Popular Posts

Friday, April 24, 2015

Ocean City Leaning Away From Double-Decker Buses; Officials Favor Purchasing Articulating Buses

OCEAN CITY – After hearing a list of issues that would come along with adding double decker buses to Ocean City’s fleet, the Transportation Commission voted this week to recommend the purchase of 60-foot articulating buses instead.

A few months ago, the Transportation Commission began discussions regarding new bus purchases to meet the goal of increasing capacity and lessening drivers due to the issue of filling bus driver positions.

Public Works Director Hal Adkins explained in Fiscal Year 2014 (FY 14), the Town of Ocean City was awarded a grant in the amount of $1,362,000 to purchase three, 40-foot diesel buses, and the same was awarded in FY 15 totaling $2,724,000 with a local match of 10 percent. The estimated cost for a 40-foot diesel bus is $425,000 that seats 35 with 18 standees. A 60-foot diesel artic bus is about $700,000 that seats 63 with 31 standees. The question arose if the left over funds from FY 14 can turn over to FY 15 to purchase artic buses instead as well as if the town could lease the artic buses for the summer months.

More

8 comments:

  1. I have a feeling the articulated buses would have a hard time maneuvering in ocean City.

    Yes its mostly a straight run up and down the city but I imagine there is some tight turns at the end of each run. Consider also the traffic in the summer these buses may be more of a hassle.

    Yes these longer larger buses can hold more people for less price and that part does make sense but adding more smaller capacity buses would increase the frequency of buses arriving at the bus stops.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm guessing onboard ashtrays are out of the question?

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1040-The two turnaround spots, down towards the inlet at up at 143rd, are more than wide enough for articulated buses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What's an articulated bus?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't believe that they're still using diesel.

    ReplyDelete
  6. An articulated bus is one that has one or more joints in the body and two or more "compartments".

    ReplyDelete
  7. 12:38 One with good English????

    ReplyDelete
  8. 12:38, It's the ones with pictures painted on the sides.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.