[PRCo] OT: Muni to test double-deckers!!!! YAY!

[Jim Holland]

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2007/11/15/chronicle/archive/2007/11/\15/BA33TD8AA.html


*(11-15) 13:40 PST San Francisco -* --

City officials revealed today that they are looking at adding 
double-decker buses to San Francisco's public transit fleet, and will 
press one into service later this month for a short-term experiment.

The borrowed double-decker bus will travel along some of the city's 
busiest transit corridors, including Geary and Mission streets, for 
example, to see how they perform and whether the riding public is keen 
on the idea.

At 14-feet tall, city officials say there should be no problem of the 
buses interfering with overhead utility lines. They also can fit through 
the Stockton Street tunnel as long as drivers stay in the middle lanes.

Double-decker buses, an iconic transportation option in London, "have a 
lot of advantages," Muni chief Nathaniel Ford told The Chronicle. Among 
them: They can hold a lot of people without taking up too much room on 
the congested streets and will be easier to maneuver through traffic and 
around corners than the long articulated buses.

They also will be easier to store in the city's already jam-packed 
maintenance yards because they take up less floor space.

The test vehicle will be able to seat 80, with additional standing room.

Disabled rights activists in the city already have raised concern that 
the stairs would prevent some riders with mobility impairments from 
accessing the top deck, which would amount to inequitable service. Ford 
said Muni is committed to addressing the concern in some fashion.

The bus, manufactured by the British firm Alexander Dennis Ltd., will 
make its test run in San Francisco sometime after Thanksgiving before it 
is delivered to Las Vegas.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada began 
operating its double-decker "Deuce" bus service on the Las Vegas strip 
two years ago and is one of two public transit agencies in the United 
States to use the two-tiered buses. The system serving Snohomish County 
and Seattle in Washington began a double-decker bus pilot project over 
the summer.

San Francisco's test is expected to last about three weeks.


--
-Aleksandr Prodan

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Jim  Holland
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Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo)
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..............................From 1930 -- 1950
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Pennsylvania  Trolley  Museum  (PTM)
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http://www.pa-trolley.org/
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N.M.R.A.
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http://www.nmra.org/