Double Tall Seat Update: You Asked. We Asked. You Answered. We Fixed!

Last fall, we added 22 new double decker, Double Tall buses to our fleet.

A new Double Tall, double decker bus. It's an Enviro500 manufactured by Alexander Dennis

We were excited to introduce this new version of the Double Tall, with its 76 seats and a larger area for standing passengers. (Compare this to the previous version of the Double Tall which has seats for 77 and carries up to 80 passengers with standing room.)

Plus, the monitor showing the top deck and that 'new bus smell' was pretty cool, too.

Rear-facing seating on the new double decker buses.

Thanks to our riders, we learned that the seating arrangement on the lower level of the new double deckers definitely had more seats, but less leg room due to the configuration of the rear-facing seats.

We brainstormed options and surveyed riders with two questions: 1) "In your opinion, what should be done with the new Double Tall rear-facing seats?" and 2) If the rear-facing seats are removed, what should we do?"

We received 50 responses to our survey and the majority opinion was from our riders was to remove the seats. With that direction, we worked with Alexander Dennis, the manufacturer, to design and manufacture a rack to transform the former rear-facing seats into a place passengers could stow bags and other carry-on items.

Pictured below is the first installation of the new rack with the rear-facing seats removed. The installation takes about two days per double decker bus. Our bus maintenance crew is currently working on removing the rear-facing seats and installing the new rack on the remaining new Double Talls. A second Double Tall has just been completed and our crew anticipates all buses to be completed this summer.

Pictured left, top: The new configuration allows ample leg room and the rack provides a place for stowing bags and gear. Lower left: Approaching seats on the left; Lower middle: View while sitting; Lower right: Approaching seats on the right.

What do you think of the rack and seating?

Thanks to all our riders who participated in the survey and for your continued patience as we worked to resolve this seating issue.