GM New Look Bus - Production Overview

Production Overview

44,484 New Look buses were built over the production lifespan, of which 33,413 were built in the U.S. and 11,071 were built in Canada (GM Diesel Division). Separated by general type, the production figures comprised 510 29-foot (8.84 m) city buses (all U.S.-built); 9,355 35-foot (10.67 m) city buses (7,804 U.S.-built, 1,551 Canadian); 31,348 40-foot (12.19 m) city buses (22,034 U.S., 9,314 Canadian) and 3,271 suburban coaches (of which only 206 were built in Canada). The total production of New Looks was 41,213 transit coaches and 3,271 suburban coaches.

Other than demonstrators, the very first fishbowls delivered were TDH-5301s built in 1959 for O. Roy Chalk's D.C. Transit System, which operated in Washington, D.C., and the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

Several different models were introduced over the following years, and modifications made to the design. See the section below, headed "Description".

Production of the New Look in the U.S. ceased in 1977, when it was replaced by the RTS transit bus. Production continued after this, however, at General Motors Diesel Division in Canada, due to the RTS design being rejected by Canadian transit agencies, with the name plate changing from "GM" to "GMC". Few were produced after 1983 due to the GMDD's introduction of the Classic in that year. The last New Looks were ordered by Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines (now Big Blue Bus) of Santa Monica, California in 1986. The completion of that order brought a final end to New Look production in April 1987. A few transit systems are still operating them to this day (including Calgary Transit, Saskatoon Transit and CyRide), over 50 years after introduction and over 25 years after mass production ended. The last American-built New Look GM buses were ordered by the city of Wausau, Wisconsin, which placed an order for twelve 35-foot (10.67 m) transit buses, model T6H-4523N, the last of which was delivered in March 1977.

The GM Buffalo bus, a group of intercity bus models built between 1966 and 1980, shared many mechanical and body parts with the fishbowl models, and were discontinued by the Pontiac, Michigan plant shortly after the RTS replaced fishbowl model production there.

GM later sold the rights to produce both Classic and RTS models to other manufacturers, and exited the heavy-duty transit and intercity markets for full-sized buses, although production of some medium-duty and light-duty chassis products sold in these markets continued.