Buses World News

* UK - London: Bringing back the red double-decker buses

London,UK -Budget Travel, by Sean O'Neill -Jan 7, 2009: -- London was the only world capital with an iconic bus, the royal red Routemaster, a double-decker, hop-on hop-off, totally British bus that for more than four decades transported riders on routes all over town... Yet in 2005, authorities replaced the classic Routemasters with bendy buses that could carry more people and were "safer" because they no longer allowed a hop-on, hop-off system (which required a conductor to check tickets, an additional cost)... But the replacement bus has been a bust. And the city's recently elected mayor has been trying to fulfill his campaign pledge to bring the Routemasters back... A new bus design has been cooked up by Aston Martin . This design brings back the hop-on, hop-off model, while adding wheelchair-accessibility (which is something the old buses sadly lacked)... (Photo: Courtesy Aston Martin)

Labels: double-decker buses

Double-decker buses * USA - give new perspective for L.A. tourists

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Associated Press/Los Angeles Times/Guelph Mercury (Guelph,Ontario,Canada), by Chris Erskine -November 08, 2008: -- Topless yet tasteful, L.A.'s new double-decker buses might dramatically change the way tourists get around, how they spend their travel dollars and the very look of Southern California's streets... Introduced a year ago and recently expanded, the 16 double-deckers serve two separate circuits -- one looping through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the Mid-Wilshire area, the other spanning downtown. By spring, Starline Tours hopes to add a third circuit, serving the beach communities of Venice and Santa Monica... A significant wager in shaky times, the buses are a gambit by L.A.'s biggest tour operator to broaden the places tourists conveniently can roam...

Labels: double-decker buses

* India - Double-decker buses halted

Double-decker buses are still some way away from taking the city's roads

Chandigarh,India -TNN/The Times of India, by Rajan Walia -1 Nov 2008: -- ... UT transport authorities have rejected the tenders they received from two Mumbai-based firms for supplying such buses. Now, another tender will be floated. Chandigarh Transport Undertaking director PS Shergill said as per the tender it was necessary that applicant firms be manufacturing 10 double-decker buses in a financial year. But the two Mumbai firms were not able to match that requirement. However, sources told that it was the bus suppliers that stepped away from the project as they found that CTU needed just five buses, which would not have made for a very lucrative proposition for them. CTU officials have been looking for more such firms and state they will get these buses by the middle of next year...

Labels: double-decker buses

Double-Decker Bus * USA - Makes Trial Run, Delighting Riders and Avoiding Branches

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by MARTIN ESPINOZA -September 27, 2008: -- Because of a height issue — which would seem to be a built-in obstacle — the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has had to put off its plans to test its double-decker bus on two routes, including one that traverses Fifth Avenue... The reason? Tree branches on Riverside Drive and Fifth Avenue are in the way... Instead, the authority is currently limiting the trial to one route, the X17J from Staten Island to Manhattan... Even on a good day, it can take about an hour and 45 minutes to complete its journey, from Huguenot Avenue on Staten Island to East 57th Street in Midtown, during peak commuting hours... The new double-decker coach, built and loaned to the transportation authority by the ABC Bus Company of Belgium, is sleek, quiet and powerful. Equipped with a 450-horsepower diesel engine, the $650,000 giant moves effortlessly through New Jersey’s and New York’s highway infrastructure... A typical city bus has about 40 seats. The double-deckers seat 59 on the upper level and 22 on the lower level, where a portion of the rear is taken up by electrical boxes, a storage area, its fuel tank and a bathroom, which is locked during the trial run, and would be removed if the authority decides to buy the buses... (Photo by Christian Hansen for The New York Times - Morning commuters from Staten Island getting off the double-decker bus at a stop in Manhattan)

Labels: double-decker buses

Double-Decker * Bulgaria - Sofia Gets Sightseeing Buses This Spring

Sofia,Bulgaria -Balkan Travellers -3 March 2008: -- Starting in May, visitors of Bulgaria's capital will no longer have to depend on their own research, as they will be able to tour the city on special buses complete with a guide... The red, double-decker buses with an open-air second level are already common in many cities around the world. Complete with a guide, they provide tourists with a quick and easy way to see and photograph a city's most popular sites and streets... Starting this spring, and during the summer months, the company City Sightseeing Bulgaria will begin operating such routes around Sofia...

Labels: double-decker buses

End of the road * UK - For iconic buses

Swindon,England,UK -This is Wiltshire.co.uk, by Ben Perrin -16 Feb 2008: -- Thamesdown Transport is set to retire the last of its three Fleetline double decker buses... And the bus company is allowing the public to pay tribute to the buses by providing free journeys for any customers travelling on them today... There will be special journeys across Swindon on Service 12 between Haydon Wick and Eldene... (With the Thamesdown Transport double decker buses being decommissioned are drivers Stuart Curwen and Ray Funnell, managing director Paul Jenkins and driver Keith Mrowczynski)

Labels: double-decker buses

MUNI DOUBLE DECKER * USA - May join San Francisco bus fleet

San Francisco,CAL,USA -San Francisco Sentinel -5 December 2007: -- San Francisco public transit users will ride for free beginning December 12 on a view friendly double decker coach offering 83 seats compared to 52 seats available on standard articulated buses... The vehicle, displayed at City Hall Tuesday, will continue demonstration through January 8 as passengers ride free in returning for completing a survey on their experience with riding on high... San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) Executive Director Nathaniel Ford reported the vehicle is on loan to the City from bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited to determine its suitability on San Francisco streets... It will travel various MUNI bus routes during the demonstration project... (Photos by Bill Wilson)

Labels: double-decker buses

ANYBODY KNOW ?? * Holland - ... Why Double-Decker Buses Don’t Work In Amsterdam

The scene outside in the street just now

Amsterdam,The Netherlands -cloggie.org/Proggresive Gold, by Palau-19 June 2007: -- Palau's English, a former lawyer and political activist, Martin's Dutch and in IT. Currently we live in Amsterdam with 3 cats. We don't do this for money, we do this from political commitment and the idea that even if you can't directly change something, you can still take the piss out of it. Derision is also a political weapon...

Labels: double-decker buses