Text by Brad O’Brien
Revised by James Bow

See Also:

• The TTC GM Bus Fleet Page

In 1997, the TTC had reached the bottom of its period of declining and ridership was rising again. The increased crowds coincided with the retirement of a number of aging buses, and teething problems with the new Compressed Natural Gas buses, resulting in a serious bus shortage. With capital funding limited, the TTC looked to a number of other transit agencies to lease buses to carry passengers in the short term.

One transit agency they looked at was the Utah Transit Authority, which operated public transit in Salt Lake City. The UTA had thirty GM New Look buses, built in 1981, available for lease. These were in good enough condition that the TTC agreed to lease these vehicles, and they arrived on TTC property in September 1997. The buses were numbered 1002 to 1036 and had TTC logos applied, but they retained most of their original colour scheme. This made them immediately noticeable among other TTC equipment.

The Utah GM buses had a number of features that weren’t common to other Toronto buses. These included tinted windows, standee passenger windows, a single stream rear door, and a turbo charged engine. The buses were also equipped with a wheelchair lift for accessibility, but this was not used during their brief visit to the TTC. The Utah buses relied on linen rollsigns, but the TTC chose not to install these, as they’d abandoned rollsigns for electronic displays two years before. Instead, the rollsign displays remained empty, and window cards were used to indicate a bus’s route and destination.

The Utah buses were sent to Malvern, Arrow Road and Birchmount garages and served Torontonians for six months. By April, the bus shortage had eased, and the TTC ended the lease. The Utah Transit Authority then shipped off a number of these buses to Quebec City and Brantford, where many finished their careers.

Utah Leased Buses Image Archive

	TTC ex-Utah leased GM "New Look" bus #1006 pauses at Midland loop south of Steeles Avenue on a cold day in 1998. Photo by Jeff Bentley.
	TTC leased ex-Utah GM "New Look" bus #1008 picks up passengers at Kennedy station, likely in service on an express bus to U of T Scarborough in this early 1998 shot. Photo by Jeff Bentley.
	TTC leased Utah GM New Look bus #1012 pulls up to a stop on Jane Street, just north of Wilson, circa 1998. The photograph is by Brad O'Brien.
	A front view of the TTC's leased bus #1016 (formerly Utah Transit Authority #8121) as it pulls up to a stop. Photo by Brad O'Brien.
	A shot of the interior of TTC leased bus #1016 (ex-UTA), showing the non-standard seats. Photo by Brad O'Brien.
	A rear view of TTC leased GM bus #1016 as it pulls up to a stop at Kipling Avenue. Note the original UTA number that's been scratched out. This photo is by Brad O'Brien and is used in accordance with his Creative Commons License.
	TTC leased Utah GM New Look bus #1031 poses at Cherry Beach, bearing a 20 CLIFFSIDE rollsign for photographers during a charter in April 1998. This picture was taken by Brad O'Brien.