Winona Transit Service (Winona, MN)

[MVTArider]

I was in Winona, MN yesterday for a short period to do a bit of sightseeing. Winona has a four route bus system called Winona Transit Service. All of their buses are cutaways, and they operate 7 in total. All are medium duty GMC/Chevy C5500 chassis with ElDorado Areo Elite or Glaval Titan bodies from what I saw.

WTS bus stop sign and transfer point shelter:

In addition to Winona Transit Service routes, there are also two Winona State University Shuttle loops that operate during Fall and Spring semesters. One was being operated by a Winona Transit bus. The other had a Gillig Phantom which I believe is owned and operated by WSU. I'm not sure where the Phantom is from, it looks like an ex-rental car shuttle unit though, or possibly ex-Cambus, since it has wide rear doors. It has a faded out 42 on the rear, although it doesn't seem to have any fleet number assigned currently.

Additionally WSU did have a Flxible Metro of some type before. You can see it in this Winona Daily News photo when it was involved in an accident. I do not know if it's still active or not.

In the future when the Phantom needs replacement I'm sure they will find another large bus to run. The loop it was operating had very heavy ridership, with 25-35 riders getting on and off at the stop by where I took the photos.

[busfreak99]

I going to say the gillig phantom is an ex rental car company Cambus first gilligs were 64-78 purchased in 1989. The Flxible may possibly be from La Crosse Wisconsin they operated a couple 30ft flx's or it could be an ex Mankato Flx as well to bad you cant see how long the bus is.