Finally, a double-decker in local bus service

[anacortesdamp]

No, not the Transit Agency I work for but the much bigger one in the next county to the south. Unfortunately it isn't a Leyland either.

Community Transit, based in Everett is running a one-year trial of a 40-foot Dennis Enviro 500 bus. I guess someone figured how to take another 6 inches out of the height of older designs to make them meet our maximum height of 14 ft.

It has proven quite popular so far and the agency is talking of getting maybe 30 more. The big advantage is that they can get more people into a 40' long space than the single-decker articulated rigs do using 65' of street.

Of course, being in latte land, they're calling it a "Double Tall".

To see the press release, with a photo, go to http://communitytransit.org/?mc=Newsandevents&subcat=10 .



Frank

[Spitfire]

Frank, Thanks for that link. I`ve printed it out ready to take to the museum on Tuesday. Three of the archivists write either books or magazine articals on double deck buses and will find it very interesting. It`s a pity they are not Leyland/DAF`s - we were talking about them (L/DAF)in America, only last week.
We had some on the streets of Leyland recently, on test, bound for Washington.

[David]

That's a beauty Frank.
Our area has just got an upgrade to their bus service with a new Silver Streak bus. Here's the link, click on the Silver Streak at the bottom of the page to see the new bus...

http://www.foothilltransit.org/

[anacortesdamp]

Jim:

I thought the Bus division had gone to Volvo rather than DAF. If Leyland/DAF is still making buses, I'm surprised Community Transit didn't get them, as PACCAR is local.


Frank

[shuffy]

I thought the bus division had gone to Volvo too.

[Spitfire]

So did I. However, I saw them with my own eyes. They were brand new double deck, painted red and white with`Sightseeing Tour of Washington` on the side. Special order? Evaluation? Modification?

[Spitfire]

I`ve just disovered a photo of one of them on this link,

http://www.dctours.us/tours/tourDetail.cfm?tour_id=8827.

(you almost had me thinking that it had all been a dream [][]).

[anacortesdamp]

Of course that's the "other Washington" for us and about 3200 miles away.


Frank

[anacortesdamp]

Here's a follow-up.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo...er01m.html

Community Transit is getting 23 additional buses, presumably also from Dennis.


Frank

[Spitfire]

They don`t bear much resemblance to the one loaned out by the museum last week.