Utah Transit Authority's Buses

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on May 22, 2011.

(This is a work in progress; research continues.)

Additional Information

Bus Information (this page)
UTA Wikipedia article
Will Bagley's article — "A Century Ago, Salt Lake Was Transit Model" from Salt Lake Tribune
General Bus Information (this page)
Streetcars in Utah — An index page for streetcar information throughout Utah.

Bus Information

Motor Coach Age, the magazine of the Motor Bus Society, published a four-part history in 1987-1988 of buses in Salt Lake City and other cities in northern Utah. Back issues are long out of print and unavailable, so to preserve this vital part of the history of transportation in Utah, the text of the articles is presented here:

Utah Light and Traction Co.
Salt Lake City Lines
Regional Bus Companies, including Bamberger, Ogden, Utah-Idaho Central Railroad, Cook Transportation, Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, Utah Valley Transit, and Provo City Lines
Utah Transit Authority, from 1970-1988
Rosters of the buses, from the above four articles.

Bus World — An excellent article about Salt Lake City's electric coaches, also known as trackless trolleys.

Photos of the electric trolley coaches from the article in Bus World, and the above Motor Coach Age articles.

Timeline

March 1, 1946
Salt Lake City Lines purchased the stock, equipment, and interests of the Airways Motor Coach Lines (from Utah Public Service Commission case 2941).

Airways was incorporated in Wyoming, owned 23 buses, and provided all bus service south of 2100 South, east of Redwood Road, and west of Wasatch Boulevard to the south line of Salt Lake County. The Airways bus shops were located at 29 East 900 South, between Main Street and State Street.

Salt Lake City Lines was engaged in bus and electric coach operation in Salt Lake City. No mention is made of street car service.

The purchase price was $125,000.00 with the purchase agreement signed on February 4, 1946.

Approved February 27, 1946; sale to take effect on March 1, 1946.

1967
An excerpt from an earlier history of the Bamberger Railroad by Don Strack:

Bamberger Railroad on June 26, 1953, sold its bus subsidiary, Bamberger Transportation Co., to the Lake Shore Motor Coach Lines Co., newly organized for the purpose. Lake Shore's president and organizer, Dale Barratt, was general manager of Salt Lake City Lines, the local bus company that had taken over the streetcar lines in Salt Lake City. Barratt was also regional director of the parent company, National City Lines. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 27, 1953)

The sale became effective on July 3, when Lake Shore took ownership of Bamberger's 17 buses. In a side note about later bus operations, Barratt sold Lake Shore to Salt Lake City Lines in 1965 and left Utah. In August 1968, Barratt returned and purchased all interests in Salt Lake City lines, which he sold to the new Utah Transit Authority in August 1970. The former Lake Shore (ex-Bamberger) operations were split off from Salt Lake City Lines in May 1969 and sold to Cook Transportation of Logan. (Motor Coach Age, June-July 1987, pp. 4-6)

General Bus Information

Additional Bus Information

Motor Bus Society — An group founded in 1948 to preserve, collect and publish information about the history and development of the bus industry in North America.
Bus Rosters On The Web — A. J. Reinschmidt's excellent source for bus information. (archived from the original GeoCities site)
Bus Production Lists — Bus rosters published by Ohio Museum of Transportation.
Yellow Coach/GM "Old Look" production (Ohio Museum of Transportation)
GM "New Look" production (Ohio Museum of Transportation)
GM "Old Look" Buses — Wikipedia article about GM's "Old Look" buses, manufactured from 1940 through the early 1960s.
GM "New Look" Buses — Wikipedia article about GM's "New Look" buses, manufactured from 1959 through 1986.

From Steve Parkin's "New Look" article:

"General Motors “New Look” buses were the workhorses of most North American Transit Systems starting late in 1959 until the late 1980’s in the U.S.A." "This style of bus started a whole generation of new designs from several manufacturers, all following the basic new look style - larger windows on these buses set them all apart from buses produced in what became known as the Old Look style. Incidentally, General Motors continued to produce a small capacity Old Look bus for another 10 years after the start of the New Look’s production. These were all US built, and in 1969 a 29 foot version of the New Look, also US built, replaced them."

"The original production began in late 1959 at Pontiac, Michigan, with model TDH-5301, a 40’ by 102” bus. Some of these early US built buses were imported by Canadian customers through Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada. In 1961, a second production line was started at London, Ontario. The TDH-5301 was also the first model built in Canada." "These buses were produced in several lengths, 29, 35 and 40 feet. Depending on the model, available widths were 96 inches or 102 inches. There were “Transit” versions as well as a “Suburban” version that featured high back seats, overhead luggage racks and optional under floor luggage bays. These were also geared more for highway speeds whereas the Transit versions were built for stop and go city driving. The Suburban version typically only had a front door, although the basic body style was the same for all models. US production ended in 1977 but continued in Canada until 1986."

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