The bus garage operated by the Flint MTA just on the outskirts of Burton, Michigan, may not look futuristic, but with new CNG-powered coaches and a handful of hydrogen fuel cell buses fueling up on site, it certainly is. But those avant-garde coaches weren’t what brought me out -- it was fourteen used RTS transit buses, awaiting disposition.

I’ve been preaching forever that despite their contemporary looks, the end of the RTS era is nigh. It certainly is in Michigan. Just three years ago, roughly four properties in Michigan still ran them. After Detroit yanked most of theirs off the street earlier this year, it was essentially down to Flint. 

No more -- as of last week, these fourteen buses were retired and listed for sale to bulk scrap buyers. After pulling some strings and coaxing some supervisors, I was able to walk the scrap line the other day.

Of particular note are two RTS coaches, fleet numbers 1090 and 1095. These two, both T8J204 models built in 1983, are most likely the last transit buses built by General Motors to function in public service in Michigan. 

While they weren’t the oldest RTSes to operate here -- Lansing’s former ‘81 models probably have that honor -- they’re the GMCs that spent the most time here, as Lansing’s were all originally delivered to Los Angeles.

“They’re fairly run down,” my guide said. Honestly, for a twenty-two year-old bus beat to hell and back day-in, day-out, these looked pretty good. I’m told there’s structural rot in play (probably bulkheads), but there’s hardly any visible externally.

I was surprised the original destination sign roll curtains remained in use to the very end.

I especially like 1095, which remarkably still has its original GMC nose lettering intact.

Oddly enough, it wears a TMC VIN plate inside. While it’s not even a TMC rebuild plate, someone replaced the GMC label and stamped the TMC plate with the proper VIN, model number, and build date.

If this franken-coach nature strikes you as odd, allow me to introduce you to the last TMC-built RTS models to operate in Flint.

Welcome inside. Apart from electronic shift controls, seat materials, and flip-dot destination controls, this looks identical to the GMC-built buses. As such, the occasional GMC part -- namely horn button -- is to be expected, but...

...at least two TMC-built buses present had GMC emblems installed in the footwell. One was unstamped and had no VIN data, but another one...one I brought home as a souvenir...

...has data that’s not from a Flint bus. If I’m correct, it’s from a bus bought by Houston, Texas -- and to my knowledge, never operated in Flint. Weird.

6v92 power all around.

While these are technically for sale, their age and condition means they’re not likely to be re-used -- just scrapped.

As nice as newer coaches are, I’ll still miss seeing the RTS’ distinctive shape on the road. And I’ll especially miss seeing Flint’s attractive paint scheme heading down the highway on regional runs.