The new articulated bendy Bus

real mad hatter

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Agree.

In cities on the West Coast they are called "Articulated Buses".

Not sure what the proper term in the transit industry is, but these buses are in use in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, etc. as "Articulated Buses".

Whatever you call them, and however you paint them or use them, they aren't very attractive.

Hey,Ugly wins if they get me to where I want to go without waiting for the next bus.:wave:
 

Polydweller

Well-Known Member
have you ever tried to tow a trailer through a fast food drive-through? While it does follow the tow-vehicle, the turn radius is quite a bit tighter

I was onky letting people know the principle. According to The bus manufacturer's website the turn radius of the articulated bus is 44ft and the standard at 40ft. Yes different but no hugely so. That's why the are testing them, to see if it's significant in the Disney real world setting.
 
Are these bendy buses going to have more slots for wheelchairs and ECVs? If so this is a good move for Disney, because they need to figure out how to get larger volumes of mobility impaired to the parks. As the baby boomer population ages, and if Disney continues to market themselves as a multi-generational vacation destination, the wheelchair/ECV numbers are going to continue to increase.

Next they need to figure out how to deal with multiple ECV families and CS dining. On my last trip I saw more than one family with both grandma and grandpa in an ECV, having trouble both navigating the seating area and finding places to sit in Pecos and Cosmic Rays. The seating areas aren't really built to accommodate larger wheeled vehicles, and its only going to get harder as the numbers increase.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Are these bendy buses going to have more slots for wheelchairs and ECVs? If so this is a good move for Disney, because they need to figure out how to get larger volumes of mobility impaired to the parks. As the baby boomer population ages, and if Disney continues to market themselves as a multi-generational vacation destination, the wheelchair/ECV numbers are going to continue to increase.

Next they need to figure out how to deal with multiple ECV families and CS dining. On my last trip I saw more than one family with both grandma and grandpa in an ECV, having trouble both navigating the seating area and finding places to sit in Pecos and Cosmic Rays. The seating areas aren't really built to accommodate larger wheeled vehicles, and its only going to get harder as the numbers increase.
I saw what I suppose was an experiment in January where after IllumiNations, they had folks in parties w/ wheelchairs/ECVs all congregate to a single location for buses so that everyone else could load onto buses quickly without the delay that wheelchair loading produces.
 
E

Engenie

In cities on the West Coast they are called "Articulated Buses".

Not sure what the proper term in the transit industry is, but these buses are in use in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, etc. as "Articulated Buses".

Whatever you call them, and however you paint them or use them, they aren't very attractive.

Yep, they are commonly known as "articulated buses" in the US, and the 'bendy' part in the middle is technically called the vestibule, similar terminology for the same part between train cars too, just some fyi :wave:
 
They were testing these out when I was in Disney. The ride was smooth, there was more room for wheel chairs, and we could fit everyone in the bus at once without any waiting. Pretty comfortable. Not so "pretty" on the outside, but we ride buses to get to a location.

Was a nice birthday greeting. "Oh happy birthday. WE HAVE A NEW BUS FOR YOU."
 

Figment1986

Well-Known Member
When I stayed at Pop Century they were testing this bus on routes from Either Wide World of Sports and back, or Magic Kingdom and back (pop century has the last slot at MK, so it works well there)

I didn't get to ride on one, but they really were watching and seeing how many they could fit with not one but three managers riding with the driver, two in front and one in back.

I was at the back of line at park close, and made it to almost front of line due to that bus... and they were using overflow stanchions too.

I can see them using this bus for Value Resorts really well.
 

nc_disneyfreak

Well-Known Member
not sure but im not a genious

coming from a semi truck driver, i agree with alot of views in this thread about the turn radius and smaller resorts. I like the idea, but im not sure about how the buses will fit into the slots without blocking other buses....
 

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
I don't get how these would work at the Magic Kingdom either. That is probably the tightest load/unload area for busses and imagine that during peak times (when something like this is needed the most) it would be a pain to try to navigate through the bus area.

I get the point of it, but question the logistics and practicality. Easy immediate solution to a problem that needs a more permanent one.
 

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