Rapid Transit Series
The Rapid Transit Series (RTS) bus is a long-running series of transit buses originally manufactured by General Motors (the last generation of that company's long bus heritage) during 1977, in Pontiac, Michigan, and is currently produced by Millennium Transit Services as the RTS Legend. Millennium had produced the buses from 2006 until it shut down production in 2009, only to be bought back into production in 2011. First produced in 1977, the RTS was GMC's entry into the Advanced Design Bus project (the other entry was the Flxible Metro by competitor Flxible) and is the descendant of GMC's entry in the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Transbus" project. The RTS is notable for its futuristic (at the time) styling featuring automobile-like curved body and window panels. That design has become as classic, though remains more contemporary as that of its predecessor, the GMC New Look which had a curved windshield, but flat side glass and body panels. Most current buses are now made by specialized coach manufacturers with flat sides and windows.
GMC sold the RTS design and patent rights to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) of Roswell, New Mexico, a subsidiary of Motor Coach Industries in May 1987 though the two companies did a joint order for the New York City Transit Authority to prepare TMC for the production. TMC eventually sold the design and patents to NovaBus in September 1994 in the midst of an order for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Production under NovaBus continued until 2002 when NovaBus left the U.S. market.
The production was revived, however, by Millennium Transit Services, who tried to manufacture the bus in both high- and low-floor configurations. However, after poor sales and failure to secure awarded deals, Millennium ceased production on the RTS and went out of business in 2009. In September 2011, MTS re-entered the market and have showcased their latest RTS product at the 2011 APTA Expo in New Orleans. It also announced plans to introduce a 42.5-foot (12.95 m) version of the standard floor RTS, which would go into production in the near future.
The RTS was offered in 30-foot (9.14 m)-, 35-foot (10.67 m)-, and 40-foot (12.19 m)-long models and was built using a modular design that allowed the same parts to be used for all three lengths, the longest of which could seat up to 47 passengers. It was originally powered by either 6- or 8-cylinder versions of Detroit Diesel's venerable Series 71 two-stroke diesel engine channeled through an Allison V730 or ZF 5HP-500 transmission. Later models could be powered by a 6-cylinder Series 92, or the Series 50 engines.
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