St. John's, Newfoundland - MetrobusAll photos by Richard Oldfield, ©2002Last revised July 10th, 2002 |
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Just one transit system—know as Metrobus—operates in the entire province of Newfoundland, in the capital city of St. John's. Located on the east coast of the province, it operates a fleet of 54 transit buses, and its history dates to 1958. For many years prior, a small streetcar system actually operated in the older part of the city. (The system that previously operated in Corner Brook—the province's second largest city on the extreme west coast of the province, about 8 hours away from St. John's—formerly operated a small fleet of Orion Is, but the system was folded a few years back and a private contractor now uses cutaway vans for a limited service.)
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All 35-foot GMDDs—a handful of which had remained active until 2001—are now retired. Five are parked out back of the garage, having recently been put up for tender with no takers. They will now be scrapped. Here is one of the 35-footers stored out back, all of which were 1972 GMDD T6H-4521s. One, of course, has been saved by the Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation, and was driven all the way back to the Toronto area. It did see service for some time in Vaughan as their number 912 on a lease deal, but has recently been withdrawn from their fleet and is now believed to be in storage in Timmins. |
| Number 288 is one of four active 1980 GMDD T6H-5307Ns. |  |
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8204 is one of Metrobus' eleven 1982 GMDD T6H-5307Ns, all of which were refurbished recently by a local company. These units all see regular service, and one was even spotted in service on a holiday Monday. |
| Metrobus is introducing a new paint scheme to the system, and it is presently worn by just one bus. Oddly enough that bus is a 1982 new look, freshly refurbished number 8203. Plans this year call for refurbishing six of the 1987 Classics and it is expected they will return in this new scheme. |  |
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In St. John's, the Classic is the mainstay of the fleet, with 25 in service—almost half the active fleet. They range in age from 1987 to 1992 models. Pictured here are 8721 and 9238, samples of the first and last orders of Metrobus' Classics, both captured downtown. Some may recall St. John's had two 1983 Classics. Both were retired a couple years back, having suffered from the weather conditions of the east coast, but were also vastly unpowered for the hilly nature of the area. They were since purchased by a refurbisher, totally rebuilt and are now in service for the Guelph Transportation Commission as their numbers 157 and 158. |
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| Classic number 8715 wears a Yellow Pages ad wrap, similar to ones seen in Halifax, Moncton and Saint John. It is seen here at the Avalon Mall, the other major shopping centre in St. John's. |  |
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Metrobus did purchase one order of 40-foot Orion Vs in 1993, the only example of this model in regular transit service anywhere in Atlantic Canada. If you look closely enough at the side, you can see the effects of "snow bumps" where the lower panel has been warped. (Parks Canada's Fortress of Louisburg does have at least a couple of 35-foot Orion Vs in use for shuttle service near Cape Breton, Nova Scotia). |
| Orion V number 9343 sports a "don't litter" ad wrap, seen downtown by the St. John's Conference Centre. |  |
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The newest buses in the fleet are two orders of Nova LFS buses. Like the LFS buses in Halifax and Moncton, they are not ramp equipped. The first three arrived in 1998, while six others joined the fleet in 2001. That year's order for ten was reduced to six as four were cancelled with the refurbishment of the 1982 "new looks". Number 0148,one of the 2001 units, is seen here at the Village Mall, one of two large shopping centres that serve as major suburban transfer points. |
| Finishing off our look at St. John's is a shot of an unusual St. John's bus. One of the retired 1972 GMDD T6H-4521s, now used by the local fire and police departments as an emergency control centre vehicle, decked out with all the bells and whistles. |  |
