More room on the bus: Transit Windsor tries out bigger vehicle

If you've been to Toronto or Ottawa, you've probably ridden an articulated bus basically a double bus with a hinge in the middle.

You'll see one soon on Windsor streets.

Transit Windsor has borrowed an 18-metre long bus for a month, to test out and see if it works with the current transit system.

The bus is already in town and the next few weeks will be spent training drivers how to drive the extended bus.

"We have currently the bus for four weeks. We're going to be using it for demonstrations across the city," said Tony Houad, senior manager of fleet and support services at Transit Windsor.

The Nova Bus comes from Quebec and can hold about 90 people standing and sitting. Currently, Transit Windsor buses hold about 60 passengers.

The articulated bus has a price tag of between $800,00 and $850,000. Regular buses are no more than $600,000.

Transit Windsor will be using the bus on the 1A route to Devonshire Mall, the Crosstown 2 route and the Dominion 5 route to gather data on fuel costs and passengers carried.

According to Houad, back in the 80s, the city had loaned articulated buses from Mississauga for use during the Grand Prixand fireworks primarily.

The bus has now come back as part of the transit review, whichHouad said has justunder a year left.

Once the data is in, they will be able to make an informed decision on the buses.

"If it works well, this could be part of our fleet."