A working piece of transportation history.
RTD is built around a 2007 Blue Bird All American RE—a full-size, rear-engine school bus that spent its service life in Arizona and now serves as a hands-on educational exhibit in North Texas.
A second life built around learning.
School buses are designed around inspection, visibility, heavy-duty systems, and daily responsibility. That makes this bus more than a backdrop: it is a real vehicle where participants can connect equipment with purpose.
After years of service in Arizona, the bus began a new chapter with Rolling Transportation Discovery. At events it becomes a stationary learning platform where people can examine the driver's area, safety equipment, vehicle systems, engine compartment, and the checks performed before a bus goes into service.
RTD does not provide passenger transportation. At events, the bus is used as a supervised educational static display.
RE stands for Rear Engine. That one design choice helps open up lessons about cooling, drivetrain packaging, visibility, and how different bus layouts serve different needs.
What the bus helps explain.
The value of the exhibit is in the details: what people can notice up close, and what those details reveal about how a real heavy vehicle is built.
Visibility
Why mirrors, sight lines, and loading zones matter before the bus ever starts moving.
Inspection
How a professional walkaround turns observation into a safety habit.
Engineering
How cooling, power, structure, and layout choices come together in one vehicle.
A school-bus platform with decades of history.
Blue Bird was founded in Fort Valley, Georgia, in 1927. Its All American line became one of the defining flat-front, Type D school-bus platforms in North America.
The RE in All American RE means Rear Engine. Moving the powertrain to the back changes the layout of the bus and makes the engine, cooling, drivetrain, and packaging choices especially useful for hands-on teaching.
Heavy-duty systems you can actually see.
The mechanical side of the bus creates a natural path from “what is this?” to “how does this work, and why does it matter?”
Cummins ISC 8.3
An inline-six turbo-diesel used in medium-duty commercial applications, including buses. The rear-engine installation makes major systems accessible for supervised demonstrations.
Allison MD3060
An electronically controlled automatic transmission that carries power from the engine into the driveline and opens the door to conversations about gearing, torque, controls, and vehicle operation.
Type D rear-engine layout
A different packaging approach from a conventional school bus, useful for teaching vehicle design, weight distribution, cooling, access, and how engineers make tradeoffs.
Built by people who believe transportation can teach.
RTD grew from the idea that equipment, safety, and transportation careers become more meaningful when people can explore them firsthand and ask questions.
Britton H.
Britton founded Rolling Transportation Discovery after seeing firsthand how strongly school transportation can connect with a community. While working as a school bus driver, he found that students and families were often most engaged when transportation became something they could understand rather than simply use.
Today he works professionally in aviation while continuing that interest in transportation education through RTD. His background in school transportation and aviation shapes the project's focus on preparation, safety, systems knowledge, and practical teaching.
Christopher E.
Christopher is a flight instructor who enjoys teaching, mentorship, and community involvement. His aviation work centers on helping people build knowledge and confidence through structured, practical instruction.
At RTD, Christopher supports the organization's educational programs, safety perspective, and outreach as the project continues to develop.
Come explore the bus.
Turn a familiar yellow school bus into a hands-on lesson about safety, systems, careers, and transportation.