Breeze Transit Vehicle Fleet

Page was created on 02/06/2025

Due to some issues that were causing the main Breeze Transit page to appear distorted, I’ve separated the transit vehicle fleet information. On this page, you’ll be able to view photos of most of Breeze’s active bus fleet, as well as some of their retired units. Additional information regarding Breeze’s retired buses can be found on the CPTDB Wiki (please note that accuracy is not guaranteed).

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Active (Revenue Service) Vehicles

Breeze operates an all-Gillig Low Floor clean diesel fleet of 57 buses for its mainstay (or standard) fixed routes. For their trolley (or touring) routes, a collection of roughly 17 high-floor Hometown Manufacturing trolley replica vehicles are used.

Gillig Low Floor Diesel

Hometown Manufacturing Diesel Trolley Vehicles

Villager, Mainstreet, & Streetcar

Current Fleet Roster

Gillig Low Floors

All Standard fixed-route vehicles are 35′ in length

2014 Units – #’s 1401 through 1419
2016 Units – #’s 1601 through 1610
2017 Units – #’s 1701 through 1720
2023 Units – #’s 2301 through 2308

#1416 at the Downtown Sarasota Transfer Center.

At this time, I do not have any other photos of the trolley vehicles.

Retired Vehicles

While there are many other buses that Breeze had in its fleet in the past, this section will only outline the buses that I have photos of (with exception to the Orions). If you’d like to contribute any photos, please reach out to me via the Contact Form.

1993 Orion II # 9301 approaching the Downtown Sarasota Station.

Orion II & Orion V

1991 31′ Orion I Units – #’s 9101 through 9113

Retired as of 2004

1993 36′ Orion I Units – #’s 9301 through 9303

Retired as of 2007

1994 35′ Orion V Units – #’s 9401 through 9407

Retired as of 2010

While I never got to ride on any of them, the Breeze once had a small fleet of Orion I & Orion V high floor buses. A few of these buses wound up being repainted in with the most recent iteration of the SCAT logo before being retired.

2001 Gillig Phantom # 4001 at the Downtown Sarasota Station.

35′ Gillig Phantom

1999 Units – #’s 9720 through 9731

Retired as of 2014

2001 Units – #’s 3701, 3801, 3901, 4001, 4101, 4201, 4301, & 4401

Retired as of 2016

2002 Units – #’s 4502, 4602, 4702, 4802, & 4902

Retired as of 2016

That name just sounds plain haunting don’t it? The Gillig Phantom was found in a lot of mid-sized transit agencies & Sarasota was no exception. Many of these units had a distinct kneeling sound, maybe old style I’d say.

It sounded like a large truck backing up. But my understanding is that many older generation Nova LFS units also produced the same sound.

Gillig Phantom (Gallery)

#4502 at the Downtown Sarasota Transfer Center.

# 5404 at the Downtown Sarasota Station.

35′ Gillig Low Floor Diesel

2004 Units – #’s 5004, 5104, 5204, 5304, & 5404

Retired as of 2016

2006 Units – #’s 0611 & 0612

Retired as of 2019

In an effort to phase the bus fleet out of high-floor vehicles, five Gillig standard low floor buses were purchased, followed by two more roughly a year later. These buses would eventually form the foundation for subsequent orders once the decision was made to no longer pursue hybrid buses.

# 0601 at the Downtown Sarasota Station.

Gillig BRT Hybrid

2006 35′ Units – #’s 0601 through 0610

Retired as of 2019

2009 29′ Units – #’s 0901 through 0904

Retired as of 2017

2011 35′ Units – #’s 1107 through 1109

Retired as of 2021

2011 29′ Units – #’s 1110 through 1112

Retired as of 2021

Breeze ordered two batches of Gillig hybrid buses in the BRT design. While these buses served the agency well, it was decided to not pursue further hybrid bus orders. The front end of these buses all were spec’d with the single-piece windshield & BRT style side view mirrors.

Gillig Low Floor (Gallery)

Gillig BRT Hybrid (Gallery)

#0602 at the Downtown Sarasota Transfer Center.

# 1202X (now # 1218 at Hillsborough Transit Authority) by the Downtown Sarasota Station.

40′ Gillig BRT Diesel (Suburban Configuration)

2011 Units – #’s 1101X through 1106X
2012 Units – #’s 1201X & 1202X

All units were decommissioned & sold to the Hillsborough Transit Authority in 2018.

In 2010, the Breeze purchased a small fleet of 40′ Clean Diesel Gillig Low Floor BRT Suburban transit buses in anticipation of launching express service between Sarasota, Manatee, & Hillsborough Counties. These buses were different from the standard Low Floors in that they have plush, high-back seating, luggage racks, and a single entry/exit door. When plans for the intercounty express routes fell through, the Breeze kept the buses for intracounty express routes 80X, 90X, & 100X instead. While the reason for the intercounty express plan failing is unknown, my long-held suspicion is that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) refused to grant Breeze state Urban Corridor Program funding for the service. This is the same state-level operational grant funding that has been used to help maintain PSTA Route 100X & 300X services.

The buses were originally distinguished from the rest of the Breeze fleet with an “X” suffix after the unit number. Thus, the 2011 units were numbered 1101X through 1106X & the 2012 units were numbered 1201X & 1202X. 1106X donned a unique livery from the rest of the seven buses, as it served as a Gillig demo unit for a short period of time before being delivered. Therefore, the bus often showed up at special events.

The only downside with these buses is that they could not enter the Downtown Sarasota Station due to the terminal being designed to only handle buses with a max length of 35′. Therefore, these buses had to stage along Lemon Ave, just north of the terminal.

# 0614 at the Downtown Sarasota Station

2006 Glaval Titan II Diesel Cutaway Van

#’s 0613 through 0623
Chevrolet C4500 Chassis

Retired as of 2017

Breeze purchased eleven Glaval Titan cutaway vans to operate on lower ridership routes throughout the county. These vans often ran on defunct Routes 4 & 18, among others during any given time.

Gillig BRT Diesel (Gallery)