MiniChamps Factory (Roblox)

MiniChamps Factory (known as MCF) was a bus body and chassis manufacturer owned by ChampDeLaBlox. This manufacturer provided recent vehicles for an alliance group of transit agencies known as "MiniChamps North America" while older models were released for free use. The chassis systems, however are not PGS compliant and no longer supported.

The group currently has a Twitter account which has not been active since 2018 and a Roblox group. Operations were based out of New York, NY.

History
In 2014, ChampDeLaBlox started producing his first chassis, which was for unknown agencies but poorly adopted. This system did not fare well, with only his New York City agency getting the chassis system. In late 2016, it was released for free use. As a result, Fairview Transit's second generation chassis used this system with custom-made bus bodies, as it was relatively easy for developers to build and upgrade. By 2016, complete models using this chassis system were made available for the Roblox community to use for other reasons, allowing Champ to gain access to the community. In addition to this, Champ further produced a dynamic steering-equipped NovaBUS LFS in 2015-2016 for the TTC, which did not fare well and was later converted to an arcade-style chassis.

By late 2016, Champ had gotten to work on what would be the S1 chassis. The bodies of S1 buses were easy to recognize as they did not have a visible interior from outside, while some buses did not have an interior altogether. These were first run on his version of New York City's MTA bus operations, then eventually on linkTO; the latter exclusively operated the S1 chassis. In November 2017, Tobes Transportation Authority switched over from an arcade-style chassis to the S1 chassis, starting with its New Flyer D40LFs.

In September 2017, the S2 chassis was rolled out and the MiniChamps Alliance (aka MiniChamps North America) was formed, consisting of MTA New York City Transit, St. Catherines Transit Commission and the Tobes Transportation Authority. These three agencies would be the only operators running the S2 chassis and to receive upgrades for the system. While MTA started with the New Flyer C40LF, TTA had the New Flyer D30LF as its first S2 model (which expanded to a plethora of models) and St. Catherines mainly used the NovaBUS LFS and LFSA.

In November 2017, the MCA sanctioned members in the Toronto Transit Commissions as a way to force dual-agency operators to show loyalty to either MCA or TTC. This move was highly controversial and went to the point of MCA banning users in the Toronto Transit Commission from entering their maps.

By the start of 2018, the three agencies were heavily using the S2 chassis and new models for the TTA were released, as older models were quickly retired or put into storage to show brand loyalty. Both the TTA and St Catherines Transit Commission had a majority S2 fleet at that time.

However, when WAVE Solutions began to move into the TTA in mid-2018, the S2 chassis was pulled in favour of the W1 chassis. MCF had been accused of corruption following the issues between TTC and TTA and therefore, Tobes9999 pulled the plug on MCA to reestablish relationships with the TTC, with St. Catherines Transit Commission doing the same a few days later. Furthermore, the S2 chassis was no longer supported, meaning that buses did not work properly by that time. The final blow came when mandatory Filering Enabled and PGS requirements were implemented, making the chassis unusable altogether. As a result, all three agencies had to pull their S2 fleets from service- TTA and SCTC retired their fleets altogether and replaced them with WAVE Solutions models (although the former briefly reactivated them). However, for ChampDeLaBlox's MTA, development continued and S2 buses continued running despite that support for MCF had waned.

In late 2020, ChampDeLaBlox was arrested for a what was believed to be a major traffic violation in real life; therefore his group has been shut down indefinitely and is now inactive.

MCA and TTC Conflict
In October 2017, ChampDeLaBlox accused TTC owner LexRD of pulling people from TTA, MTA and SCTC runs as there were operators in multiple agencies, which would balance out their attendance between agencies. As the Toronto Transit Commission held daily runs at that point, operators in multiple agencies would usually attend events based on their schedule and if possible, would attend a MCA alliance run if time allowed. It was believed that Champ then blocked the Roblox TTC's official accounts following the arguments on his profile.

For both companies, an argument ensued through to November 8, 2017, when MiniChamps North America issued sanctions against the Toronto Transit Commission. Champ then warned the TTA and St. Catherines Transit Commission that they would be booted from the alliance if relations between with the TTC continued. Many operators that had positions at the TTC were required to leave either the MCA group(s) or the TTC. If players were in MCA groups and the TTC at the time, joining a game owned by the former would result in being met with a red screen and effectively locked players out of their shift.

The sanctions continued until mid-2018, when both the TTA and SCTC found Champ to be corrupt and left the alliance, which was no longer being supported. They went to re-establish relationships with Toronto Transit Commission, enabling inter-agency operators to resume their positions.

Leaks
In mid-2018, the S2 D40LF, NovaBUS LFS and Orion VII OG were pulled from a leaked TTA map by an unknown user. The bus bodies were removed from the chassis and placed onto an A-Chassis, then modified to use slider destination displays.