❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

NYC trying out double-decker buses

Ashley Milne-Tyte Sep 11, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

NYC trying out double-decker buses

Ashley Milne-Tyte Sep 11, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Bob Moon: Starting today, New Yorkers will have a new option for getting to work, one they haven’t laid eyes on in years: the double-decker bus. The city is trying out a slick, blue double-decker. It’ll ply a few different routes on its month-long trial. Depending on how it runs and how passengers like it, New York City Transit may order up a small fleet. Ashley Milne-Tyte has been looking into the possible financial advantages.


Ashley Milne-Tyte: [sound of bus revving up] Right now tourist buses like this one in Times Square are the only double-deckers in New York. The regular city bus is long and thin, with a turntable device in the middle that helps it take corners. Charles Seaton is a spokesman for New York City Transit. He says that turntable needs a lot of pricey maintenance, so the city’s giving the double-decker a try.

Charles Seaton: You’re carrying more customers with a bus that is less complicated to operate and less expensive to operate.

Seaton says the double-decker seats 81, whereas a regular bus seats 60. Tourists who can get a seat on the trial bus will get rooftop views for a fraction of the cost charged by the tourist double-deckers. Miguel Ramos works for tourist bus company the Gray Line. He’s not worried about the competition.

Miguel Ramos: Our service is gonna be greater, you know. And I think we’ll have much more clientele.

He says there’s plenty of room for a new bus on the block.

In New York I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.