Old-Looking American City Buses | New vs Old Gillig Buses
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- Опубліковано 11 гру 2024
- Are American (USA) transit/transport buses really outdated? Let’s compare buses manufactured by Gillig in 1991 and 2022. Do they look different?
Thanks to the Pacific Bus Museum located in Fremont, California.
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VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN MY VIDEOS ARE MY OWN AND DO NOT REFLECT MY EMPLOYER.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
Thanks for the almost memories. 😂 Next to the Gillig School Bus was a 91 passenger Crown, 3 axle School Bus. I got to drive one of these for Grossmont Union HS District in 1975-1978. Their first Gillig arrived then, too. Happy Labor Day!
Nice!! Glad you caught a peek of the other vintage school buses! They were so cool to see in person! Thanks for the support!!
I gotta agree with you on the backlit Stop Requested signs. They were so cool to see back when Foothill Transit still had their NABI 40 LFWs and Orion Vs. I vaguely recall seeing them on their older Advantages but I was too young. Now everything is LED or some sort of CleverVision screen with awful text-to-speech announcements
Gillig Phantom’s are absolute nostalgia for me. The thing that brings me back the most is the sound, especially the jittery whine of the allison transmissions. AC transit when I visited my grandmother and Wheels when I rode it near home as a kid. I’m glad both agencies used the same bus model, all made in Hayward.❤
Love your videos! I have always LOVED buses. I have an interview in Cleveland as a transit bus operator soon. I cannot wait!!!
@@WonderfulSailboat-nv8ds Thank you and congratulations on getting the interview!
As a bus driver myself, I can confirm that the pull chords are a better option than the buttons or tape. On our Gilligs, the pull chords only have three contact points vs the 20+ buttons that would normally be all along the length of the bus. It may look outdated, but the pull chords are way cheaper and easier to repair if they stop working.
@ariceagaandros
I like the cords too.
The tape needs to had guards on them from accidentally getting pushed.
I get a full bus with kids leaning on the walls "butt dialing" the tape button in the ADA seating area.
My dashboard tell me the ADA request has been activated and not the regular request.
2:23 That is possibly a holder for paper transfer booklets. Drivers could clip them there, and when a passenger requested a transfer they tear it from the book.
I'm a new bus driver. I just got my 1 year safe driving certificate. The older Gilligs handle nice too. They got rid of the high floors while I was in training. They also procured new 2023 Gilligs last year.
On the east coast they used to use Grumman busses
Gillig is long overdue for a complete refresh.
They are built for longevity not a beauty pageant.
Meant to add the dash could you a refresh.
don't fix something that is not broken, i'll take the gilligs anyday over the new flyers, they have their own problems.
@Pa_school_bus_enthusiast No way. New Flyer all the way. I will take a New Flyer before I take a Gillig. At least with New Flyer they have good A/C in the driver compartment unlike Gillig that has that joke of a booster fan.
@@RenoBusdriver Companies that don't change and adapt tend to go out of business.
@Lala-ew2hp Well, I am driving the bus and Gillig cares more about the passenger a/c than the driver A/C. The A/C in the driver's compartment sucks.
A few years ago I read an article that indicated that many bus companies switched from using "touch tape" to "pull cords" due to cost and vandalism.
A section of touch tape is more expensive to fix than a broken cord. A part might need to be ordered and it would take more time and money to fix.
If a pull cord breaks all you have to do is get a section of cord and splice it in or replace it. If the switch breaks it's just one switch as opposed to a long section of touch tape.
All of the carriers in my area use cords now. There are a few providers that do have hybrid with both cords and tape. The handicapped seating area still has touch tape naturally.
I remember A.C transit from the 90's. The routes I use to use were bus 57 that went to the Emeryville Amtrak, Mac Aurther Bart Station, and San Pablo Ave. Also the 71 &72 that ran all the way from Oaktown to Richmond. They also ran all night too. Those were the good ole days. Now personally I prefer the Gillig over the Orions.
The Gillig Phantoms are the best transit bus I have ridden, the Phantoms look badass and are fun to ride.
I grew up in Santa Rosa. Around 1982 Santa Rosa Transit purchased new Flxible/Gruman Model 870 35-foot and Gillig 35-foot Phantom coaches. My favorite were the Flxible though. I’ve always wanted to find a 40-foot 1995 Flxible Metro Suburban edition and convert it into an RV.
First of all, the music you selected for this video is off the chart fabulous. LOVE IT! Here in Philly we operate NewFlyer. But I enjoyed seeing your presentation of the Gillig. Thanks for the videos, and be safe operator. 🙂
Thank you!! I’m a musician so music is a big deal for me..lots of great musicians in Philly!
Thanks for another great video! Being a Dane with a dad who's been driving bus ever since before I was born and having had a granddad who also drove the bus, it is really interesting to see these America busses and in what ways they differ 😊
I used to ride 1996 35 foot Phantoms with the S50 engine and they were fast. They were retired in favour of the Orion 6 buses which are still in service. I hate that Gillig stopped building the Phantoms to focus on the LF buses. I love my HF bus.
