New Look Era

General Motors T6H-5305

	7014 was a 1970 New Look, shown here near Dow’s Lake during the Ottawa Tulip Festival. 7014 was withdrawn from service during the late 1980’s. (Photographer unknown)
	7015 was a 1970 New Look, shown in a newspaper photograph at St. Laurent Station shortly after the station opened in 1984. Note the tailpipe placement on this bus; this was a retrofit done to all buses purchased between 1963 and 1971 aimed at reducing ground-level diesel fumes. Other buses in this photo include 7830, 8116 and 8403. (Ottawa Citizen file photo)

General Motors T6H-5307N

	7403 was a 1974 New Look, shown on Slater Street near Elgin in June 2000. At the time, 7403 was the oldest bus originally purchased by OC Transpo still in revenue service, and one of only 15 left built with the two-speed VH-9 torque convertor. This bus was retired in 2002.
	7557 was a 1975 New Look, shown in a publicity shot at Hurdman Station. OC Transpo purchased 134 buses that year; the first batch of 70 was numbered in the 7500 series, while the second batch was numbered in the 5700 series. (Photo by Ted Wickson)
	5746 was spotted ten years after being retired, parked on a residential property on Prescott & Russell County Road 3 near Casselman on Oct. 2, 2010. The last 5700-series bus was retired in 2000, and the last 7500 bus was withdrawn in early 2003.
	7647 was a 1976 New Look, shown laying up near Hurdman Station on Dec. 20, 1997. (Thumbnail only; no enlarged photo available)
	7652 was another 1976 New Look, seen parked behind the St. Laurent garage on June 12, 2004.
	7737 is shown behind the St. Laurent garage on June 4, 2005. This 1977 New Look had been retired shortly before and the display curtains were removed.
	7816 was a 1978 New Look, shown parked inside the St. Laurent garage with 9322 just before entering service on April 12, 2006. By early May 2006, this bus had been retired along with all 1978 buses.
	7845 is shown pulling away from Hurdman Station on Dec. 20, 1997.
	7846 was another 1978 New Look, shown parked behind the St. Laurent garage on June 12, 2004.
	7905 was a 1979 New Look, seen at Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre on a rainy day in May 2002. This bus was one of the first GM New Looks to be repainted into the new livery.
	7905 was spotted again parked behind the St. Laurent garage with some GM Classics on May 21, 2005. All of the 1979 buses had been withdrawn by August 2006 except for 7926, which was retired in March 2007.
	7909 was another 1979 New Look, seen here on Albert Street at Metcalfe on a rainy day in June 2000. Compare the paint scheme of this bus with that of 7403; the aluminum fluting has been painted white. This was a recent change for the buses, only starting in 2000 for buses purchased between 1976 and 1982.
	8003 was one of only 12 New Looks purchased in 1980. It is show here on rue Papineau near the Museum of Civilization in downtown Hull on Dec. 28, 2004.
	8010 was a 1980 GM New Look. This was the first year that buses were purchased with dual-stream exit doors, albeit still push-type. This bus is also painted in the “white fluting” livery. This photo was taken at Lebreton Station on Dec. 27, 2001.
	8012 is shown parked in the dead lot behind the St. Laurent garage on June 12, 2004.
	8013 was ex-STO 8013, the only one of eight to retain its original number. This bus was originally leased from the STO in October 1995 to alleviate a bus shortage. It ran for two years in the original blue and white livery, causing confusion among riders as the STO was running identical buses at the same time. The bus was purchased in 1997, and was repainted into the red and white livery seen here. There were differences, though: the blue standee windows, the upturned tow eyes, and the missing diagonal stripe over the rearmost side window. This photo was taken on Dec. 20, 1997, at Hurdman Station. By February 1999, all ex-STO buses had been removed from revenue service.
	8106 was a 1981 New Look, and is shown retired behind the St. Laurent garage on April 28, 2007.
	8111 was another 1981 New Look, shown laying up at Tunney’s Pasture Station on August 30, 2005. This was the first year that OC Transpo purchased New Look buses with step-activated exit doors, which would be used on all bus purchases until the motion-detector doors on the NovaBus LFS vehicles in 1997.
	8111 was spotted again after retirement, parked at the St. Laurent garage with some brand-new Invero buses on April 28, 2007.
	8231 was a 1982 New Look shown on Albert Street near Kent Street in May 2000. 1982 was the last year OC Transpo would purchase New Looks, waiting a year before beginning to purchase Classics in 1984.
	8237 was another 1982 New Look, shown parked behind the St. Laurent garage with 4430 on May 16, 2006.
	8238 was the last GM New Look to operate in revenue service in Ottawa. The New Look era ended in Ottawa on April 16, 2007, when this bus was retired, and it is shown parked at the St. Laurent garage on April 28, 2007.
	8239 is shown on the Jeanne d’Arc Blvd.–Queensway off ramp in Orleans on Dec. 27, 2006.
	8240 was spotted parked at the Swansea lot in southeast Ottawa with several other old buses on August 4, 2007. This bus was the last GM New Look to be delivered to OC Transpo until eight 1980 buses were acquired from the STO in 1995.

