MTC Bus, Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis, Early 1970s
The Metropolitan Transit Commission (a division of the Metropolitan Council regional planning agency) took over the privately-owned Twin Cities Lines bus system on September 18, 1970. Most of the buses Metro Transit acquired were at least 15 years old and in lousy shape. The commission launched a five-year improvement plan to replace the old exhaust belchers with new, shiny red ones, but the process took time. Some of the old buses, like the one shown in this photo, continued to ply Twin Cities streets into the mid 1970s.
Photo via Old Minneapolis