Transbus Program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:19, 9 September 2022

Revision as of 15:25, 9 September 2022

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GM wrote a letter to [[United States Department of Transportation]] Secretary [[John Volpe]] in 1971, complaining that it had begun work on the RTX-derived [[Rapid Transit Series]] (RTS) to meet the goals of the 1968 NAS report,<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing/>{{rp|4}} but could not start serial production until UMTA changed its low-bid policy to allow federal subsidies for the RTS.<ref name=TBMP/>{{rp|4–7}} At the time, the three major U.S. transit bus manufacturers offered 'New Look' style buses that were functionally equivalent,{{efn|These were the [[GM New Look]], [[Flxible New Look]], and [[Flyer 700/800/900 series|AM General Metropolitan]].}} and to qualify for federal subsidies, the transit agency was required to award its bus procurement contracts to the lowest bidder.<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing/>{{rp|152}} GM later reversed its stance and announced in May 1973 it would begin producing the RTS.<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing/>{{rp|4}} The first RTS prototype was produced in 1974, followed by the 1975 RTS-II prototype,<ref name=Hearing77/>{{rp|11}} which was evaluated in demonstration service by several transit agencies.

The Transbus program was intended to producedesign a standardized transit bus, designwhich tohad reducethe goals of reducing purchase, operating, and maintenance costs,<ref name=Reason-80/> similar to how the Presidents' Conference Committee had designed the [[PCC streetcar]] in the 1930s. andTransbus was meant to design a successor to the ''de facto'' New Look standard, running in parallel with the contemporaneous 1970s effort tothat producedesigned the [[US Standard Light Rail Vehicle]] as the PCC's successor. Transbus development would begin with the production and evaluation of candidate prototype designs from separate manufacturers.<ref name=Reason-80/>

===Prototype testing===