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The Classic is a bus developed by General Motors Diesel from its previous-generation New Look design. The "Classic" was nearly identical to the New Look from the belt rail up, but sported a new front which allowed for a wider front door. The design was originally intended solely for the Canadian market as an alternative to the unpopular RTS but ultimately the Classic, produced from 1982 to 1997, met with widespread success in both Canada and the United States. It was available primarily as a long, wide coach, although 16 long articulated Classics were manufactured. The design was fairly conservative, yet contemporary and less controversial than the RTS. ==History== When GMC in the United States decided to replace the New Look with the RTS II series in 1977, they hoped that they would win over operators in both the US and Canada. But the design and the futuristic look turned off most Canadian transit operators. In 1979, GM Canada's Transit division decided to continue producing New Looks until 1982, when it unveiled the Classic. Several orders for New Looks were still accepted, built and delivered until 1986 for U.S. properties, although the buses were made in Canada. The Classic proved to be a popular in the U.S. as well, where the Utah Transit Authority would be the first American operator, in 1984, to order the buses, which was later followed by orders from DDOT (Detroit), Grand Rapids, Connecticut Transit, Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica), and the contract bus operators serving the New York City metropolitan area (the single-door Classics that was used for commuter routes). In 1987 GM sold the transit bus division to MCI and TMC. By 1993 the bus division changed hands again, this time going to NovaBus. During the two transitions the Classics continued to be built until NovaBus ceased production on the coaches in 1997, as most agencies were preferring the new low-floor LFS model. The last Classics were built in 1997, for the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) of Gatineau, Quebec; the RTS model was discontinued at the same time, leaving the LFS and its derivatives as the only models produced by NovaBus. NovaBus also assembled Classics in the US in 1995 and 1996 from its now-closed plant in New York state. They were delivered to Buffalo, Connecticut, Rochester, the suburbs of Chicago (Pace), and Pittsburgh, which was the last US transit agency to acquire Classics. These agencies are slowly retiring the American units, but some have been refurbished and rebuilt by third-party distributors. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Classic (transit bus)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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