I remember the old Gillig bus was seen a lot in Fremont back when I was in elementary school.
I remember those AC Transit "Giggles" very fondly. Glad you were able to show us one.
It has a Voith automotive transmitter and a hubodometer attached to the back wheel. I have nearly 50 hubodometers in my collection.
I love driving Orions and Gilligs , they can keep the rest. I do wish we had the transfer/paddle holder
My company has 2018 Gillig's. While you have LED gauges we have regular ones. Lucky lol
We have some 2018 Glillig Advantages in our fleet and I can 100% confirm that small steering wheel is beautiful
6:19 Yep, and that mic next to it is the PA hooked so you could berate the kids for being obnoxious.. Those old gillig School Buses are pretty cool. I’ve even seen some videos of them on UA-cam. The Transit Gilligs sure have changed in terms of technology. I refuse to drive a new flyer over my gillig. Thanks for the trip down memory lane 😂
I actually got to drive one of these!!!!
Thanks for the content Herman….
I still love my 1987 Gillig School bus! 6v92 Detroit Diesel! And it’s almost fully converted to a Fancy Motorcoach!
@@laredo8960 Nice!!!
One day we’re going to watch a video of you taking a GM fish bowel for a drive.
@@hughm5996 I would love for that to happen!!
lol @ fish bowel.
still worth seeing!😅
New Look is an icon. So is the RTS.
I really like your bus videos
If like to see Bus Driver Life go to the UK and drive some preserved buses there or at least ride in them.
Wish I met you at the bus museum. I love your videos. I am the owner of the Blue Gillig bus conversion. I am a big fan of Gillig from my teens. Thank you for the video. Even though you didn't feature my bus, it made a couple appearances in your video.
@@rickweaver1167 That’s awesome..You have a really cool bus. I tried to get around to everything but it was so much to see! Thank you for watching the videos..I’m glad you enjoy them!!
Australia also has pull cords on newer buses too.
I see that the 2022 Gillig has electric-assisted steering. Enjoy that while it lasts. We had that on the Gilligs here at MARTA, but sooner or later it will break. Great when new though!
Just like that 1990 Gillig Phantom High Floor Transit Bus, Over in in Lawrence, Massachusetts, (I have a friend there) we had a lot of those Gillig Phantom High Floor Buses as well Until 2019. The Public Transit Company MeVa (Merrimack Valley Transit Authority) had them in service until about October of 2019. In fact in their bus yard, there are still some 1999 buses that have been abandoned there yet not scrapped.
@0:24 yup looks like the same bus 🚌 I use to roll.
I'm 40 years old and I grew up on high floors
Two years younger than you and I'm with you. Unfortunately the only high floors you get these days are stupid cutaways... and motorcoaches.
@6:29 : We SERIOUSLY need these rules on public transit buses!
High floor buses give a better ride, 40-foot buses seat 53, without a wheelchair lift, 44 with a wheelchair lift, low floor buses seat 37-38 with a wheelchair ramp, current floor 40- foot buses, you're losing 16 seats, thanks to ADA act passed in 1990, high floor buses were better hands down. Gillig is the only American transit builder left Flxible, GMC made their exit years ago.
The old days the old American busses 🚌
Your 2022 bus looks like something straight out of the 90s.
Where I live, Perth, Australia, our buses from the 90’s were Renault PR100’s and Mercedes-Benz O405’s.
Now, the buses we are getting today are Volvo B8RLE’s.
I would love to see a 60 foot articulated bus made by Gillig.
It would be nice to see an American bus builder produce a 60-foot articulated bus, it' foreign technology.
I love 1969-80 Flxible new look buses
I love those old phantoms. They are the bus that made me a bus fan when I started riding. I like the BRT's and the HEV's too but man, I would love to go on a phantom ride.
They still operate a few Phantoms in Roseville, CA. Always cool to see them!
ACT used to have the same GenFARE/Duncan fareboxes as SEPTA did.
A Phantom school bus with a RARE 10 speed manual transmission!! I’m surprised you didn’t point that out.
@@KenmareVintageVehicles Funny you say that..I noticed that but I just didn’t vocalize it in the video!
Personally, I like the low floor bus myself. It's much easier to load/unload passengers with mobility devices.
Dude I live in Seattle and every other day I like to go hop on Sound Transit’s 2008 Phantoms since they are some of the last in the area (and will be retired soon😭).
I'm so glad you went to this museum! It's very cool there, lots to see. If I'm being honest, I much prefer the old Phantoms, the new Gilligs are just... funky looking to me! Great video, as always!
Thank you!! I can’t wait to return to visit!
Lots of memories in those in the mid 90s going to high school in Fremont.
For the record I’m talking about the ac transit bus. The old ones, not the phantom with the round headlights were the ones we had in the schools. lol 😂
Theres also the normal gillig low floor that still to this day has the square lights
For me the older a bus is the better it looks for me.
I remember these from Orlando I think they had 40 footers
Wondering what your impressions of the Nova LFS and the New Flyer XE-40 buses which are common in Montreal.
Have you been inside a bus factory before? Can you take a tour of how buses are made?
I haven’t yet been invited to tour a bus factory..hopefully one day!
