Double-decker bus gives Stanford commuters a fresh perspective

The bus of the future rolled through Fremont on Tuesday, giving everybody a majestic view of Fremont.

"It’s not Hawaii out there," said passenger Kristin Goldthorp, sitting on the top deck of AC Transit’s new double-decker bus as the roof grazed another low-hanging tree branch, because the world, except perhaps for London, is not entirely familiar with double-decker buses.

"Thwap," went the top of the bus as it smacked the tree at Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue. "Thwap, thwap."

Goldthorp, like the other five dozen passengers aboard the Enviro 500 Urban Commuter bus, was an urban commuter. She was heading to work in Palo Alto. A new double-decker bus is exciting, to a point, and she reached that point about five blocks into the 54-minute trip.

It was the 6:30 a.m. run of the U line from the Fremont BART Station to Stanford University. Aboard were several dozen nurses, technicians and students who normally try to sleep through the ride, because that’s what you try to do on a 6:30 a.m. bus ride that lasts 54 minutes. AC Transit is testing the 800,000ドル bus to see how customers like it, as it seemed a prudent thing to do before deciding to buy a bunch of 800,000ドル buses.

And passengers did like it, as much as you can like a bus that takes you to work.

"The view is great," said Leif Anderson, as the bus glided onto the Dumbarton Bridge. "Usually I’d be asleep. Not today. You can see San Jose and San Francisco. It seems you can see everyplace."

Out the window were countless fast-food joints, big-box stores and filling stations. But every once in a while there was an egret (at the Don Edwards wildlife refuge) or a horse (on the north side of Fremont Boulevard) or a sunrise (to the east).

Most passengers decided to sit on the upper deck because it was something you can’t do when a bus doesn’t have one. Passenger Kyra Baerst was one of them. She said she normally reads a book. She brought along a novel but said she was going to wait to start reading it because she had never looked out a bus window from so high up before.

In Fremont, she looked out at a Jack in the Box, and she looked out at the empty parking lots of the Target, Staples and Rite Aid stores.

The she started reading her novel.

On the Dumbarton Bridge, the bus of the future did what the cars of the present were doing. It stopped dead in a traffic jam. The top-deck passengers could gaze in the distance, as they never could before, and see exactly how much of a fix they were in.

There were other double-decker buses on the road, but they were private charters. Approaching Palo Alto, the AC Transit top-deck passengers waved at the Genentech top-deck passengers only a few feet away but they were as ships passing in the night. On the other bus, the novelty had long ago worn off and all those eyes were on their glowing screens. No one waved back.

In Palo Alto there were more fast foods and big boxes to see. There were also fancy zillion-dollar homes surrounded by fences that, from the top deck, afforded their owners scant privacy from prying eyes. There were different species of trees for the bus to hit, and the bus of the future did hit a few of those, on Willow and Embarcadero roads.

Thwap, thwap, thwap.

Also on Embarcadero Road, the bus of the future provided a final wake-up call to any still somnolent passenger. At the Caltrain underpass, a warning sign said the clearance was 13 feet, 10 inches. And the height of the bus of the future was listed as 13 feet, 6 inches. Four dozen passengers hoped most fervently that all the measuring had been done correctly.

The bus of the future did glide beneath the train trestle of the past, but to several passengers, for several harrowing seconds, it certainly did not look as if such a miracle was possible.

At the Stanford University oval, most of the passengers climbed down the staircase and turned in their four-page rider surveys. Under the category of headroom, Goldthorp awarded the bus only three points out of a possible five. But, she acknowledged, if the bus was taller to allow more headroom, it would not have cleared the trestle, which would have complicated her getting to work.

Behind the wheel, driver Gerald Shaw said he liked the new bus but that it takes some getting used to. Top-deck passengers are required to remain seated until the bus stops, which means that every bus stop must last long enough for passengers to arise and trudge down the stairs. And the rules say Shaw must engage the parking brake and lock the transmission at every stop, too.

"It’s a pain," he said.

As for the trees, Shaw acknowledged hitting a few but said he had managed to dodge many more than he hit. The cities along the route had promised to trim all the trees, he said, but it was not the first broken promise from a municipal government.

A few adroit lane changes by the alert Shaw, particularly on Embarcadero Road, saved the day and also the roof of the Enviro 500 Urban Commuter.

"Tree branches," said the 34-year veteran. "There’s something I never had to deal with before."

Ride the bus

AC Transit’s Enviro 500 double-decker bus, which seats 80 passengers and weighs 23 tons, will continue its test on these lines:

Wednesday and Thursday: Line U

Friday: Line FS

Saturday and Sunday: Line 51B

Monday and Tuesday: Line L

March 4-6: Lines NX, NX1and NX2

For complete schedule, visit www.actransit.org/doubledecker. During the test period, all rides are free.