All-Time Phoenix Bus and Rail Rosters

Phoenix Street Railway Company

Streetcars

  • Cars 1-6. No photographs known. Equipment unknown.
  • Cars 7-17. Single-truck cars, possibly from Los Angeles
  • #18. American Car Co., St. Louis. Renumbered #1 in 1912. Two trucks, 32 seats, partially open with enclosed center section.
  • #19-23. Half-open, half-closed. Possibly from Washington DC or New York City. 43 feet long. Apparently built by grafting two smaller cars together.
  • #30-35. American Car Co., originally for Los Angeles Pacific. 39 ft. 4 in., 32 seats. These were used on the Glendale Interurban line.
  • #40-43. Ordered by Phoenix from American in 1913. 39 feet, 40 seats.
  • 50/60/70 classes, a fleet of twelve wooden cars from San Diego. 31 foot 6 inches, 34 seats, half open half closed.
  • #100-134, eighteen cars (even numbers only), ordered by the city and delivered 25 December 1928. Two of these survive at the Museum. 39 foot 11 inch, 40 seats

Buses

  • The city bought two buses in 1929 to serve South Phoenix. Equipment unknown, photo on page 113 of Fleming’s “Ride a Mile” book.
  • Six Ford buses, #12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; purchased from Consolidated Motors, 7th Avenue and Washington, in 1937. Model unknown, pictured on page 119 of Fleming’s book.
  • prior to 1948: model unknown, #780 of unknown series, pictured on page 153 of Fleming’s book

1917-?: Phoenix-Glendale Stage

The Belt Line Auto Stage company operated a “jitney” along the recently-paved Grand Avenue starting in 1917.

  • Equipment unknown, pictured on page 91 of Fleming’s “Ride A Mile” book

1930s-1966: Menderson / Metropolitan Lines

Metropolitan began as the Menderson Bus Line in the late 1930s, competing with the Phoenix Transportation System (formerly the Street Railway). By 1946, Menderson was sold to a group of five lawyers and it was renamed  Metropolitan Lines. In 1955, city officials, guided by the powerful influence of Phoenix magnate Eugene Pulliam, attempted to sell the city bus system to a private investment firm that would also have purchased Metropolitan Lines. Taxpayers were told the system was a tax burden and that the private firms could turn a profit and improve the service. The city drivers and other private concerns provided successful opposition, and the voters denied the sale attempt for a few years.  L. A. Tanner purchased Metropolitan lines in 1955 and renamed the new system, Valley Transit Line (VTL). In 1959 the sale was completed, unifying all buses under VTL. In 1966, the 109 buses of VTL were sold to American Transit Systems of St. Louis for just under a million dollars. The system was renamed, Phoenix Transit System (PTS), which eventually became today’s Valley Metro.

  • Twin Coach FLP-35, “Fageoliner” Series, propane powered. #530-532, delivered 1952-09. Coach 530 (serial # 2) is preserved by Old Pueblo Trolley (Tucson, AZ). [Source: Ohio Museum of Transportation]
  • Twin Coach 44-S, serial #478-480, unit # 510-512, delivered 1948-09. [Source: Ohio Museum of Transportation]
  • Details pending (information please?) at right, formerly displayed at Central Station, now at the Phoenix Public Transit Department’s South Operating Facility.
  • (additional equipment rosters requested)

1966-1985: Phoenix Transit System

  • #1908, #1909 were model-year 1969 GM Model T6H-4521A, 45-passenger coaches. Photos and discussion at BusTalk.
  • M-A-N articulated
  • GM RTS-4 (with “TICO” emblem) formerly displayed at Central Station, now at the Phoenix Public Transit Department’s South Operating Facility, see above photo.

1974-?: The “Bug Line”

John Balfour’s “The Bug Line” began operating a free, crosstown bus service from Christown [renamed "Spectrum Mall" in the late 1990s] to ASU. Operating revenues were generated through the sale of advertisements.

  • (Have information on rosters? Please advise.)

1985-present: RPTA (Valley Metro)

  • Roster pending, please advise of information

2006-present: Valley Metro Rail

  • #101-150. Kinki-Sharyo Light Rail Vehicles.