Already celebrating a 10 percent climb in ridership in 2007, Snohomish, Wash.-based Community Transit will purchase 23 double-decker buses for its daily commuter runs to Seattle.  

The agency became the second in the nation to put a modern double-decker into regular service last August, dubbing it “The Double Tall.” 

The new double-deckers will replace 60-foot articulated buses nearing the end of their service life. Funds for the new buses were procured in March, when Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor and board members went to Washington, D.C., to ask the state’s federal officials for the $8 million that was necessary. It is currently in the process of going to bid to determine who the manufacturer of the buses will be.

As for its third consecutive record-breaking year of ridership, Community Transit increased the number of passengers riding its bus, vanpool and paratransit services by one million, from 9.9 million in 2006 to 10.9 million in 2007. The trend continued this January, with ridership up eight percent over the same period a year ago.