Classic transit bus makes local stop en route to Toronto
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2016 (3395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Jason Shron and his classic bus rolling across the Prairies have earned admiration from drivers — and, in one case, confusion.
At one point, Shron flipped the destination sign to read Islington Avenue, a street in Toronto.
A man at the station told Shron: “I thought I was dreaming. I’m filling up my car with gas and I see my old bus sitting in the gas station.”
Shron has turned many heads from Calgary to Brandon — maxing at 92 km/h — with his outfitted GM New Look bus, painted like the Toronto transit buses of yesteryear. His three-province jaunt stopped in Brandon on Wednesday.
More than 44,000 of the buses, referred to as a “Fishbowl” for its rounded windshield, were built. They comprised the transit fleets of Toronto and Winnipeg, among many centres, but not Brandon, he explained. They were the standard transit ride in many places in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Thornhill, Ont., native, who designs model trains and buses for a living, stumbled upon this bus, which was built in 1967, for cheap. Able to afford the asking price, Shron pounced.
He had the bus painted like Toronto’s former fleet, and flew into Calgary to begin driving east with two of his employees at Rapido Trains.
“It’s so much fun to be in control of this vehicle and drive down city streets or down the highway,” he said.
It drives beautifully, even if the steering doesn’t come easily.
“It’s got no power steering and it’s 40-feet long. To try and turn this thing, we’ll have to build up strong arms, I tell you.”
Shron, 41, said driving a classic bus was always something he wanted to do.
“I completely forgot that this was my initial dream. When I was planning this trip I grabbed a picture of me … inspecting a 1970s bus and I realized that I had actually planned to do this as a teenager.”
He’s always been a train guy at heart, evidenced by the life-size piece of a VIA Rail train he built in his basement.
Driving a bus, he realized as a teenager, was a more reasonable dream.
“Here I am, saying it’s practical. No one else in their right mind would say that,” Shron said. “We can go anywhere with it.”
Shron expects to arrive in Winnipeg today. He hopes to hit Ontario car shows next year to talk about model trains and buses.
» ifroese@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ianfroese