like: (found these online)

Renault MTA city bus.....

Ah, this here is the good old Renault PR100. Now this is a bus with an interesting history. The original PR100s were built by the equally-French Berliet company. The Berliet PR100's progress and development eventually forked and went in two radically different directions. On one end of the spectrum, the PR100 model became a product of Renault as the Berliet company died a slow death in the 1970s. This bus saw production until perhaps the late 1980s, and was popular in its own home country of France. On the other end of the spectrum, Berliet entered a joint license agreement with the Polish truck-and-bus company known as Jelcz. The resulting Jelcz-Berliet PR100 was the basis of an ultra-modern bus known as the Jelcz PR110, alengthened and improved version of the PR100. Many bus models have stemmed from this model. The PR100/PR110 had a very profound effect on the motor-vehicle industry of Poland in the 1970s/1980s. A very influential bus indeed.

[Dan05979]

The RTS is the descendant of GMC's entry for the Transbus project which in turn was the descendant of the RTX, an experimental model for which a prototype produced in 1968 with notes of its production dating to early as 1964. Both the RTX and the Transbus were similar in terms of design to the RTS though had major differences in having a less-rounded body design, a one-step entryway, and (in the case of the Transbus) a 45-foot (14 m) length.

 

Wanting a backup plan in the case that the Transbus project was abandoned, GMC decided to modify the RTX/Transbus design and in 1970 began the project that became the earliest RTS with the first prototype being assembled in 1973 at which point the project went onto hiatus[1]. Though closer to its predecessors than the production models, the RTS name debuted with this prototype. After the project was revived in 1974, GMC would later withdraw from the Transbus project and focus their energies on the RTS.

[Dan05979]

I wonder where that pic was taken from.

I would say it looks like the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction, except the Target center wasn't built till this decade.

 

Junction blvd & 62dr near the l.i.e

[aemoreira81]

That Transbus is just weird, and no wonder the Transbus project never panned out.

[Eric B]

That's what I was thinking, looks like GM was experimenting with low-floors back in the day?

I recently read somewhere (possibly Wikipedia) that it was in fact low floor.

 

Also, I remember the Renault demonstator, parked right where it is in the picture. Looks just like a new model that would be built today. However, this is just the ubiquitous plain Euro bus look that you see everywhere else, as opposed to the unique US designs over the decades.