University of Massachusetts 3000

The Truck and Coach Division of General Motors (GMC) built over 44,000 "New Look" buses beginning in 1958 and continuing to 1977 in the U.S. and 1985 in Canada. The "New Look" buses were also called "fishbowl" buses because of their angled windshields. The buses featured lightweight aluminum construction and good visibility for the driver due to the windshield design. The GM "New Look" bus was the most popular transit bus of its era. GM offered "New Look" buses in many variations including 29-foot, 35-foot and 40-foot lengths, transit and suburban configurations and through four "generations." No. 3000 is a model TDH-3302N bus indicating the following: T - Transit D – Diesel engine H - Hydraulic transmission 33 - 33 seat, 30-foot length 02 - series 2 N – Non-Air conditioned In 1970, as the University (at Amherst, MA) began to grow, a bus system was instituted as a state operated entity. UMass acquired a group of used buses as well as G.M.C. “New Look” bus No. M47. Buses were numbered in a system that included trucks and autos. This began the era of political types taking over the higher posts at the University. New buses were to be 30 feet long as the pay rate was much cheaper than larger buses. M47 was the first. Small school buses completed the fleet. The larger used buses and sometimes #M47 were used also for charters. In 1973 a 10-bus fleet of Highway Products TC 31 buses arrived, and along with #M47, provided student transportation until 1974. Pioneer Valley Transportation Authority was formed in 1974. After the horror that was the MBTA with political patronage, it was decided that all newer transit authorities would be a conduit for federal funding, and operation would be provided by private companies, as it is to this day. UMass Transit Services operates PVTA's routes through the Five Colleges Area in eastern Hampshire County and neighboring towns, with most of the routes centered around UMass Amherst, the largest ridership generator in the service area. UMass Transit Services is a department within the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The UMass Transit garage is located on-campus at 255 Governors Drive, Amherst. All UMass Transit fixed-route buses are numbered in the 3000 series. UMass Transit is a student-based organization with more than 90% of the employee being students. M-47 was the only bus in the University fleet of 30 buses to be taken over by PVTA and was renumbered #3000. The Twin Coaches were sold, most to Walt Disney World and the remainder went into the charter fleet. Quickly a number of new RTS buses entered the PVTA-U Mass Fleet. #3000 became a hit, and two used buses of the same type arrived in Amherst. In its later service years, No. 3000 was primarily used on the system’s Route 39 between the Smith College campus in Northampton and the Hampshire College campus in Amherst. As newer buses were purchased in the 1980s, #3000 was removed from PVTA line service, and it and the two used buses went into the University fleet. No. 3000 logged over a million service miles with UMass Transit. Seashore acquired No. 3000 at an unknown date, probably about 2010.