the deuce

[artthouwill]

Looking at all of the artics the CTA has ordered, I got to thinking about the buses in ALas Vegas. They used to have a lot of artics running down the strip, buses with 3 doors instead of 2. But my last visit, I saw they had VanHool doubledecker buses which they call the deuce. These are transit buses that are the standard 40 Ft ers but they are 13 ft tall. I thought they would be great in Chicago however we have some problems here.

First what routes would they be on? It has to be a heavy usage route and it has to be able to clear every viaduct no shorter than 13 ft. 79th comes to mind as one possible route, along with Ashland and Western. The only lakefront routes that would work are 10, 26, 134, and 143, 156.

Second, what garages could house them? Only the newly buit ones like 103rd, 74th? Perhaps the outdoor garages such as NP and F?

[Guest]

Looking at all of the artics the CTA has ordered, I got to thinking about the buses in ALas Vegas. They used to have a lot of artics running down the strip, buses with 3 doors instead of 2. But my last visit, I saw they had VanHool doubledecker buses which they call the deuce. These are transit buses that are the standard 40 Ft ers but they are 13 ft tall. I thought they would be great in Chicago however we have some problems here.

First what routes would they be on? It has to be a heavy usage route and it has to be able to clear every viaduct no shorter than 13 ft. 79th comes to mind as one possible route, along with Ashland and Western. The only lakefront routes that would work are 10, 26, 134, and 143, 156.

Second, what garages could house them? Only the newly buit ones like 103rd, 74th? Perhaps the outdoor garages such as NP and F?

I can just see one of those double deckers getting itself stuck under one of our underpasses and being towed out by OHare towing and then popping up on that show "Wrecked"!

[geneking7320]

This may be slightly off topic but does anyone know the height of the double decker bus operated by Megabus? I think I've seen it on the Dan Ryan [going to Detroit maybe?]. I wonder how the height compares to that of the LV Deuce.

Gene King

[pudgym29]

This may be slightly off topic but does anyone know the height of the double decker bus operated by Megabus?

Here is a photograph of it.

I'm running out of time here. You figure it out.

[MVTArider]

This may be slightly off topic but does anyone know the height of the double decker bus operated by Megabus?

According to Van Hool TD925 specs it is also about 13 ft. Of course as was previously mentioned they would have a hard time fitting under some bridges, for that matter so would our Gillig Hybrids with clearance of 11.6ft :D

[MetroShadow]

Actually, these buses are not used by VanHool, in fact its a completely different manuafacturer, Alexander Dennis (which I believe ElDorado is in charge of US production. I rode the buses out there in the winter of 2006 and they were nice buses capable of handling a great deal of people. The height, from the looks of things, was about the upper 13'/14' range. That would disqualify them from going through most of the city's bridges. I love those buses, don't get me wrong, but utilizing them in the city won't be useful.

[Guest metralink]

The problem with the double decks is slow boardings/alightings. Even in London where they are masters of doubledecks boarding/alightings are somewhat slow esp going up the stairs.

[RIPTA42]

I'll second that; capacity is great, but dwell times in Las Vegas are unbearable, even at stops where only one or two people are boarding or alighting a "Deuce."

[andrethebusman]

I'll second that; capacity is great, but dwell times in Las Vegas are unbearable, even at stops where only one or two people are boarding or alighting a "Deuce."

Dwell times in Vegas have ALWAYS been long - partly because policy is wait until everybody is seated before pulling off. However, Strip now has "customer assistants" (I gather mostly UNLV students) employed by RTC Transit (New name for CAT) to try to speed things up. Not sure if they are on the bus or at stops. By the way, since RTC Transit has 94 DD's I guess and Strip only needs about 30, the rest are on regular routes such as Rainbow/Craig/Nellis and Decatur. Vegas has VERY few underpasses, so this is not a big problem, but there are still restrictions were DD's may not go! There was a plan to use them on Lake Mead Blvd, but that died when somebody noticed there are trees along the street at the Summerlin end.

Andre

[PACE 834]

Dwell times in Vegas have ALWAYS been long - partly because policy is wait until everybody is seated before pulling off. However, Strip now has "customer assistants" (I gather mostly UNLV students) employed by RTC Transit (New name for CAT) to try to speed things up. Not sure if they are on the bus or at stops. By the way, since RTC Transit has 94 DD's I guess and Strip only needs about 30, the rest are on regular routes such as Rainbow/Craig/Nellis and Decatur. Vegas has VERY few underpasses, so this is not a big problem, but there are still restrictions were DD's may not go! There was a plan to use them on Lake Mead Blvd, but that died when somebody noticed there are trees along the street at the Summerlin end.

Andre

I was wondering are these buses ADA compliant?Are they low floor and do they have ramps for the elderly or disabled?Just curious.

[santran]

The Alexander Dennis Enviro 500's are made in the UK and are low foor with a front door ramp. The coaches are 14 feet high. Vegas has 128, due to 1 being destroyed in a head on with a semi truck on the 15 freeway. And numbers 151-190 have 2 stair cases. A great coach but I still like the NF D60LF with the 3 door option better.

[RIPTA42]

CAT's dwell times are very long with standard buses, but from my own oberservation the DDs on non-Strip routes seem to exacerbate the problem.

I remember reading an article that RTC was hiring UNLV students to be customer assistants, but all the assistants I've seen look like retirees. They are stationed at the stops, not on buses.