General Motors T8H-5307A

1770 was a 1973 New Look, purchased second-hand from Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines, where it was originally numbered 4910. Seen here laying up near Hurdman Station on Dec. 20, 1997, before being rebuilt, this bus was fit with an 8V71N engine coupled with a VS-2 planetary gear set, square headlamps, bucket seats, and a ground-level tailpipe. This bus was one of fifteen purchased to alleviate the bus shortage in 1995, along with five T6H-4523A buses which never entered service and were sold to other transit agencies.

1761 was another ex-Santa Monica New Look, this one numbered 4919, seen here on Bank Street near Queen Street on Dec. 27, 2000. This bus is shown after being rebuilt with a 6V71N engine and a V730 automatic transmission, round headlamps, standard orange bench seats, and a roof-level tailpipe. All the Santa Monica buses were refurbished in 1999, and were repainted into regular OC Transpo colours. The last of these buses was withdrawn from service in 2004.

Western Flyer D700A

	8701 was a 1970 WFC D700A. It is shown here behind the St. Laurent garage on Feb. 20, 1999, about 15 years after this bus was withdrawn from revenue service. The OTC leased this bus and two others for a few years before purchasing them in 1972. This bus was originally numbered 701, but was renumbered 8701 in the 1970’s so that all vehicles would have a four-digit fleet number.
	8702 is another 1970 D700A, shown with 8390 behind the St. Laurent garage on Dec. 26, 2006. At the time, this bus was awaiting restoration as part of OC Transpo’s historic bus fleet, but it was scrapped in 2008.

Flyer D800

	8705 was a 1974 Flyer D800, seen here on Parliament Hill in a Gray Line publicity shot. 8705 and 8707 were the first OC Transpo buses to be equipped with air-conditioning, and they were primarily used as sightseeing buses. (Photo by OC Transpo)
	8705 is shown in another publicity shot, taken on Elgin Street next to the National War Memorial. This photo shows the old two-red-digit destination curtain also seen on GM New Look buses from the 1960’s, along with the Western Flyer D700s. (Photo by OC Transpo)
	8707 was also a 1974 D800, and is shown here at Confederation Square. 8707 was refit with a more modern three-black-digit curtain during the 1980’s. This bus was retired in 1992. (Photographer unknown)

Flyer D800B

8715 was a 1978 Flyer D800B, shown in retirement at the St. Laurent garage on Feb. 20, 1999. This bus was not air-conditioned (compare with 8707). It was withdrawn from service in 1994.

General Motors TA-60102N

	8205 was a 1982 New Look articulated bus, delivered to OC Transpo as part of a study by the province on the use of articulated buses. A total of 53 were delivered to the four largest transit commissions in Ontario: 14 went to Mississauga, 21 to Ottawa, 6 to Hamilton and 12 to Toronto. The squared front end was designed to allow wider front doors without changing front-end overhang or reducing seating capacity. (Detail from Ted Wickson photo)
	8210 was another 1982 artic, seen here on the Transitway just south of Queensway Station. After the study was finished in 1985, OC Transpo decided to purchase Orion/Ikarus buses instead. For a few years, the buses ran side by side, but by 1990, OC Transpo had decided to sell its GM artics to Mississauga and Hamilton. (Detail from Ted Wickson photo)
	8222 is a 1982 artic, formerly Hamilton Street Railway 8202. This bus was OC Transpo’s first bus to be repainted into the new “Maple Leaf” livery; all other buses before it were ordered from the manufacturer with the paint scheme. This bus is shown at Westboro Station on June 26, 1999, before the rear fleet number decals were applied. This bus ran for a few years before being withdrawn when the New Flyer D60LF buses arrived in 2001.
	8222 is seen at the St. Laurent garage on Dec. 24, 2003. This bus is now part of the historic fleet.
	8222 was spotted parked behind the St. Laurent garage with 337 on May 24, 2008. The future of both of these buses is uncertain as OC Transpo has cut funding to its historic fleet and both of these buses have been stored outside exposed to the elements for years.
	8222 is shown parked near the St. Laurent garage on January 10, 2009.

Home