This Old Bus April 1986

We decided to make a video as part of a grant application for new buses to show what we had to do to keep old buses running. CyRide had purchased used buses from Chicago RTA that had good motors and worn out bodies. We purchased used buses from California with good bodies and worn out motors and swapped parts. We also built a large inventory of used parts because the GM New Look buses were no longer made and parts were becoming hard to secure.
Bus 895 was purchased by Suburban Transit System in Oak Lawn, IL in 1966 and ran until 1980. When RTA had a bus crisis with cracked frames on new buses, it was brought back into service with a new motor. Bus 1401 in the video, which was later numbered 901, was purchased new in 1965 by AC Transit in Oakland, CA. CyRide ran it 105,210 miles after fixing it up.
Chuck was the first mechanic hired by CyRide in March, 1981 and became the maintenance supervisor. He was a dedicated and talented mechanic who could figure out any mechanical problem and was instrumental in making CyRide maintenance outstanding. The challenge of old buses and not enough mechanics were constant, but Chuck was able to maintain the fleet to very high appearance and operating standards. He left CyRide in 1999.

[@busman1144]

I loved driving these while they were in service. Montréal removed them from service in 2001.

[@Steve-vl5mg]

GEE Wonder where they got the IDEA?