Double-deckers to join CAT fleet

Launce Rake

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 9:08 a.m.

Coming soon to Las Vegas: Double-decker buses to ply the Strip and downtown.

The Regional Transportation Commission, which administers Southern Nevada's public Citizens Area Transit system, hopes to have the buses working full time in two to three years, said RTC Assistant General Manager Curtis Myles.

The RTC board voted 7-0 Wednesday to request bids for 25 of the new buses. Myles said the request is the result of a successful experiment with a double-decker in October.

"We put it on the Strip," he said. "It got rave reviews. People were really complimentary about the views they could see from the top of the vehicle."

Myles said the buses would be purchased instead of the accordion-like "articulated" vehicles that are now used in high-volume areas such as the Strip. They would hold a similar number of passengers -- about 100, about a third more than the 65 or so passengers carried by the shorter, traditional 40-foot buses.

Myles said the cost of the double-decker buses would likely be similar to the articulated buses, which usually cost about $500,000 each.

Most of the new buses would be destined for the Strip, but five would run from the monorail station at Sahara Avenue to downtown Las Vegas. Sahara Avenue is at the north end of the monorail that is now under construction.

Bringing the double-deckers to Las Vegas will free up more buses to serve other parts of the CAT bus system, RTC General Manager Jacob Snow told the RTC board.

"These vehicles for fleet expansion will be used to add more service hours, alleviate overcrowding and improve on-time performance on existing routes, allow more frequent service on existing routes and allow extension of service through creation of new routes," Snow said. Double-decker buses are familiar in London, where they are painted in firehouse red. Myles said the style will likely be similar, although not necessarily identical, depending on what company wins the bid.

The paint scheme of the Las Vegas buses, however, could be quite different from their staid English cousins.