MOTOR BUS SOCIETY
SPRING 2001 CONVENTION
ATLANTA, GA
April 28-29
Convention Report
The Spring 2001 Convention of the Motor Bus Society took place in the Atlanta, Georgia area over the weekend of April 28th and 29th. Headquarters was the Holiday Inn Atlanta Downtown in downtown Atlanta, two blocks from Peachtree St., the City’s major north/south thoroughfare. There were 50 attendees who enjoyed the warm spring weather but low pollen count.
The Chairman for the Atlanta Convention was Dino Mandros, who made arrangements for the garage visits, tours, handouts and transportation. MBS member Bob Scanlan of Knoxville, TN assisted by arranging for the Knoxville and Dalton vintage buses to be brought to and displayed in Chattanooga.
Transportation for the property tours was supplied by American Coach Lines (Coach USA) who provided two buses on each day. All were MCI coaches: #53 (102-C3) was used on both days, while #76 and #43 (102-D3's) were supplied on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Saturday: The Saturday garage tour included a 120 mile trip to Chattanooga, TN. The first stop was at the Marietta GA headquarters of Cobb County Transit. This suburban Atlanta operator runs 17 35-foot (1989), and 17 40-foot (1994) Flxible Metros, plus 19 40-foot TMC RTS buses, supplemented by 15 MetroTran and eight Ford/Goshen vans for ADA service. CCT’s new operating and maintenance facility also includes a transit center. The tour then proceeded to Chattanooga, which is just across the Georgia/Tennessee border, where the first order of business was a lunch stop at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. This tourist and restraint facility had been the Chattanooga railroad station. A selection of railroad passenger cars on perhaps a half-dozen of the original railroad tracks in the former loading area of the station are used for sleeping accommodations and dining. The station building has been converted to restraint and gift/special interest shops. Another attraction is the operation of an ex-New Orleans 800/900-series street (trolley) car on horse shoe shaped trackage. After lunch, the group proceeded to the Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority’s facility north of downtown. CARTA operates a fleet of 29 35-foot Flxible Metro’s (1986-87-88), ten 30-foot Gillig Phantoms (1998), and six out of a one-time fleet of 70 GM T6H-4523A buses (1973-74) that had wheel chair lifts added on the curb side forward of the rear door. Downtown and shuttle service is provided by 22 electric/battery powered buses. ADA and paratransit service is supplied by 17 Ford/Champion and five Champion/Navistar vans. But of greater interest were three historic buses on display. The first was a Model 15 Twin Coach, one of three delivered to Tennessee Electric Power Co. in the 1930's. The second was a GMC TDH-4512, which had been restored as Knoxville Transit Co. 409. The third bus was one of Dalton Bus Services’ fleet of 16 MCI MC-6 buses. The Knoxville and Dalton buses took attendees to a tour of the Advanced Vehicle Systems (AVS) manufacturing plant located northeast of downtown. AVS produces a wide range of 25 to 40-foot electrically powered buses, and the group viewed buses in various stages of construction. After the factory tour, the 4512 and MC-6 took riders to the lower terminal of the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, attendees then rode in one of the funicular (counter-balanced) cars up to Lookout Mountains, where they re-boarded the American Coach MCI’s for the two-hour ride back to Atlanta.
Semi-Annual Meetings: The Spring 2001 meeting of the Society was held at the Holiday Inn Downtown Atlanta, and was attended by 40-50 convention goers and friends. The audience was informed of the development of the Society’s new membership brochure, and copies of the beta version of it were distributed on board the tour buses and at the meeting. Members were reminded to attend the Fall 2001 Convention, which will be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada over the October 6-7 weekend. The meeting was concluded after the presentation of slides of bus operations in the state of Georgia.
