CyRide - Last Trip of Bus 893 with Jennifer Barnes - April 9, 1987

We documented a few final trips on some buses. Jennifer Barnes was one of our favorite drivers, a safe and conscientious driver who was always cheerful. Even when she was promoted to dispatcher, a very stressful job, she brightened up the office every day. She worked as a driver from August, 1986 to May, 1988 and then as a dispatcher through November, 1989.
Jon and Greg help Jennifer in the decommissioning ceremony at the end of the video. This video has several shots of the old Red route that ran from Todd and Thackeray, much different than the current Red route
Bus 893 was one of four GMC TDH5303 buses we bought from Chicago RTA. It was originally purchased by Suburban Transit System in Oak Lawn, IL in 1966. The buses had almost new motors with less than 20,000 miles on them. RTA had a bus crisis in the early 80s and had to rebuild some worn out buses. 893 had a very weak transmission, obvious when it pulls out from the garage. Bodies were in terrible condition. We took the motors out and put them in other buses that we had bought from California that had good bodies and weak motors.

[@williampmurphy1158]

This was a sad video. I was a shame to see this bus taken out of service.

[@jorgefigueroa4437]

Wow, lookslike the San Juan AMA's GMC New Look units in service from 1962 thru 1991. All the fleet featured the rear bi fold door, except one with the swing out.

[@jorgefigueroa4437]

Very slowly but when hit road its faster

[@thomashill2965]

What a sucky attitude these people had. If it weren't for those workhorse buses, they wouldn't have had their jobs. Talk about ungrateful and self-entitled. That bus should have been saved, but I'm sure it wasn't, even though it had historical relevance.