COTA has been on a roll in 2008 (pardon the pun). Ridership is growing every month. They partnered with google to make trip planning easier. They increased routes in May. And now they’re considering adding new bendy buses to their fleet.
These longer buses serve a practical purpose, as they’re to be used on the more crowded routes (The #1 and The #2) where some buses will fill up during peak hours and have to skip over stops. But I think they’ll also serve as an aesthetic factor, because they look sleeker and sexier than the majority of the rolling stock COTA currently has deployed.
Appearance isn’t everything, but perception counts for a lot when it comes to bus transit. They don’t quite have the aesthetics of a modern rail system, but they’re closer. I’m hoping COTA actually picks up a few of these new buses.
We rode the bendy buses in Portland. They’re kindof a kick but sexy? Not so much!
Not as sexy as a Streetcar, but definitely sexier than the current COTA bus fleet.