Ever wonder what a MICKEY MOUSE bus is?

[bradk]

wow, thanks for the added info. the driver i talked to said he actually preferred the Nova, said it had more room and handled smoother than the Gillig. He said he wasn't sure why Disney opted for the Gillig over the Nova other than the Nova is manufactured in Canada as you mentioned and Gillig in San Francisco (I meant to add all that but forgot to), so he seemed to allude that it was a cost decision.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

When the Nova's made their debut, they had a bit of an issue with shutting down randomly. One of the drivers I talked to told me it was a fuel-sensor issue that was eventually fixed, evidently by one of the Gillig mechanics.

The Gilligs also use a Cummins engine, vs the Detroit Diesel engines of the RTS and Nova. Perhaps this is a factor, although, not being as much of a transit geek as some, I don't know what (if any) difference this makes.

Wikipedia also said that Nova has mostly left the US market, opting to focus on the Canadian market.

 

[julieannbabe]

wow - thanks for sharing.

xjx

 

[Andrew Bichard]

3) Now, if we only get them to use BioDiesel for fuel

I sure I'll get flamed for this but...

One bus holding 50 passengers is far less polluting than 25 cars

I also understand that the safari trucks at Animal Kingdom run on liquid propane gas, which is also less poluting than either petroleum gas or regular diesel fuel.

Andrew

 

[goofyernmost]

The RTS is a true workhorse. I've spoken to a few transit geeks that claim the RTS is the most rock-solid mass-transit bus ever produced. RTS busses were produced by General Motors from 1977 until 1987, when GM sold the design and patent to Transportation Manufacturing Company (TMC). Most of the Disney RTS busses were produced by TMC. The biggest problem with the RTS is that they are not a low-floor bus (translation: there are steps to get in), and the lift mechanism fitted onto the busses is kludgy at best.

The Nova LFS (Low Floor) busses are made by NovaBus, a Canadian company. In Disney's original testing, they fared ok, but apparently, some drivers complained about the reliability of the vehicles, leading Disney to pursue other alternatives. The Nova LFS is most easily identified by it's distinct single-pane arched front windshield.

The Gillig Advantage is made by the Gillig Corporation. Most easily identified by the fact that these busses have no rounded edges, even the wheel-wells are straight lines. These busses have reportedly received high marks from guests and drivers alike, and, at least based on my time spent on the WDW roads, are the most numerous in the fleet.

Interesting note about the displays on the busses. The display units are manufactured by Twinvision NA. One of the older versions of the software on the units used to be able to display mouse ears on the "Mickey Mouse". Unfortunately, this feature was removed in later versions of the software

(A lot of the information contained in this post came from posts by Tyler (Chip 'N Dale Express) on the Transportation board over the past few years)

Great information and so true. We have many RTS buses in our fleet, some manufactured as far back as 84. They are true workhorses. Dependable and tough and so many parts are interchangeable from one year to another it makes inventory much easier.

Our public transit company has 4 nova's and frankly only two are on the road at any given time. They have so many problems it is getting to be a joke. We might retire them and use them as planters out front of the garage. We do not have any Gillig's yet but we have 7 on order. Sadly the RTS bus is no longer manufactured or we would be buying more of those. I guess you can't build something that lasts forever and stay in business. No one ever needs to buy a new one. People I have spoken with, within the WDW organization told me that there are at least 3 of those RTS buses with over 1,000,000 miles on them. Now that's dependability.

As for pollution, no combustible engine is free from pollution but the engineering and design of the new diesels have managed to cut down on a lot of it. Ironically, the local people in the city have organized and are determined that we should shut down the engines and not idle them at all. The design of the emission control systems depend on a warm running engine to function efficiently. Starting up a cooled engine produces many times the carbons that a running one produces in an hour. In this case public ignorance is bad for everyone. Our equipment and their air quality. And they will not listen. Oh, well! You can only help those that are willing to be helped.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . safari trucks at Animal Kingdom run on liquid propane gas, which is also less poluting than either petroleum gas or regular diesel fuel . . .

1) And only marginally less poluting than BioDiesel.
2) Unfortunately, people do not understand BioDiesel.
3) And that is a shame.
4) The word is just not spreading fast enough.
5) How can you not use diesel fuel made solely from soy beans.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

On a personal level, I will always have a soft spot for RTS busses. As a child growing up, I was a bit of a geek (still am, in many ways), and loved riding the busses in my hometown. The bus company had a fleet that was a mixture of GMC RTS II busses, Flxible (either 870 or Metro models, not sure), and Orion II busses. Of the 3, the RTS were by far my favorite. Why? I'm not sure, but they were.

 

[Jozymouse]

Thats kinda cool. Thanks for the info Bradk! For me, it was the opposite of you, I saw quite a few Donald Duck buses while we were there but never saw a Minnie or Mickey Bus!! I was totally wondering what the Donald Bus was! Thanks!

 

[cranbiz]

I actually prefer driving the Nova to the Gillig. The RTS is a good bus most of the time. I don't mind driving them either as I really like sitting up high.

There are 2 different styles of RTS buses. The two styles can be spotted by thier numbers 27XX and 47XX. The 2700 series are a little wider and can be real dogs on the road (poor acceleration), but if you get a good one, they are very stable driving down the road. The 4700 series are the majority of the RTS series bus on property. Excellent workhouses but have small aisles and yes, the wheelchair lifts in them are tempermental and becausue of the design, cannot handle some scooters and larger chairs.

This is only one drivers .02 worth.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We got to ride in a Mickey Mouse bus on one of our trips in 2005. We were one of the very last people out of Epcot and we missed the last bus. So they sent a MM one to pick us up. Very Cool!!!
Oh and this past trip last week, he kids got trading cards from some of the drivers. I think they asked just about every bus driver at WDW for cards.