Edmonton Transit System
1977 General Motors "New Look" T6H-5307N #722
Farewell Charter- November 14, 2009
Skip to Photos

One of two banners displayed in the side ad. racks of the bus during the charter. Courtesty A. Wong.

Introduction
This page is dedicated to bus #722 and the Farewell Charter for the Edmonton Transit System GM Fishbowls. This charter was organized, supported and attended by bus enthusiasts who felt the need to celebrate the legacy and history of the GM Fishbowl in Edmonton during its 49 years of service from 1960-2009. 2009 is also the 50th anniversary since General Motors first introduced the New Look in 1959 with production ending in 1986. This charter took place on November 14, 2009, touring many parts of West Edmonton. November 19, 2009 was the final day that these buses ran in revenue service. A very special thanks goes to M. Parsons for the immense amount of effort he put in to plan and execute a fantastic charter! Of course without our drivers Dave and Bill this charter would not have been possible either, thank you!

The GM Fishbowl Legacy
GM Fishbowls, also known as GM New Looks began operating in Edmonton in the Fall of 1960, with five model TDH-5301 buses. Throughout the 60's and early 70's the following models continued to be delivered: TDH-5301, TDH-5303, T6H-4517 and T6H-4521N. In 1972, the T6H-5307N began to arrive in Edmonton. Of the 640 GM New Look buses that ETS rostered, about half of these were T6H-5307N buses built from 1972 to 1982. Further to that, in 1981-1982, 100 GM New Look bodied buses were fitted with electronics and propulsion from Brown Boveri Corp. in order to run as electric trolley buses. The last of these buses were retired in Spring 2009. The GM Fishbowl came to dominate Edmonton streets in the 1980's and 1990's as only 59 new full size buses were delivered between 1983-1997. The typical scream of the Detroit Diesel 6V71N engine became a familiar sound all over Edmonton. Many T6H-5307N's survived to receive a refurbishment and the subsequent two tone blue livery, this began in 1997 and ended in 2005.

The End of the GM Fishbowl Legacy
By the mid 1990's, Edmonton's fleet was aging with most of it's fleet being of the 1960's and 1970's vintage. In 1993 and 1994, Edmonton took delivery of 59 New Flyer D40LF buses. It was not until 1998 that more of these buses arrived. These buses continued to arrive yearly till the end of 2005 and by the end of that year, there were a total of 536 New Flyer D40LF buses in service on Edmonton streets. Naturally this brought the end to all the GM Fishbowls of 1960's vintage, much of the early 1970's GM Fishbowls and some of later model Fishbowls as well. By the end of 2005, all that remained was about 230 T6H-5307N models, mostly 1976 and newer. However in late 2006, plans of mass retirement got approval from City Hall. An order of 231 New Flyer D40LFR buses was delivered in 2007-2008, sending all but 50 GM Fishbowl buses into retirement by mid-2008. The final 50 survived from Spring 2008 to June 2009. About 30-40 buses returned for September 2009, but soon they were driven into retirement with the arrival of a further 121 New Flyer D40LFR buses. At the time of the charter in mid-November, about a dozen GM New Look buses remained. Five days later, they were put to rest from service with ETS. However, it should be noted that many are still on property under storage, but are unlikely to see service again.

Why bus #722?
Of the 30 or so buses that there were to pick from when the charter was planned, it was deliberated which bus to charter. 722 became the choice for a number of reasons. The bus was in the most up to date livery, fitting for marking the end of the GM Fishbowl era. The bus had no highly visible body damage. The bus was reported to be in very good running order with a strong engine and solid frame. And lastly, the bus was equiped with roll signs giving a more vintage feeling to the charter.

A note on Horizon 2000
In the below photo captions, you will notice there are many references to "Horizon 2000". This was an overhaul of Edmonton Transit System routes that came into effect at the end of June 1997. Many of the routes the bus was posed with were taken to locations where no longer existing routes serviced pre-Horizon 2000. Special thanks to M. Marriot and M. Parsons for Pre-Horizon 2000 routing information.

