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Double-decker buses could one day be running in Metro Vancouver as TransLink considers options to boost capacity in the transit system.

CEO Kevin Desmond said Friday that TransLink’s Coast Mountain Bus Co. is considering double-decker buses, which are being used in Victoria as well as on commuter routes in between Seattle and Everett in the U.S. But if they did come here, he said, they would like have to be used on longer distance B-Line express routes because they wouldn’t fit, for example, in the Massey Tunnel.

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“Our folks in the bus company are always looking at technology and changes and different types of fleet,” Desmond said. “It’s the kind of thing our bus folks and TransLink should look at in the future. My sense is if we were to move to something like double decker buses, you’d want to put them on an express route … you don’t want to take people on and off in an urban setting.”

Coast Mountain Bus Co. has a mixture of bus types, included 60-foot articulated buses, community shuttles and electric trolleys. Desmond said electric buses are also something to consider, noting cities in Asia and North America are embracing the idea, while TransLink recently received a brief from the supplier of an electric double decker bus in Victoria.

“Electric buses, battery powered buses, whether slow or fast charge buses, are increasingly coming online throughout the world,” he said.

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