|
'''Transbus''' was announced in December 1970 as a United States [[Urban Mass Transportation Administration]] (UMTA) program to develop improvements to existing [[transit bus]] design; at the time, the US bus market was dominated by the [[GM New Look]] and [[Flxible New Look]] buses, and bus ridership was declining. The improvements had been suggested earlier by the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1968 to improve operating costs, reduce pollution, and stimulate ridership, and included innovations such as a [[low-floor bus|low floor]] for easier entry and seats cantilevered from the wall to expand passenger space.
In 1971, [[Booz Allen Hamilton|Booz-Allen Applied Research]] won the contract to serve as the Systems Manager for the Transbus program. Three manufacturers{{efn|[[AM General]], [[General Motors]], and [[Rohr, Inc.|Rohr]]/[[Flxible]]}} were selected to participate in the Transbus program in 1972 and each produced prototypes for evaluation by late 1974; some were tested at a [[Proving ground#Automotive proving grounds|proving ground]],{{efn|The Dynamic Systems, Inc. proving grounds near [[Phoenix, Arizona]]}} others were subjected to crash testing, and the rest were placed into revenue service during a nationwide tour of four cities{{efn|name=4cities|From October 1974 to March 1975, three Transbus prototypes (one from each manufacturer) were tested in [[Miami]], [[New York City|New York]], [[Kansas City]], and [[Seattle]].<ref>{{cite report |url=https://trid.trb.org/View/41464 |title=Transbus public testing and evaluation program |author=Simpson and Curtin |publisher=Urban Mass Transportation Administration |date=January 1976}}</ref>}} in 1974 and 1975 to gather rider feedback, which was subsequently incorporated into a specification developed between 1976 and 1978. However, none of the three prototype manufacturers submitted a bid in response to a joint procurement of 530 buses{{efn|name=79bid|The request for bid was issued jointly by [[Southern California Rapid Transit District|SCRTD]], [[Metrobus (Miami-Dade County)|Metrobus]], and [[SEPTA]], the transit agencies serving [[Los Angeles]], Miami, and [[Philadelphia]], respectively. The three-agency consortium had been formed in October 1977 at an [[American Public Transit Association]] meeting, and were privately told there by UMTA representatives that an order of at least 500 Transbuses would "put us over the hill in moving the Transbus program forward." The final bid request was for 230 (Los Angeles), 110 (Miami), and 190 (Philadelphia) Transbuses.<ref name=UMTA-oversight-hearing/>{{rp|5;7}}}} to the Transbus specification in 1979. Although no Transbuses were ever ordered, some of the program's goals were incorporated into the successor Advanced Design Buses introduced in the mid-1970s.
==History==
|
