TMC - Transportation Manufacturing Corp. - 1973-1994 - Roswell, New Mexico - Subsidiary of MCI/Greyhound


   

TMC is subsidiary of Greyhound that builds almost all of the buses required by its parent's U.S. operations, roughly 350 per year. The buses are identical to the current MCI model except for nameplates. TMC has announced that it will build the Canadian Orion bus under license for U.S. customers as well.

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MCI Buses and Coaches by John Veerkamp

Company History

The MC-5 35 foot coach was further developed into the very similar MC-5A and MC-5B. The MC-5C, MCI's last 35 foot coach for a long time, used the more modern MC-8 front end and was produced from 1977-1980. The MC-6 was an experimental 102" wide model of which only 100 were produced for Greyhound in 1969-1970. The MC-7, introduced in 1968, was MCI's first 40 foot 3-axle coach. This was replaced by the improved MC-8 in 1973 and the MC-9 in 1978. The MC-9 was to become MCI's best selling coach, with 9,513 built by MCI and TMC until 1990. The final MC model was the MC-12, a modernized MC-9, built on Greyhound request from 1992-1998 as the, for the time being, last 96" wide MCI model.

Demand for the MC-8 was such that a new production plant was established in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1973. Another reason for the establishment of the new plant were labor problems in the other plants around this time. The Roswell plant was incorporated as TMC, Transportation Manufacturing Corp. The MC-8 and MC-9 produced here were badged as TMC rather than MCI, but were otherwise similar to the Pembina/Winnipeg produced vehicles. Also produced in Roswell, from 1979 to 1982, was the TMC Citycruiser, a 30 foot transit model built under license from Orion. Later MCI coaches built in Roswell were simply badged as MCI.

In December 1986, Greyhound Corporation sold Greyhound Lines to an investor group but retained ownership of Greyhound Lines of Canada, MCI and TMC. This meant that the ties between MCI and its traditional largest customer and basically the founder of the MC range had been severed. In January 1987, Greyhound Corporation bought the GMC transit bus manufacturing, including RTS production in Pontiac, Michigan, and Classic production in Ste Eustache, Canada. The RTS production was transferred to the TMC Roswell facility, while the Classic production continued in Ste Eustache. An additional plant for the Classic was opened in New York State.

Several changes occurred during this period. TMC stopped production of coaches and concentrated on the RTS production in 1990. To avoid confusion between Greyhound Corporation and Greyhound Lines, which were now unrelated companies, Greyhound Corporation changed its name to Dial Corporation in 1991. In 1993 the Classic bus production was sold to Nova Bus. In August 1993, Dial Corporation divested itself from the bus production and established an independent corporation, MCII or Motor Coach Industries International. Included were MCI, TMC, Custom Coach Corp. and Hausman Bus Sales, among others.

In 1994, MCII merged with Dina from Mexico. As a result, RTS production and the Roswell plant were sold to Nova Bus, and MCI started marketing the Dina Viaggio coach in the US. Towards the year 2000 the integration of the two companies intensified and the new MCI F and G models are produced in Mexico.

Transit buses

While MCI is known for its coaches, the company has at various moments in its existence built transit buses, though those were normally not to MCI's own design.

More important was the production of the Orion I 30 ft transit bus in the TMC Roswell factory from 1979 through 1982. A total of 848 so-called TMC City Cruiser buses were built, mainly for various US transit companies. The model was virtually identical to the Orion built buses.

In 1987 MCI acquired General Motors' bus production which included both the RTS model in the US and the Classic model in Canada. The RTS production was moved to the TMC Roswell factory in New Mexico, where RTS production continued as the TMC RTS. Production of the Classic was continued as the MCI Classic in the existing facilities in Ste. Eustache, Quebec. MCI's only new development was the introduction of an articulated version of the MCI Classic in 1992. Only small numbers of this model were sold to Halifax and Quebec.

In 1993 the Canadian MCI transit bus factory was sold to Nova Bus, who continued the production of the Classic. The TMC RTS production facilities were sold to Nova Bus late in 1994, as a result of the MCI-DINA merger. Nova Bus continued the RTS production. As a result, both the RTS and Classic models have been produced by three different companies.

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The MC-8 was the first model assembled at the new Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) plant established at Roswell, New Mexico in 1974. TMC became primarily the builder of buses for Greyhound Lines while the Motor Coach Industries plant at Pembina, North Dakota, which began MC-8 production in 1973, continued to assemble buses for other operators.
     The original MC-8 had a slanted (parallelogram) window design with a wide blank panel midway which produced a seat pair on each side of the aisle with practically no window. These seats were always the last to fill up. Late in the production cycle, the window pattern was updated to eliminate the blind seats and provide larger windows to all. This same window pattern was continued in the next model, the MC-9.

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TMC - Transportation Manufacturing Corporation - built 30ft transit  buses from 1979-1982. A subsidiary of MCI.

The RTS
was originally designed by GMC, and production started in 1977. They made many improvements over the years ending production part way into 1987. MCI purchased production rights from GMC and built RTS's under the TMC (Transportation Manufacturing Corporation) brand later in 1987 in Roswell New Mexico. In the mid-nineties the rights were sold to Nova Bus, a Canadian company, now owned by Prevost. Somewhere around 20,000 RTS's were built, and it's estimated that 16,000 are still in use today.

1983 - The newly-formed NovaBUS company acquires the Motor Coach Industries bus manufacturing plant in St. Eustache, Quebec.

1994 - American subsidiary incorporated to acquired Transportation Manufacturing Corporation's RTS business from MCI.

The 30 foot Model I was produced as the CityCruiser under license from Orion by the Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) division of Greyhound. The TMC model was produced from 1979 to 1982.

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The RTS is one of the most popular transit buses in the US, and can be found in major cities such as Boston, NYC, and Los Angeles. They are known for their ruggedness, durability, and reliability. True to the GM, they are "Like a ROCK." They were originally designed and built by GMC from 1977-1987. In 1987, production was bought out by Transportation Manufacturing Corporation. Production shifted from Pontiac, Michigan to Roswell, New Mexico. TMC produced the RTS until late 1994, when NovaBUS bought out the production rights.

 

    For more information please read:

www.mcimotorcoach.com

www.busexplorer.com

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive

Larry Plachno - MCI Coaches from A to J. - National Bus Trader, April 2001

Modern Marvels: Buses - History Channel program

Ed Strauss & Karen Strauss - The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Donald F. Wood - American Buses

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery 

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William A. Luke - Trolley Buses: 1913 Through 2001 Photo Archive

Harvey Eckart - Mack Buses: 1900 Through 1960 Photo Archive

Brian Grams & Andrew Gold - GM Intercity Coaches 1944-1980 Photo Archive

Robert R. Ebert  - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company

John McKane - Flxible Transit Buses: 1953 Through 1995 Photo Archive

Bill Vossler - Cars, Trucks and Buses Made by Tractor Companies

Lyndon W Rowe - Municipal buses of the 1960s

Edward S. Kaminsky - American Car & Foundry Company 1899-1999

Dylan Frautschi - Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots and Post Houses

 



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