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| Nov 2006 marks the end of the era the second-hand rebuilt Montreal GM buses
in Toronto, their servicing months were 5 years and 11 months in
average. The following statistics and information are just for reference
only and is nothing official. |
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| The STCUM's 21-000, 22-000, 23-000, 24-000 series buses were built in 1979-80 and
withdrawn in the summer of 1997. There are 150 buses in each of the 21-000, 22-000 and
23-000 series, 165 buses in the 24-000 series (some 24-000 have been renumbered as 44-000
series).
The following is a little history about in which garages these buses were based in
STCUM just before they came to Toronto: LaSalle: (As St Henri garage merged with Namur,
they became LaSalle garage) 21-061 to 21-091, 21-111 to 21-130, 23-026 to 23-060, 24-043
to 24-083. These second hand GM buses ($11543 each) are waiting for heavy rebuild by the TTC. These buses will last for at least another 12 years, the grand total cost including the major rebuild will be $151543 each and that is much lower than buying brand new buses whose quality is kind of uncertain. For more, please see more the Aug 11 1998 Toronto Star report on STCUM's graveyard buses.
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A March 1999 photo shows 23-140 at Wilson yard and she was being towed to
the Via yard for storage. 23-140 had arrived
in Toronto in early March
| 2001 | 2001 was the first GM fishbowl introduced by the MTC, forerunner of the STCUM, in the early 1960s. 2620 was a Canadian built Car (both photos courtesy of Glen Cole) |
| 2x-xxx | An unidentified former STCUM's showed a "Police 911" sign just below the destination box. |
| 22-028 | 23-122 had the Police 911 box on the top, 22-028 had that missing. |
| 22-034 | The interior of 22-034, there was a small "Anjou" sticker besides the fleet # 22-034 (can see the enlarged sticker on top), does that mean 22-034 was Anjou-based before retirement or she was last sent to Anjou before coming to Toronto? |
| 22-042 | The centre door of the STCUM buses are similar to the style of the TTC s streetcar. 22-042 also had the rare silver front bumper. |
| 22-089 | From left to right are 23-133, 23-129, 24-046 and 22-089 and a TTC's A/C Flyers in behind.(Photo by Simon Yiu) |
| 23-009 | 23-009 has a different style fleet # among the others, she used to run on the 535 Avenue du Parc route which is a seprate right of way during morning rush hours. There was a special foldout sign under the GM logo (had been removed) indicating the bus was on the R-Bus express service has been removed. The STCUM's destination still exists on the side from the photo with the route # on the right and the name of the street on the left. |
| 23-063 | From left to right are former STCUM's 23-063, 23-041, 23-072, 23-029 with TTC's GM buses and streetcar in the background (Photo by Simon Yiu) |
| 23-082 | 23-082 and 23-030 were the first 2 Montreal buses arrived in TTC Hillcrest yard. |
| 22-141 | Why was the black and white destination curtain on 22-141 so small and how much info could actually be seen from it? In behind of 22-141 was 23-124. |
| 23-072 | STCUM 23-072 and 24-113 were at open Via storage yard awaiting for their second career. |
| 23-125 | Former STCUM's 23-128 and 23-133 together with the withdrawn TTC's 6080, 8181 at the lower portion of the photo. (Photo by Simon Yiu) |
| 23-128 | Side view of 23-128, she is one of a few buses that still carry the silver color front bumper. |
| 23-147 | The interior and the blue seat of the STCUM 23-147 fishbowl |
| 24-010 | The back of 24-010 and 23-108. See also when 24-010 first arrived in Hillcrest, 24-010 was unloaded from a flatbed truck, a driver was inside 24-010 to control the retired bus in which the battery was still functioning. |
| 24-018 | 24-018 just arrived in Toronto in March 1999, shortly after she had been recently retired from STCUM, this bus was rebuilt in Toronto now becomes TTC 2602. This is the rear view of 24-018. The T1 train in behind was just a few weeks old when photographed |
| 24-043 TTC 2611 (2001) TTC 2611 (2006) |
TTC 2611 (ex. STCUM 24-043) got the second career in Toronto for almost 6 years and 8 months which made the bus the third longest lasting ex. Montrealer in Toronto. These 3 photos were in Nov 1998, July 2001 and March 2006. The first and the second most durable buses in this class were 2600 which lasted 85.8 months and 2615 which lasted 80.4 months. |
| 25-024 | All the 2nd hand STCUM buses have been moved to a new storage yard in the area near Islington and south side of the VIA yard close to Mimico. Here is 25-024. Here is another view of the lineup of STCUM's GM buses. |
| 23-115 | 2 former STCUM buses arrived at Wilson storage yard on Mar 16 1999, 23-115 was one of them and she was still carrying the French ad " Le Choix Savourcusement Vape". The same ad in English "Inshredibly Good Cheese" could also be seen on the TTC buses in between September 1998 and February 1999, a January view on 8574 is an example. Therefore, it was believed that 23-115 was just recently retired from STCUM. See the interior of 23-115. |
| TTC 2600 | On July 24 1999, the first rebuilt STCUM bus 2600 was seen laying over at the Jane and Lawrence area. 2600 first arrived at Eglinton garage in Nov 1998. This is the interior of 2600. The look of Mckay gates from inside and this view was from the outside. (photos from Russ Hilder). Instructions were added on the gates as 2600 began passenger service in July 1999. It took about 12 months for rebuilding and testing the former STCUM 22-009 before the bus (now becomes 2600) began her second life. This is a photo that 22-009 was about to be rebuilt at Hillcrest (photo from Toronto Star on Aug 11 98 edition). |
| 21-041 | Montreal 21-041 was the oldest retired bus that was sold to the TTC by STCUM. A Nov 12 1998 photo (photo by Simon Yiu) shows 21-041 together with TTC 8167 in Hillcrest storage yard (8167 didn't meet the basic requirement for rebuild and was subsequently sold for scrap in summer 1999). The experiment to rebuild all the STCUM buses began on the oldest one 21-041 which was found to be too difficult and complicated, with the negative comments from the government, the decision to rebuild all the retired STCUM buses purchased was scaled back. ex STCUM 21041 was lucky to become TTC 2601 while all the 70% older retired STCUM buses (21-000 to 23-000 series) are not likely to be rebuilt. |
| TTC 2247 | More parts from the former Montreal GM buses are now being used on the recently rebuilt TTC GM buses. The back window from ex. STCUM 22-082 is now used on 2339 (you can see 22-08x from the above photo while xx-082 can be seen from this photo) and ex. STCUM 23-149's is now used on 2247. |
Special thanks to Simon Yiu, Russ Hilder for the photos and Glen Cole for the information on the Montreal buses
