Strathcona County Transit 1991-1992 Goshen's and Overland ELF's #882-886

Strathcona County Transit had an interesting assortment of minibuses in the early 1990s. They are numbered after the RTS #881, and it seems Strathcona at the time elected to leave the rest of the 800's for minibuses, jumping to the 900s for conventional buses, starting with the 1992 MCI Classic's . 882 and 883 are 1991 Goshen GC II's on the Ford Econoline chassis. 884 is a 1992 Goshen Sentry. While it didn't have a cutaway style chassis, and looked more like a conventional bus, it was still a lighter duty design than, say an MCI Classic. The Goshen's were used in regular transit service. 885 and 886 are 1992 Overland ELF's. Despite Edmonton Transit having the better known ELF fleet in the Edmonton area, this pair for Strathcona were the first in the region. These fit into a bit of a grey area. They were originally deployed on the the new Strathcona County Accessible Transportation (SCAT) service that launched in 1992. It sounds like one would be used on a fixed route with hourly frequencies serving seniors lodges, medical facilities, and shopping centres, while the other was providing demand responsive service. Service included to rural areas of Strathcona County with the rural areas divided into zones which would be serviced on specific days. While SCAT was initially operated by Strathcona County Transit under it's contract with Diversified for drivers, it would later be contracted out to Parkwood Transportation who supplied their own buses, vans, and taxis. It is assumed at that point 885 and 886 were operated as regular buses. Parkwood Transportation had the contract by at least 1997, but probably earlier.
The Goshen Sentry and the two ELF's both had flipdot destination signs. It is unknown what 882 and 883 had.
These 5 buses didn't last long. They were gone from the fleet prior to 1999, likely sooner. I would imagine 887-891 helped retire them. While we haven't found either of the Goshen GC II's, 884 could be seen occasionally in the Edmonton area with it's tell tale flip dot sign and grey lower skirt panels. 885 was found at a seniors home in Sherwood Park and 886 was randomly found in Vancouver near the former Greyhound Depot.

Thumbnail	Bus #	Date	Description
	883		883 seen in an image taken from a SCT transit guide.
	884	March 2002	ex 884 on a shuttle at the Skyreach Centre/ Agricom.
	885	February 7, 2007	ex 885 at a seniors home in Sherwood Park.
	885	February 7, 2007	ex 885 at a seniors home in Sherwood Park.
	886	October 29, 2007	ex 886 in Vancouver, BC.
	886	October 29, 2007	ex 886 in Vancouver, BC.