Metro today unveiled (sorta) their newly designed Metrobus. Although Metro only unveiled the extra-long “bendy” version today, it expects its entire fleet to adopt the same look and design. Expect the first set of buses to roll out in about a month.
The new design and color scheme - consisting of silver-and-red - are designed to attract new ridership. It is they same concept, albeit a slightly different design, that private companies like The Connector have used to attract tourist-types who would normally not ride a bus.
Metro currently employs a fleet of 1,500 Metrobuses, the majority of which run on diesel engines. In contrast, the new buses will be powered by natural gas (currently employed on a select number of Metrobuses). Where diesel-fueled buses use engines which create a herky-jerky ride experience, the natural gas buses should comparatively feel like sliding on silk.
Another design change is a low-to-the-ground setting employed by buses in Europe, and on some routes in Washington. Riders currently have to trevass a three-foot incline to board most buses in use today. And making a current Metrobus accessable to the physically-challenged requires the driver to unfurl a complicated ramp, or jack down the bus down on a hydrolic pump. The new, low design requires less of an adjustment and most patrons will be able to slip from sidewalk to bus largely without effort (the same way that Metro trains operate at a station platform). All buses will have automatic verbal and visual announcements of upcoming stops.
Don’t expect every line to look dramatically different just yet. Metro plans to have 22 of the new buses on the street by the end of August, with a an additional 203 by next June. As older buses are retired, the newer models will begin to replace the remaining 1,300 Metrobuses.
I will absolutely bet on that…
I also wonder if the new line still has the old cyclist killing imperative?……………..
July 21, 2008 at 7:39 pmi’m betting that they will not deploy them in those regions first.
btw i think taxis have metro beat on cyclist attacks by far.
July 21, 2008 at 11:40 pm@Michael
if the whole idea behind the design is to attract new ridership then, naturally you’d be right. plus the fear of kids from immigrant/black/poor neighborhoods would trash bus on a daily basis.
Anyone want to place bets on whether Metro will deploy the new buses last to the places where the most people (read: black, immigrants, poor) rely on them?
July 21, 2008 at 5:13 pm