Ride tall: Sound Transit to purchase new double-decker transit buses
Monday, April 28, 2014
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| Soon there will be Sound Transit double decker buses on the freeway |
Some bus riders will get a new view on their commute when Sound Transit rolls out several new double-decker buses for service between Snohomish County and Seattle next year. The Sound Transit Board recently approved the purchase of five new double-decker buses.
The double-decker buses are similar to the popular "Double Tall" buses currently operated by Everett-based Community Transit. Sound Transit will run the new tall buses on crowded routes connecting Seattle and Snohomish County.
With 77 seats, each new 13′ 6″ tall bus will offer around 40 percent more capacity, enabling Sound Transit to serve more riders with the same number of buses and drivers. The double-decker buses will be limited to Snohomish County routes because Community Transit has experience maintaining and operating them following the launch of their "Double Tall" service in 2011. Sound Transit contracts with Community Transit to operate its Snohomish County-based routes.
Total purchase price for the 22 replacement buses (including 17 regular sized buses for Pierce County runs) is $15 million including taxes and contingency. The double-decker buses will be manufactured by Alexander Dennis Limited in Indiana. The CNG buses will be manufactured by Gillig Corp. of California.
Updated 05-01-2014 9:08pm
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5 comments:
Hmm, "77 seats, each new 13′ 6″ tall bus will offer around 40 percent more capacity". Articulated buses seat 64 and are safer. Even in the UK where they have lots of double-deckers, they have problems with drivers clipping bridges. Seems even less safe here with the part-time drivers and freeway speeds. Wouldn't want to be on the upper deck in the express lane when another vehicle cuts off the bus.
I thought that the transit companys were broke and were going to have to cut service since the proposed $60:00 car tax went down to defeat. I guess they arn't really broke after all. imagine that!
It's Seattle Metro that has the budget issue and is threatening to cut service. Sound Transit is a different company.
ST took over Metro's revenue-generating routes, puting themselves in the black and Metro in the red.
Conventional wisdom is that Shoreliners vote predominantly with the Dems. This outcome suggests Shoreline values aren't so partisan as we once thought.
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