Rollsigns from Owen Sound, ON
Transit in Owen Sound dates back to the creation of Owen Sound Bus Lines Ltd. in December
of 1953. It's operation was short lived, operating only until 1961. The fleet in the era of the sign
below comprised a couple types of vehicles - 35 foot GMC New Looks and 30 foot Orion I buses,
(7 buses total, all of which are retired and either sold or scrapped). They also had 40-foot
New Flyer low floors buses with flipdot electronic signs, all of which were sold to Oakville, Ontario.
The next fleet of ElDorado EZ Rider II buses returned the fleet to rollsign use. After First Transit
took over operations, the service was run with a fleet of Chevrolet/Arboc cutaway buses with
LED electronic signs. On August 31, 2020, Voyago began an inter-community transit service
called Guelph Owen Sound Transit (GOST) operating as the name suggests, between
Guelph and Owen Sound. On August 27, 2022, Voyago was awarded the contract to operate
local transit within Owen Sound. Initially using basic cutaway buses, its anticipated the fleet
will be run with Arboc cutaways starting sometime in 2023.
This mylar front route rollsign is off of 1981 built GMC T6H-5307N
#811. It has no print date or sign tag. It has 20 exposures. This
was one of only seven signs of this style to exist. Of the remaining
six, three were destroyed; one still occupied Orion I #801 when I
visited the system last in 1996; one was still in Orion I #781
which, again in 1996, was for sale privately just east of Owen
Sound, and the seventh one is a second copy I own, which I'm
considering donating to the Owen Sound Historical Board.
Update: All the above mentioned buses have since been scrapped.
Owen Sound Transit 1981 built GMC T6H-5307N #811 (the vehicle
that housed this rollsign) as it was found along with sister GMC Coach
#772 at Metro Collision in St. Catharines, Ontario on February 23, 1998.
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