Sunday: The Sunday garage tours were concentrated on the more important Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) facilities. MARTA currently operates 710 buses, including 136 40-foot Flxible Metro’s (1986-1988), 262 high-floor New Flyers (159 40-footers [1988] and 103 35-footers [1990]) and 273 low-floor New Flyers (251 40-footers and 22 30-footers), all but the oldest 51 of which are fueled by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) (1994-2000). Further, the agency operates 90 Ford-Goshen vans for paratransit/ADA service. Finally, the Authority operates 240 heavy rail cars on the subway-surface-aerial high platform system, and is now taking delivery of 100 additional cars. First up was a visit to the Laredo Drive bus garage in the northeast suburb of Decatur. This facility is the agency’s primary CNG fueling location, and houses 255 buses of all types, including 97 CNG’s. The second stop was at the Avandale heavy rail maintenance facility and operations yard. After lunch, the tour proceeded to the Hamilton Blvd. bus garage in south Atlanta. This operating facility houses 221 buses, and is adjacent to the Browns Mill central bus maintenance facility (which was closed on that day). Also stored at this location is MARTA’s fleet of restored historic buses, which now includes Georgia Power #401, a White model 798 and Atlanta Transit System #253, a GMC TDH-4512 and #946, a GMC TDH-5303. Before departure from Hamilton, the official Convention Group Photograph was taken in front of MARTA New Flyer D40-LF bus #2002. The tour then proceeded to the nearby Atlanta International Airport, where some early departing passengers were dropped off. Buses then continued to the garage and storage yard of Harmon Brothers Charter Service, a couple of miles west of the airport. As it’s name suggest, Harmon is a charter bus carrier in the Atlanta area; it operates a fleet consisting primarily of MCI and Van Hool coaches, but it also has on had a number of GMC RTS, Flxible 870 and Neoplan transit buses that had been acquired for use during the 1996 Olympic Games. Leaving the Harmon yard, buses returned to the Holiday Inn, where the convention was concluded at an early 2:00 PM, allowing convention goers to ride on the heavy rail system, selected bus lines or depart for home at an earlier time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Atlanta Convention Chairman Dino Mandros and Conventions staff wish to thank the following organizations and people for contributing to the success of the MBS’s first convention in Atlanta and the southeast (other than Orlando):
● Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority: Roger Dalton, Government Relations
● Cobb County Transit: James Savage, Operations Supervisor
● Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority: Ron Sweeney, General Manager and John Kanaliunas, Maintenance Director
● Advanced Vehicle Systems, Inc.: Kirk Shore, Sales Manager
● Knoxville Transportation Authority (KAT): Tim Lett, General Manager, Grey Robinson, Director of Safety and “Butch” McDuffie, Maintenance.
● Dalton Bus Service: James Dalton, Owner and Charlie Dalton, Manager.
● Harmon Brothers Charter Service: Clinton Harmon, President
● American Coach Lines: Pat Finlayson, General Manager and June Sweeton, Charter Sales
 American Coach Lines 43 MCI 102-D3 at MARTA’s Avondale rail facility in Decatur, GA on April 29, 2001 |
 Atlanta Transit System 253 Former MARTA 1956 GMC TDH-4512 restored as Atlanta Transit System #253 at the Hamilton Blvd. Garage in Atlanta, GA on April 29, 2001. |
 Atlanta Transit System 946 Former MARTA 1963 GMC TDH-5303 restored as Atlanta Transit System #946 at the Hamilton Blvd. Garage in Atlanta, GA on April 29, 2001. |
 CARTA 101 Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority #101, a 1998 30-foot Gillig Phantom at the CARTA garage in Chattanooga, TN on April 28, 2001. |
 CARTA 1025 Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority #1025, a 1988 35-foot Flxible Metro at the CARTA garage in Chattanooga, TN on April 28, 2001 |
 CARTA 965 Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority #965, a 1974 GMC T6H-4523A at the CARTA garage in Chattanooga, TN on April 28, 2001. |
 Chattanooga Twin Model 15 One of three Twin Coach Model 15's delivered to Tennessee Electric Power in the mid-1930's as #63-65, this example has been restored in TEPCo colors. It is seen at the CARTA garage in Chattanooga, TN on April 28, 2001. |
 Cobb County Transit 8914 CCT #8914, a 1989 35-foot Flxible Metro at the CCT garage in Marietta, GA on April 28, 2001. |
 Cobb County Transit 8968 CCT #8968, a 1989 40-foot TMC RTS bus at the CCT garage in Marietta, GA on April 28, 2001. |
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 Georgia Power Co. 401 This 1941 White Model 798-2 bus has been restored by MARTA as Georgia Power Co. #401. It is seen at the MARTA Hamilton Blvd. Garage, Atlanta, GA on April 29, 2001. |
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 Harmon Bros. 2212 Harmon Brothers Charter Service #2212, a 1982 40-foot Flxible 870, acquired from Columbus, OH in 1996 at the Harmon garage in Atlanta GA on April 29, 2001. |
 Knoxville 409 This 1957 GMC TDH-4512 has been restored by Knoxville Area Transit as Knoxville Transit Co. 409. It is seen at the Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority garage in Chattanooga, TN on April 28, 2001. |
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 MARTA 1775 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority #1775, a 1990 40-foot New Flyer is seen at the Laredo Drive garage, Decatur, GA on April 29, 2001. |
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 MARTA 3011 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority #3011, a 2000 30-foot low floor New Flyer is seen at the Laredo Drive garage, Decatur, GA on April 29, 2001. |
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