Alert new nova buses are being tested in disney world

[disney david]

not sure when and if they will be using these new buses because they may ot fit in every stop but they will hold alot more people and start to load wheelchair through the front door. so making their new policy work better not sure how many tie down they will have but sure they will have two. again they are not painted disney i think nova just brought some buses for them to test to see if they would buy them. if i get more info i will let you all know I not sure which route they will use them in because most stop can't take that long of a bus and the turns would be difcult. Plus most of the drivers never drove them before so it will take some time to get them all trained in it. I think it just nova trying ti get Disney to buy more buses or Disney thinking that this bus would be good so hopefully they will get good results from the test.

the pic is the bus at the poly and this is what being reported what it says on the back.

The Nova bus had the 2012 Disney transportation number on the back, a sign saying "Operated by Walt Disney Parks & Resorts", & Transport CMs

http://twitpic.com/8nclfm

 

[cm8]

not sure when and if they will be using these new buses because they may ot fit in every stop but they will hold alot more people and start to load wheelchair through the front door. so making their new policy work better not sure how many tie down they will have but sure they will have two. again they are not painted disney i think nova just brought some buses for them to test to see if they would buy them. if i get more info i will let you all know I not sure which route they will use them in because most stop can't take that long of a bus and the turns would be difcult. Plus most of the drivers never drove them before so it will take some time to get them all trained in it. I think it just nova trying ti get Disney to buy more buses or Disney thinking that this bus would be good so hopefully they will get good results from the test.

the pic is the bus at the poly and this is what being reported what it says on the back.

The Nova bus had the 2012 Disney transportation number on the back, a sign saying "Operated by Walt Disney Parks & Resorts", & Transport CMs

http://twitpic.com/8nclfm

Wow that thing is huge

 

[SueM in MN]

Those a interesting.

My family rode one one those type buses at DisneyLand Paris. They are pretty huge. I have not ridden them at home, but I know that the bus systems here have those type of buses.

I can see that they would work well in many places, but some like OKW may have too many sharp turns. So, it will be interesting to see how it all works out.

 

[disney david]

Wow that thing is huge

yes it is they have two sets of door on the main body and another door at the back. again i not sure what they plan on doing they will not be replacing their whole fleet. as sue said most stops turns are tight so maybe this could be used to handle ttc to dhs because of the way the stops are laid out but still think it will have a problem getting out of dhs if their many buses at the stops. i also have a feeling that they will be using these to replace the monorail because they can hold 62people seating but you know disney will have their seating so it hold alot more standees so it could handle the extra guest because this bus will take the place of two regular buses.

 

[Mary976]

We have those (or a similar style anyways) here in Chicago and DD has ridden them before. The loading has worked fine for us (DD has a manual chair). I guess the big difference though with the city buses is that a small group of people get on/off at every stop, while at WDW a huge group gets on at one stop and then off at the next. I'll be interested to hear how they work out.

Mary

 

[disney david]

Those a interesting.

My family rode one one those type buses at DisneyLand Paris. They are pretty huge. I have not ridden them at home, but I know that the bus systems here have those type of buses.

I can see that they would work well in many places, but some like OKW may have too many sharp turns. So, it will be interesting to see how it all works out.

nova makes two kinds basically the same bus but one made for rapid systems and the other more higher end model. well not sure the big differnces.

here one that made for transportation systems

http://www.novabus.com/transit-solutions/vehicules/lfs-artic.html

here the other that has more bells and whistle

http://www.novabus.com/transit-solutions/vehicules/lfx.html

 

[I Love Pluto]

disney david - thanks for the pic!

I'm almost fearful of riding in the second bus! It would feel as if no one is driving it!

 

[disney david]

We have those (or a similar style anyways) here in Chicago and DD has ridden them before. The loading has worked fine for us (DD has a manual chair). I guess the big difference though with the city buses is that a small group of people get on/off at every stop, while at WDW a huge group gets on at one stop and then off at the next. I'll be interested to hear how they work out.

Mary

it be interesting because these buses have three sets of doors so that why i think they would be loading guest through the front door. it would take away the problem of the bus being full with the main stream line. Because their more room on these buses for guest to keep moving towards the back since their no steps their be more seats for other guest. but they would have to redo all the stops at the park to get them to fit each stop can handle a bus with two sets of doors now they have three plus they are much longer so it will take up to stops just to load. we have to see what they come up with and if they like them may be nova gave them a bus for a couple of weeks to see how they like them.

 

[disney david]

disney david - thanks for the pic!

I'm almost fearful of riding in the second bus! It would feel as if no one is driving it!

i know i never got to ride one yet in new york they got them and they look to big for nyc.

 

[disney david]

disney david - thanks for the pic!

I'm almost fearful of riding in the second bus! It would feel as if no one is driving it!

found a video for you see how far back the last row is and listen toward the end this is what disney should do it help out so the driver dose not have to be the point person.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18l0Yt7hOMk

 

[dntd]

I still think loading wheelchairs and ecv's on a but with people on it isn't safe. Some people have never used an ecv and ram the seats! really unsafe! I'm glad they are thinking of helping cut the wait down though.

 

[disney david]

I still think loading wheelchairs and ecv's on a but with people on it isn't safe. Some people have never used an ecv and ram the seats! really unsafe! I'm glad they are thinking of helping cut the wait down though.

i agree but when they put seats against the wall and have the whoe middle open these buses are long and can take a lot of guest to the back. unlike the buses they have now which take them through the back door these will take them through the front door and the seats at the front will be used for tie downs so it might be easier. plus if you take away the stairs in the back it gives more seats to guest who need them so in the long run they might not have as many problems as they do now with guest who need the seats and other guest who dont want to stand and needing places for ecv now with these new buses they will at least have more chances for more people to get a seat.

