What type of school bus has a flat front and no hood?

A Type D school bus has a flat front and no conventional hood.

Type D buses use a transit-style body, with the entrance door ahead of the front axle. Their engine may sit beside the driver, behind the passenger compartment, or between the axles, depending on the model. That layout eliminates the long hood associated with conventional Type C buses.

Type C is the design many people picture first: its body sits on a cowled medium-duty truck chassis, and its engine is mounted ahead of the windshield under a hood. Type A buses are smaller, van-based vehicles, while Type B buses use a stripped or bare chassis and generally have a shorter engine compartment beside the driver.

Type D buses are usually among the largest school buses and can be built with either front- or rear-engine layouts. The letter describes the body and chassis configuration, not the engine fuel or the bus’s seating capacity.