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Driver: Carl Jr. Vehicle: The Regent Teams: Metro Transit Co-op Base: 2025 Matchbox ‘21 Ford Bronco
Every fleet needs an upsell, and the Regent is the Metro Transit Co-op’s answer to riders who don’t want to admit they’re taking the bus. It’s a four-door Bronco, full stop — same ground clearance, same rattling suspension, same bring-your-own-gun policy as every other vehicle in the co-op’s lineup. What it has that the others don’t is captain’s chairs bolted in the back, a strip of running lights along the roof rack, and a laminated card on the dash that refers to the cupholders as “the refreshment bay.”
The one thing Carl Jr. can’t fake is the extra seats, and in the wasteland that turns out to matter more than the running lights. More seats means more guns, and more guns has bailed out more than one convoy that assumed the fancy Bronco was all show. Carl Jr. never mentions this in the sales pitch. He doesn’t have to. Word travels, and lately the waitlist for the Regent is longer than the one for the bus.