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Comment by Aachen

4 days ago

Boarding times though? I agree of course about the cool factor and I was sure to ride one when visiting London, but afaik the slower (dis)embarking times are why double-decked trains are primarily used on intercity trains and not on commuter/local trains or light rail (metro etc.). Typical busses stopping every two minutes are probably similar

Edit: wait, I know one in Germany as well. It's expensive but between Frankfurt airport and another major city, there is a rail line but somehow the bus is significantly faster and they're using double deckers. The front row at the top was, n=3, always free for me (all four seats) so you get a quite unique experience, at least so far as my bus experiences in mainland western Europe go :)

11 comments

Aachen

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bell-cot  4 days ago

> Boarding times though?

Often true. OTOH, the reduced footprint (vs. either 1 articulated or 2 normal busses) can speeds things up, especially on cramped and congested city streets. And if you're getting near gridlock-level congestion, the length of the articulated busses can be like dumping gravel into your system's gearbox.

  • TeMPOraL  4 days ago

    True. While I love our articulated buses in Kraków, if one of these stops mid-turn on an intersection, it blocks 3 out of 4 movement directions.

  • kergonath  3 days ago

    These issues are solved with dedicated bus lanes, which are desirable even for double deckers.

dominotw  4 days ago

> Boarding times though?

cant they just put another entry door?

  • adrianmonk  4 days ago

    You can, but it's easier to evade fares. The driver can enforce fares better at the door near them.

    My local transit agency just stopped allowing rear door boarding, and that was one of the main reasons: https://waypointblog.com/capmetro-is-ending-rear-door-boardi...

    • TuxPowered  4 days ago

      The goal of public transportation is to move people fast around the city. Not to have the driver sell the tickets, that’s what the ticket machine is for (both on stations and on board). Anybody using public transportation daily probably has a monthly ticket anyway. And not to provide tourist information.

      People want to get to work on time after all. Entering and leaving the tram or bus through all door is a simple way to improve public transports reliability.