City Transit Buses of the 20th Century (A Photo Gallery)

by William Luke, Linda Metler

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description

Packed with high quality black and white photographs, this feast for bus aficionados features the city transit buses that operated throughout the 20th century. Over 300 heavily captioned photos provide a wealth of information on city transit buses, the companies that built them and the companies that operated them. As well as providing a fascinating look at the wide range of transit buses built and operated in the 20th century, the authors explore the forces at work in the bus industry that brought about the vast improvements made in transit systems and bus design. Bus and transit enthusiasts will come back to this book over and over.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

What a Great Bus Book!, 2007-12-01
If you have an interest in buses, this is definitely the book for you! It has such an array of photographs, many of very good quality. There's double deckers, a fishbowl on rails, and pictures of UMTA's transbus entries from the 70's. Never knew that in the 90's, Northrup Grumman tried to enter the bus business. Nor did I know that there was a "non-electrically powered RTS trolley bus" running in Dayton, Ohio (to clear the wires for the real trolleybuses).

The only thing missing from what I can tell is NYCTA's double decker experiment from the 1970's. But overall, this is a fantastic photographic look at American transit buses!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Very nice review of North American buses through the years, 2007-02-08
Iconografix has produced a number of bus books since 1999, but most of these focused on a single manufacturer or line of buses. This was the first book they published which looks at the overall development of the North American transit bus, and it is a worthwhile addition to the transit fan or automotive enthusiasts collection.

In response to the previous negative review - yes, the only color photograph in this book appears on the cover and that is unfortunate. However, there have been very few bus histories published over the years, so I am more than willing to overlook this and simply appreciate this book for what it is. Iconografix has begun to include more color photographs in its recent books, however.

This book is broken down into 14 chapters covering the growth of the North American transit bus from the earliest jitneys and wagons through the design of larger buses and trolley buses which would eventually replace most streetcars, and eventually to the modern 'New Look' buses which would hold down the fort during the transition from private to public ownership of transit. Later chapters nicely cover the rise of foreign transit bus builders in the U.S. and the introduction of the 'low-floor' bus that has become the new standard for the industry.

Photo reproduction is generally good throughout the book, with most pages featuring three or four small photos. Many are 'builders poses', but others show the coaches operating in service or at the garage. The authors highlight just about every bus builder over the years at least once, and include photos of buses from every major city and many smaller ones. Trolley buses (known as `trackless trolleys' in some cities) are also shown and the later chapters include pictures of the newest wave of electric buses along with hybrids, dual-modes and ultramodern `bus rapid transit' vehicles.

We are living in a new golden age of books for bus fans thanks to Iconografix. 'City Transit Buses of the 20th Century' deserves a place on your bookshelf.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1 out of 5 stars

Black and white pics only, 2006-05-17
THe pics are in black and white only. Unfortunately, all the buses pretty much look the same in black and white. Judging from the cover you would think the pics would be in color. I ordered the book and had to send it back.

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