Coach USA Shuttle Bus

[jesi2282]

Does anyone have any info on the Coach USA shuttle bus, Its a Thomas SLF and I always see it running South on Wells, does anyone know where it goes and what its for?

[artthouwill]

Does anyone have any info on the Coach USA shuttle bus, Its a Thomas SLF and I always see it running South on Wells, does anyone know where it goes and what its for?

Coach USA runs a shuttle service for the Northern Trust Bank between its center at 801 S Canal and the main bank on LaSalle though the buses uses the turnaround at Adams and Wells.

[Guest]

I remember when Coach USA had operated a small fleet of 35ft GMC RTS. Their MCIs look pretty cool.

[artthouwill]

I remember when Coach USA had operated a small fleet of 35ft GMC RTS. Their MCIs look pretty cool.

They were remans, originally manufactured in 1979. Most of the buses were used for remote parking lot service at O'Hare until the New Flyers were bought in the mid 90s when the company was known as Keeshin. As a matter of fact, it was the first company to have the New Flyer low floors of which one was sent to the Kedzie CTA garage to view before CTA purchased the 5800s. When the NFs arrived, the RTSs were shifted to the employee lot runs. The remaining RTA buses were used on the aforementioned Northern Trust Shuttles.

[BusHunter]

Does anyone have any info on the Coach USA shuttle bus, Its a Thomas SLF and I always see it running South on Wells, does anyone know where it goes and what its for?

I have a question myself. Just this last week I saw a new bus on that route. I tried to figure out what model it was unsuccessfully. It has what looks like is a cab forward design with splits in the windshield areas along the sides. It looks very modern. This Thomas SLF I'm somewhat confused, is it the bus that has been running that route for over a few years that rides very close to the ground or is that this new bus?

[artthouwill]

I have a question myself. Just this last week I saw a new bus on that route. I tried to figure out what model it was unsuccessfully. It has what looks like is a cab forward design with splits in the windshield areas along the sides. It looks very modern. This Thomas SLF I'm somewhat confused, is it the bus that has been running that route for over a few years that rides very close to the ground or is that this new bus?

See post #2 in this thread. They are NOT new buses. They replaced the RTSs on the employee shuttles at the airport when Coach USA still had them and theey replaced the NFs that ran on the Northern Trust Shuttle. It was very hard to make the turn in the bank driveway on Adams/Wells with the 40ft bus and the NFs could not make those tight turns in the O'Hare employee lot. I don't know if the Thomas buses were bought brand new or not, but I believe they were bought in the early 2000s, say 2002 or 2003.

[Busjack]

Googling, here is a picture of a typical Thomas Dennis bus, similar to what I remember of the Coach USA shuttle. If I remember correctly, it had a short history of being assembled in the U.S. It became part of Daimler-Chrysler North American Bus after that entity was formed (also merging Orion and Setra sales), but that arrangement died soon thereafter.

[BusHunter]

Googling, here is a picture of a typical Thomas Dennis bus, similar to what I remember of the Coach USA shuttle. If I remember correctly, it had a short history of being assembled in the U.S. It became part of Daimler-Chrysler North American Bus after that entity was formed (also merging Orion and Setra sales), but that arrangement died soon thereafter.

The new bus I'm talking about that's not it in Busjack's picture. That's the older type bus now that runs that route. ( the one I'm referring to that rides close to the ground. ) Artthouwill, I know the route of the bus, I keep seeing it at Sears Tower on the east side. You sound like you think I'm referring to the Dennis bus as new. I'm not. This bus is different, take a look and you will see this.