 

[Bete]

disney david - thanks for the pic!

I'm almost fearful of riding in the second bus! It would feel as if no one is driving it!

I sure hope I'm not among the first to have to be on this bus at Disney. I'm glad we have a car on our trips. I do feel this could turn off a lot of people from taking Disney bus transportation.

Many public transit routes don't make turns; unless, it's getting in and out of a bus terminal. I don't see this being a good fit for Disney.

 

[disney david]

I sure hope I'm not among the first to have to be on this bus at Disney. I'm glad we have a car on our trips. I do feel this could turn off a lot of people from taking Disney bus transportation.

Many public transit routes don't make turns; unless, it's getting in and out of a bus terminal. I don't see this being a good fit for Disney.

they won't be put on every route most have turns this bus most likely won't be able to make and i am not sure it would turn people off. if it can hold more and give more guest in ecv/wheelchair a chance to get on it might be a good thing. disney trying to improve their system theses buses are not cheap so that why they have to test them to see if this is something they want to get.

 

[Brandis]

I sure hope I'm not among the first to have to be on this bus at Disney. I'm glad we have a car on our trips. I do feel this could turn off a lot of people from taking Disney bus transportation.

Many public transit routes don't make turns; unless, it's getting in and out of a bus terminal. I don't see this being a good fit for Disney.

Why do you think it would turn people away from using the Disney busses? Where I live we have even longer busses and there are lots of turns, it's not a problem.

What I didn't like was those "cattle transporters" Disney tested at one time, it was basically a Semi with a passenger compartment hooked up. But as the driver was sitting in the separate Semi cab, there was no interaction between the driver and the guests at all.

 

[SueM in MN]

Why do you think it would turn people away from using the Disney busses? Where I live we have even longer busses and there are lots of turns, it's not a problem.

What I didn't like was those "cattle transporters" Disney tested at one time, it was basically a Semi with a passenger compartment hooked up. But as the driver was sitting in the separate Semi cab, there was no interaction between the driver and the guests at all.

I think the double buses would work fine for most resorts, specifically for the Value resorts where I have seen the most complaints about double loading buses and long waits. Those resorts have large numbers of guests that they need to move all at the same time. I'm not positive, but I think that was where ost of the 'cattle transporter' type vehicles were being tried.

It could also work at the locations that share buses because the bus may be very full by the time it gets to the final resort.

I can see some diffuculty at OKW, because of the way the bus turnarounds are constructed. See the turnarounds near buildings 18 and 40 on the map.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/okwmap.htm

The regular buses are a challenge to fit there because the bus is very long compared to the size of the turnaround. There isn't room at OKW to change those, but some resorts with multiple stops have fairly straight stop locations are have space that they could rearrange them.

We (DH, I and friends) were on similar 2 section buses at DL Paris and also some of the cities when we went to Europe. They also used somewhat similar buses at the Amsterdam airport.

The video that DisneyDavid posted showed bench seats mostly facing forward on both sides, but they can free up a lot of room in the center by substituting sideways seats, like the current WDW buses have. This is not only for ECVs and wheelchairs, but the large numbers of very large strollers that people presently bring on the buses. The reason they went to the side facing seats in the first place were mostly to make room for strollers.
That is probably as much or more of a reason for looking at new buses as wheelchairs and ECVs are. That also is probably part of the reason for the wider bus lines - on previous trips, there were always several people with large strollers wanting to board at the back only because their stroller did not fit into line. Our last trip in the fall, those 'too big' strollers were back in line.

There are still people who have sensitive or delicate equipment on their wheelchair who would have difficulty or even find it dangerous to be in bus lines (like dclfun has mentioned her ventilator). But the majority of people using wheelchairs and ECVs could wait in the bus lines if they would be boarded once they got to the front.

 

[seashoreCM]

Those tractor trailer buses were interesting. They had a low section in the middle and step up sections in front and in back.

I saw them at the All Stars, at Port Orleans, and running park to park.

Parking lot trams make sharp turns (slowly) with no problems. The same steering technology can be used for buses.

Many of today's regular buses carry fewer passengers than old buses of the same size because the space over the front wheels can't be sat in due to the low floor and also there is a large equipment compartment at the extreme rear.

 

[dclfun]

We'll be at OKW in two weeks and I hope to try one of these busses, although as Sue mentioned, they might not be appropriate for the turnarounds at that particular resort. I don't care if my chair is loaded in the front or the back and I can turn on a dime/drive carefully although I'd be looking out for other Guest's feet if they were nearby! We will have a fairly large group and hope that we don't have challenges with the busses. If they do have a separate area to wait, most of my family will be waiting in the queue line although I'd prefer to wait to the side for safety and board whenever it would be appropriate for all of us to get on the same bus. I'm up for a new adventure!

 

[buffettgirl]

I think those probably have the same turning capability as a regular bus because of that bend in the middle. I've seen them in tight cities and they seem to work just fine (and I have wondered how they turn corners, but they do.)

 

[disney david]

they are widing the road by dhs and the turn for pop and the new aoa making two turning lanes into dhs. so i am sure that they plan on using them for the value resorts because now instead of two buses going to all stars during peak times they could use one of these buses and the other two handle the load of one stop. these buses are made to handle large amount of people most transportation for long route with lots of stops so these could be very popular with guest who don't like to wait for buses at disney because this bus shows up you have a good chance to get on where the current buses you have to hope you get on when they are busy.