Double deckers

[royal99]

Right a bit of geek question here but looking at threads moaning about wait times for buses early in morning and after park closes and also with standing room only why don't disney invest in double decker buses??

Now thinking about it on all my visits to florida (i am from uk) i have rarely seen a double decker so perhaps its a florida thing of only having single deckers or perhaps it's a americian thing?

It just seems a great way of cutting q's and crowding and surely it would save money as it would mean less need for more single deckers? I do remeber on my last visit them having lorry type people carriers,coming out at closing of parks to pick up crowds from biggest q's are there still around?

 

[jsilvers]

Now thinking about it on all my visits to florida (i am from uk) i have rarely seen a double decker so perhaps its a florida thing of only having single deckers or perhaps it's a americian thing?

At least for buses to the MK, it would require some serious modifications to the water bridge between the seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake... And I suspect many other road and water bridges around the property also wouldn't be tall enough.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't know how many more people they could get on a double decker. These tend to be smaller buses in size than Disney currently uses, though there are two levels. I don't think they can just add a level to the current busses. There is also a longer loading time since people have to squeeze up the small stairs. They also tend to have narrower isles which means less standing room. So they may actually be able to get just as many people on the current busses as they could fit on a single double decker.

 

[jrc-elpaso]

One reason for no double deckers might be weather related - I wouldn't want to be in double decker on a windy day. Plus the head room on the upper deck is about 5 ft. 6 in. - okay for me at 5 ft. 3 in. - but not so good for the average person. Also there's cost involved - a difference between about $350,000 - $375,000 for a regular bus and $500,000 for a double decker.

 

[Threeriversdisneyfan]

Two reasons could the height of overpasses, wires and other bridges, secondly is an ADA (wheelchair/scooter accessablity).

Personally I would love to a extended bus (the kind that bend in the middle) even if they only use it during peak times.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

As others mentioned... there are many areas on property (specifically, the MK area) where there would be clearance issues. Disney was looking at a Hybrid bus made by Gillig (manufacturer of the newest Disney buses), and they couldn't buy one because it was too tall to fit through the South Loop at the Magic Kingdom.

Another issue is the stairs... it just wouldn't work for Disney.

Articulated buses would be a more realistic option... but... then you run into challenges with load zones... when an artic pulls in, the bus behind it is now stuck... and the artic's rear doors are out of place.

There are challenges either way...