Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Transit Coach was the first school bus produced with a mid-engine layout and would be among the first to use a diesel-fueled engine. The model line also offered the highest-capacity school bus ever produced, offering up to 97-passenger seating (current design standards restrict maximum capacity to 90).
Produced Type C and D buses. Ended school bus production in 1993; still produces mass-transit buses. New Bus, Inc. [8] [9] 1988 1990 Chickasha, Oklahoma: Produced a small number of Type C and Type D buses in the late 1980s. Type C buses were continuation of Superior production. TAM-USA [10] 1991 1991
During the early 1980s, school-bus manufacturing in the United States underwent a period of relative turmoil, as the exit of the baby boom generation from the public education system created a sharp decline in student populations. In the late 1970s, the US federal government had significantly upgraded crash protection standards for school buses ...
In redesigns of school bus bodies, driver visibility and overall sightlines have become important considerations. In comparison to school buses from the 1980s, school buses from the 2000s have much larger windscreens and fewer and/or smaller blind spots.
In the school bus industry, the General Motors chassis was popular for its wide range of engines. During the 1980s and 1990s, its continued use of gasoline engines remained popular, as the powerplants were sometimes used as the basis for conversion to alternative fuels, including LPG (propane) and CNG (compressed natural gas). Following the ...
From 1980 to 1998, the number of major school bus manufacturers using cowled bus chassis had been reduced from six to four (three, after 2001). In an effort to secure their future, body manufacturers began a series of business agreements with chassis suppliers (with some becoming subsidiaries of the latter).
Thomas offered its transit-style buses on a wide variety of chassis in comparison to other manufacturers (changing between Dodge, Ford, GMC, International Harvester, and Volvo). In contrast, Blue Bird, then the largest school bus manufacturer in the United States, manufactured its own chassis (as did West Coast manufacturer Gillig).
During the 1980s, AmTran would make several product introductions that would advance school bus design in several market segments. Although among the last large bus manufacturers to introduce a Type A school bus, AmTran was the first manufacturer to introduce a higher-capacity version, with five rows of seating instead of four seen at the time. [2]