@@BusDriverLife Any tips for someone about to start training for their cdl to become a bus operator? All goes to plan I'll be driving the full sized county buses in my area
@@gameasasinapply at transit, most of them training you.
looks like I gone visit the museum pretty soon. Before Donner Pass shut down
Gotta love the trapezoidal wheel wells! #GilligGang
@@djpetesake That design stays consistent on their buses. I like it
Nice Video Handsome,Bus Driver life 😊
Thanks mom!
I would probably like driving the bus better if they allowed me to drive part time only on the weekends,and I was allowed to work somewhere else during the week. That way the drivers with seniority can have weekends off to enjoy.
I drive MCI coaches as well as school buses. I don't understand the "it's outdated jshfjdjsh" thing. Fundamentally it's still a 45-foot rolling box with seats, how much is it going to change? A/C has gotten better, we're starting to see camera mirrors, engines are more efficient and cleaner, but what really needs to improve? I would love to have a crack at an old manual MC-8. Probably would not want to daily it! especially with the old A/C!
Nice video
@@sheilagilyard9380 Thank you!
I live in St. Paul and I take the bus a lot. Whenever the bus encounters a train crossing it always stops at the train crossing ever when the gate isn’t down. It is totally legal for cars to not stop at a train crossing when the gate isn’t down, so why do buses do this?
To my untrained eye, there aren't many differences between then and now. Thanks.
Yo Bus Driver Life! Do you miss the old Luminator Flip Dot displays? I can remember the sound they make as they do their thing
Yes!
We don't get to see a lot of Gilligs here in Canada. It's mostly New Flyer, Nova Bus, and Orion.
I’m not sure that Gillig even sells buses to the Canadian market anymore. New Flyer and Nova Bus are both Canadian companies so it makes sense that you’d see far more of their buses in Canada
@dougbrowning82 New Flyer, Nova Bus, MCI (Greyhound), Orion are Canadian Bus Manufactures, they have large U.S. market due to U.S builders such as Flxible and GMC making their exit years, ago that made Gillig the only U.S. builder left.
orion went out of business in 2012-2013, and i dont see many making it past 2030.
i think our oldest bus is like 2007 our newest is 2023 Humboldt HTA
Is a bus driver in Sweden. And both look like museum pieces.
The old AC transit buses were replaced by Europe made buses I presume!
I don’t understand why school districts don’t use transit buses. School buses can actually be more dangerous because they are more likely to flip over than a transit bus because they are taller than they are wide.
Also, the Phantom School Bus seems to have gotten a lift compared to the original Phantom for some reason.
@HIDLas001 Gillig started out as a school bus builder, they entered the transit bus market late 1982-1983, Akron Metro (Ohio) ordered the first batch of transits in 1983.
I don't think US buses from that time period look that outdated compared to European buses from the same period. But European buses seem to have come further now compared to 1991. Although I do feel the double deckers in the UK and Ireland are less advanced than buses in say Germany or Sweden
I drive a 05, 06 bus regularly and not a fan at all..........Makes for a long frustrating day
I drive the 08 Orions at my job i love them but when they give me a Orion from 02-03 I be mad asf
Hi Pal I’m sorry but I disagree with the high floor bus 🚍 as I’m disabled with MS . But on the other hand if you’re high floor buses 🚍 are as good as our Volvo B10Ms were when we had them as they were brilliant to work on & travel on. Obviously worked on the buses 🚍 before ill health Buddy which I loved. 👍
@@rossmcgarrie9787 Well I did say low floor is better for wheelchairs and it’s safer. I said it loud and clear! I just like high floor buses because I grew up with them. Low floor is definitely better for ADA passengers..I said that in the video. 😎
@@BusDriverLife yep you sure did & thanks for your video as always Buddy. 👍
Europeans can keep there buses , us Americans like the tradition city bus we’ve always had updated or not
✌🏾
How come the seats are hard plastic? Is it to deter vandalism
Europeans make fun of our buses for being too utilitarian? It's a bus, not a limo. I just need it to carry passengers from point a to b, that's all. We have some 2022 Gillig buses at Gwinnett County Transit that are equipped with s-cam drum brakes. If it works, why change it?
No RTS burs how rude lol
these American boxes havnt changed much, have they. All about economics for the company, no comfort or style for driver and riders. And even the larger ones seem rather small in comparison to what drives around here in europe on high capacity lines ... wonder what an American busdriver would say about a bohemeth like the new Aalborg Plusbus
I’ll have to check that bus out and let ya know! Thanks for watching!!
I grew up on RTS and Flxable Metros the "new" busses are not my favorite
Yes high floors ride better in my opinion
They ride better, plus better seating capacity 40-foot high floor seats up to 53, with wheelchairs it's 44, low floor seats up to 38, you're losing16 seats on a 40 foot low floor thanks to the ADA act passed in1990.
What would you do?
Saw this on a clip and so many comments are bagging on the driver.
I actually defended the driver.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsJ6S1iJCrylk?si=eB52seRqdsxeOdF8
You should see Romania they have buses still operating from the communist era. 😂😂😂