City of Regina adding two 60-foot articulating buses to fleet

More wheels will be turning on the bus on one route in Regina.

The City of Regina has purchased two 60-foot articulating buses for its fleet. An articulating bus has an accordion-type folding mechanism in the middle of it.

Brad Bells, the director of transit and fleet services with the city, said transit officials placed the order for the buses in 2019. They will be used on Route 18, which goes from Harbour Landing to the University of Regina.

“When we were in business pre-COVID, the Route 18 was extremely busy,” Bells said Friday. “There was a high demand for frequency and riders and there was an opportunity to take two 40-foot buses off the road and implement a 60-foot bus on the road.”

He said Regina was one of the last major cities to get these buses. Most city buses used in the city are 40 feet long and have about 37 seats and room for 57 people with standing room. The new buses have 56 seats and could fit 100 passengers including standing room.

They will also be used for major events, like Saskatchewan Roughriders game days or concerts at Mosaic Stadium.

The City of Regina has added two articulating buses to its fleet. (Dominick Lucyk/980 CJME)

“A 60-foot bus gives us the opportunity to have less buses on the road on our high-frequency routes. If we can reduce the buses on the roads, that helps lower our operational dollars and also at the same time gives us opportunities to lower greenhouse gas emissions,” Bells said.

Each bus cost the city about $900,000. The more common 40-foot buses cost about $600,000 each.

While use of the transit service has been down, Bells expects things to turn around.

“We have lost some ridership. We’re almost down to the 30 (or) 40 per cent range of our ridership from 2019. We do think our ridership will come back as more vaccines are administered and the more public that have the vaccine, we expect our ridership to come back,” Bells said.

He said the buses are expected to begin running in May.