Seattle Puts Double-Decker Buses Into Service

"Don't call it a double-decker bus. It's a double tall, and that's no latte.

Community Transit this week plans to introduce into its commuter service a new double-decker bus, a style popular in Great Britain.

The agency plans to test the bus for a year, running it on as many of its commuter routes as possible before deciding whether to add a few to its fleet."

"It does not lean a bit," said Greg Lissner, a quality service monitor who has driven the new rig for several hours. He's teaching other bus drivers how to handle it.

"The bus is designed so that 75 percent of the weight sits in the bottom 4 feet of the bus, said Rob Montgomery, manager of technical support services and training for Alexander Dennis Inc., the bus builder.

The bus is 14 feet tall, short enough to clear bridges but tall enough that some tree pruning has had to be done on the routes that the bus will take, Lissner said. Standard buses are 10 feet tall."

"It will cost Community Transit about $650,000 to buy a double-decker bus. A normal bus costs about $580,000. Leasing this one will cost $15,000 per month for a year, said Tom Pearce, a spokesman for the agency.

The 40-foot-long bus can carry double the number of passengers of a typical bus and is easier to handle and smaller in traffic than an articulated bus, Pearce said."