Articulated buses are set to return to the TTC, reports NOW Magazine. The subject of discussion amongst transit enthusiasts for years (and more recently at the TTC itself), the Commission finally awarded a contract to Nova Bus Corporation for 60 of these extend-a-rides last week at a cost of $24,392,745, pending approval in September.

While these buses won't increase capacity on busier routes to anywhere near the same degree that LRT — or, dare I say it, subways would — there's a pretty strong argument in their favour in terms of reduced maintenance costs and the higher number of passengers they can accomodate. In the absence of these other options (the earliest an LRT line is scheduled to open on the busy Finch West corridor, for instance, is 2019), longer buses could ease some of the congestion on the city's busier routes.

They're not a cure-all, though. As anyone who's waited for the Queen 501 streetcar during rush hour knows, articulated vehicles are still subject to delays and bunching — and because they run at wider intervals, wait-times can increase on lines where they're used.

What do you think? Is this a good move on the part of the TTC?

Photo by drum118 on Flickr