Rochester, MN  (KROC AM News) - A commuter bus made an appearance in Rochester Tuesday to give local transportation officials an opportunity to show the public what may be operating in the city in the near future.

The vehicle is known as an articulated bus, which is 60 feet long and can accommodate up to 100 passengers. That’s 40 percent more than the standard busses that currently operate in the city. They also have four wide doorways that allow for faster loading/loading. 

A public transit spokesman says the city is not currently considering the addition of articulated busses to its fleet. But Nick Lemmer says as part of ongoing DMC-related integrated transit studies, “consultant teams are reviewing many different mobility solutions to meet the transportation needs of the plan.”  Lemmer says “ with an anticipated mode shift to 30% commuters in the central business district (we are currently at 10%), everything is on the table.”

Lemmer says articulating buses are an effective transit solution on high-volume routes like those that serve Rochester’s five park & ride locations. Lemmer says articulated busses cost considerably more than the models currently operated by the city, which were around $450,000 per unit.

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