Videos of #722 (Coming Later)

Photos from the Charter!
(Please CLICK on IMAGES to see LARGER versions)

Beginning location: Short turn loop on 118th Avenue at 142nd Street.
This is just east of Mitchell Garage, where GM Fishbowls were solely operated during their final year of service.

First Stop: Short turn loop on 124th Street at 112th Avenue.
Posed as a Route 5 Downtown to correspond with the short turn loop.

Next Stop: Hawrelak Park,
bus posed as Route 37 Oliver and 37 University, a discontinued route (pre-Horizon 2000).

Next Stop: Garneau Loop at 109th Avenue and 83rd Street,
bus posed as Route 42 Parkallen, this was a short lived stop on a now discontinued route. This was an electric trolley bus route as well (pre-Horizon 2000).

Next Stop: Saskatchewan Drive between 109th and 104th Streets

Next Stop: Queen Alexandra School on 106th Street at 77th Avenue,
bus posed as a Route 711 School Special. Note that this would normally be displayed as 112 School Special, with 711 being displayed in the windshield using a number card. Also school special routes do not serve elementary schools such as Queen Alexandra.

Next Stop: Belgravia Loop at 118th St. and 73rd Avenue,
bus posed as Route 41 NAIT, former trolley bus route (pre-Horizon 2000).

Next Stop: South Campus Transit Centre,
posed as Route 139 Glastonbury, currently known as Route 139 Grange.
Few GM New Look buses served this station as it was only opened in Spring 2009.

Next Stop: Edmonton Valley Zoo,
posed as Route 123 Zoo, the pre-Horizon 2000 Fort Edmonton Park/Valley Zoo Shuttle, this is now the Route 596.

Next Stop: Southgate Transit Centre,
very few GM New Look buses have had the opportunity to serve the new Southgate. Many GM New Looks of course served previous versions of Southgate.
Posed on the following:
- 201 Southgate (LRT Contingency)
- 32 Brander Gardens (Historically a Fishbowl Route, even after Horizon 2000)
- 62 Kaskitayo (Pre-Horizon 2000, now the Route 40, Kakitayo was also known as Heritage, now as Century Park)
- 69 Lakewood (pre-Horizon 2000, now the Route 6)

Next Stop: Century Park,
before known as Heritage and originally Kaskitayo. Posed as:
- Route 68 Lakewood (pre-Horizon 2000, now the Route 74)
- Route 94 Heritage Express, the original name of the route when first introduced in 2008. Now known as Century Park Express.

Next Stop: Leger Transit Centre,
not too many GM's got to operate from here either, being a fairly new transit centre. Posed as Route 30 Mill Woods Town Centre, the current Route 30 does serve Leger but does not run as far as Mill Woods.

Next Stop: Eastbound 107th Avenue at 139th Street bus stop,
posed as Route 11 Belvedere (Pre Horizon 2000, now Routes 125/150)

Next Stop: Southbound on 142nd Street at 109th Avenue,
posed as Route 16 Primrose. (Route existed in the mid-90's, but not at location posed)

Next Stop: Short turn loop at on Stony Plain Road at 147th Street.
This is a short turn loop for Route 120 Stadium-Jasper Place.

Next Stop: Potter Greens Loop,
including meeting up with regular service Route 108 Potter Greens, using bus #4828 (one of the D40LFR's to replace the final handful of GM New Looks).
Posed as Route 121 West Jasper Place-Potter Greens (Pre-Horizon 2000).

Next Stop: Outside a scrap yard in the Winterburn/Stony Plain area
to get a peak of some old ETS Brills.

Next Stop: Westview Village,
posed as Route 602 West Jasper Place (Pre-Horizon 2000).

Final Stop: Short turn loop on 118th Avenue at 142nd Street (Where we started),
posed with the signs in the process of being blanked.