RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTubeColumbusLocalNews.com wrote
COTA considers bendy buses to cope with busier routes
By KATHLEEN L. RADCLIFF
Published: Monday, July 21, 2008
As gas prices continue to climb, more Central Ohio residents are using the Central Ohio Transit Authority to get from point A to point B. Ridership is up 8 percent for 2008, resulting in some of the transit authority’s busiest routes — No. 1 Cleveland Avenue, No. 2 High Street and No. 10 Broad Street — experiencing overcrowding, and, in some instances, being forced to leave passengers behind.
To help alleviate the problem, COTA officials looked to Ohio’s lakeshore. Representatives from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority drove one of its newest fleet acquisitions — a 62-foot hybrid articulated bus — giving COTA employees and officials a test ride Thursday, July 17.
Articulated buses are also known as bendy buses, accordion buses or jointed buses, said Dan Liggett, COTA media and public relations manager . In order for these longer buses to safely navigate streets, they are fitted with an extra pair of wheels and a flexible joint, usually located slightly behind the midpoint of the bus.
Comments
- Eliza Ho: Looking forward to try both TILL and Glaze! This interview educates my sens
- James: We went tonight for Valentines. It was absolutely sublime. The house wine,
- howatzer: When's happy hour?
- Down the Lane: @mbeaumont,@SJT, @Mercurius, @drew thanks for all the love and support! @J
- SJT: We had our employee xmas party here and the service and food were excellent
Top Stories
- ODOT Seeks Feedback on Downtown Bridge and Street Designs34
- Dublin Grows Upward: The Bridge Street Corridor Calls for Urban Development29
- TILL Dynamic Fare Takes Culinary Standards to the Next Level13
- Edwards Companies Converting Born Brewery Building into Apartments11
- At Home: In Harrison West10
- 89 Fish & Grill Opens Downtown10
- Oval Brewing Company Looking to Kickstart New Beer Business7
- Specials to Make Your Valentine's Day Special6
- Tomorrow's Antiques Opening Soon in The Short North6
- Columbus Ranked as 21st Most Lesbianish City in the US5
Local Entrepreneurial News
- Business branding, design is best left to the pros
- Camelot Cellars hosts unique events designed to support local charities
- CCAD MindShop incubator to help creatives succeed in business
- Ballroom at Oakhurst relaunches with help from Two Caterers
- Weiland’s Gourmet Market in business for more than 50 years
COTA considers bendy buses for busier routes
By: Walker
Related Posts:
I remember when they tried this in the 80s
maybe now they are efficient enough and there is enough ridership to support them. A full one of these is hellishly efficient per person.
still runs on oil though. :(
i guess it kinda looks like a streetcar…
Done right, these can be incorporated into an efficient Bus Rapid Transit. Hopefully COTA takes the initiative and sees the potential instead of using this as a band aid.
The same kind of articulated buses are what is about to go into service on the Euclid Avenue BRT corridor in Cleveland. Pretty cool look for a bus.
I just hope they give the bus operators driving lessons. The drivers scare the shit out of me now. I couldn’t imagine them driving these.
That is one nice looking bus, but give me a streetcar any day.
Oh, err, gosh…those things look so weird…I remember them back in DC, but I don’t really know whether they improve the efficacy over regular buses!
*thinks*
Hmmm, I’ll have to look into it! :-)
http://www.fabulouslyinthecity.com
*thinks*
Hmmm, I’ll have to look into it! :-)
http://www.fabulouslyinthecity.com
I know I have posted this here before, but worth another look. If we can’t have rail anywhere in the near future, this is the next best viable option.
Now if only the #2 went to Merion Village and they made the Main St line its own separate line. COTA needs to fix their routes bad. Wonder why that is taking so long?
*thinks*
Hmmm, I’ll have to look into it! :-)
http://www.fabulouslyinthecity.com
I know I have posted this here before, but worth another look. If we can’t have rail anywhere in the near future, this is the next best viable option.I was honestly really impressed by that. But that still seems like rather a lot of big diesel engined buses running around the city. Most people won’t like that, even though it’s probably quite efficient.
We should do it China style:
Thanks for this, WOW why are we not working on a BUS system like that, if we can’t have the streetcar or light rail????? THe bike lanes ROCK as well.
Thanks for this, WOW why are we not working on a BUS system like that, if we can’t have the streetcar or light rail????? THe bike lanes ROCK as well.
I always enjoyed riding these in Chicago.
a) If I saw a big bus, I almost always would get a seat.
b) It was fun to sit in the middle, because it’s like sitting on a merry-go-round when you go around turns!
When I lived in Geneva, Switzerland I got so accustomed to their amazing transport system (which is mostly buses, mostly of the accordion/double length variety). The double buses are great component, but I feel the other reason their system moved quickly was that you could board at any of the three doors (you board w/ your ticket or pass already paid for, honor system/ enforcement through occasional ticketing checks w/ fines) and also that the buses were on the dot time wise and most routes ran at really frequent intervals (even into the suburbs). Despite all this they were in the process of adding in trams/streetcars which on the streets they ran were generally viewed as better options for busier areas.
I wonder if it will slow down these a lot if they have a queue of 10 people paying by cash when boarding a high density bus like this.
Anyway, glad to see them looking at these, I am excited to check out Euclid up in Cleveland now that it is finishing up (I’ve seen them doing test runs in the dedicated bus lanes, looked great).
I love the tone of this conversation. The busses will be pretty cool only if we can get more folks to ride them. At least we can all be happy that COTA is “thinking”
*thinks*
Hmmm, I’ll have to look into it! :-)
http://www.fabulouslyinthecity.com
I know I have posted this here before, but worth another look. If we can’t have rail anywhere in the near future, this is the next best viable option.
That is really cool. Someone should have suggested a modern bus system before.
BRT has been brought up several times in past threads about improving COTA.
This is going to drag this thread further off topic from the bendy busses I’m afraid. But, that picture of the bus stop/station raises a question for me.
Could stops like that be an interim step to streetcars?
If we started by building the stop infrastrcture throughout the city like that, and then down the road we’d already have it in place and we could simply replace the busses with streetcars bit by bit?
We’ve all talked about how the proposed streetcar line is a starter line, how it’s just getting our foot in the door etc. Well, this could be a different way of doing the same thing. It will start to subtly shift peoples’ way of thinking about the public transit. So when the time finally comes to switch to streetcars, it will just be a logical extension of what exists?
If we started by building the stop infrastrcture throughout the city like that, and then down the road we’d already have it in place and we could simply replace the busses with streetcars bit by bit?
I agree that getting some infrastructure that could be converted to future streetcar use would be good, I still think the High st. street car line should be pushed for, and get people used to seeing longer buses on broad or other big streets that could later become part of a larger network…
I like the immediate use of having larger buses to cope with the busier routes. That said, I hope COTA has the foresight to consider the greater possibilities for the more modern and larger bendy buses. Just throwing these on the roads does little to change the system.