Produced 1989 - 1999
Heuliez' experience in building small buses had largely been gained on behalf of other manufacturers. Back in the 1970s the company had been contracted by Saviem to produce a small bus known as the SC50. In the 1980s, the exercise had been repeated, with Heuliez producing the R212 (the former CBM 220B) on behalf of Renault. Subsequently, Heuliez took over the R212 entirely and developed it into a new model known as the GX77H. The first examples of the new bus were built for RTM, Marseille in 1989.
TCN, Nīmes
nos. 23 (228 VH 30) and 22 (227 VH 30) - September 1999
Two of Nīmes' GX77Hs at rest at their home depot. The basic layout of the
bus is similar to the CBM 220B / Renault R212, however the front has been styled
to match the bigger members of Heuliez' range, the GX107 and GX187. Smaller
windows than the CBM design give the bus a very heavy-looking roof.
STAS, St.
Etienne no. 618 (2351 WN 42) - September 2000
STAS keep a small stock of midibuses for lightly-used routes, including
local services in Firminy where no. 618 was found. The engine is behind the
access panel in mid-wheelbase.
The little GX77H shares a little of the body styling of its bigger brothers in the Heuliez range, the
GX107 and GX187, although its narrow width makes it look more upright. The tall windows of the 220B/R212 were replaced with shallower ones giving the GX77H a rather heavy roofline in comparison with its predecessor. Otherwise the layout is similar – the engine is still in a box on the offside and the bus still has an entrance at the front and exit at the rear. Unlike the R212, the GX77H has a box structure rather than a separate chassis.
These days, the GX77H is to be found in small numbers with many operators all over the country. Like other small buses, it has rarely sold in anything other than small batches. Marseille eventually built up a fleet of 26 buses, Bordeaux bought 15 to replace a previous batch of 220Bs and RATP had 17, but generally GX77Hs were sold only in ones and twos. Once the GX107 and GX187 had disappeared from the Heuliez range in 1998 the GX77H became the last non-low-floor member of the Heuliez product range, so Heuliez set to work designing a replacement. This appeared in 1999 as the
GX117.