RochesterSubway.com : Bus Graveyard

Bus Graveyard

September 8th, 2015

The following is a guest post submitted anonymously with additional photos by Mike Governale

I was near the airport when Vice President Biden’s plane came in a few weeks ago. Held up by a road block, I happened to find myself near a junk yard full of old RTS buses. I knew traffic wouldn’t be moving for a while so I pulled over and got out to take a closer look. It was little bus graveyard…

A barbed wire chain link fence was wide open. On the other side I could see what appeared to be twenty buses parked in rows, two or three deep. Another dozen or so scattered around the perimeter of the yard. Some were resting on the broken asphalt lot. Others nestled in the overgrown grass and weeds.

I started talking with the guy in the car behind me who, as it turns out, drives a bus. He told me the old buses often get sold to third world countries.

RTS spokesperson Carole Dowling confirmed for us this lot is used to store retired buses that are in the process of being sold. “We issue an invitation to vendors to submit bids to purchase the retired buses,” Dowling says. “They are typically sold for parts and scrap given their condition, but sometimes they are purchased to be put back into use.”

The lot is near the airport but I’m not going to give away the exact location. This yard is not at all secure and we don’t want to encourage anyone who might come and do (more) damage.

I wandered around for a bit and noticed several of the buses were open. I got on and snapped a few pics…

Soon I realized that all of the cars that had been held up by the roadblock were gone and I was totally alone. Creeped me out a bit or else I would have stayed longer.

Anyway, here’s hoping these buses get a second chance at life.

• • •

Tags: abandoned places, airport, bus, bus graveyard, Greater Rochester International Airport, GRI Airport, mass transit, mass transportation, public transit, public transportation, Regional Transit Service (RTS), Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), transit, urban exploration

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2015 at 7:03 am and is filed under Rochester Images, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Exploration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Responses to “Bus Graveyard”

Andrew says:

September 8, 2015 at 3:27 pm

Is there a way for someone here to buy one of these buses? I know of a few people you are looking to buy an old city bus or school bus to rehab it into an RV.
John L says:

September 8, 2015 at 4:25 pm

It’s creepy to think about the fact that the majority of the city buses I rode going to high school are probably there now, or had been there. Great pictures!
Chris O says:

October 4, 2015 at 4:37 pm

That is the old Gottry building. They were a crane service and rigging company. The signs came down and they disappeared a few years ago.
Royce Breslawski says:

January 25, 2017 at 8:39 pm

There is a similar “bus graveyard” in the woods behind the SUNY brockport campus. Although fewer in number, The buses are scattered throughout the woods in a seemingly random way that makes me wonder how they got there. They are public school buses, most likely from the 70’s
Andy says:

February 25, 2018 at 2:11 pm

It’s a shame that some people would want to vandalize these buses. Hopefully these buses will either be given a second chance by being fixed up and out back onto the road or at least stripped down for parts. Or at the least be left to rest where they are without being ruined.
William hopkinson says:

January 9, 2019 at 6:35 pm

can I buy a bus here
RochesterSubway.com says:

January 10, 2019 at 9:38 am

Probably. Call RTS.
bobthecow says:

May 15, 2019 at 8:15 am

where is this located on google maps
J says:

April 10, 2020 at 2:56 pm

where is this ?

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Bus Graveyard

9 Responses to “Bus Graveyard”

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