C-Tran could be the first transit agency in the Vancouver-Portland area to get double-decker buses, but the high-capacity option is far from certain at this point. The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program expects to pay for eight zero-emission, double-decker buses as part of the project to replace the aging Interstate 5 Bridge, C-Tran confirmed Tuesday. But the purchase is not certain, said Eric Florip, manager of communications and marketing for C-Tran. “Many specifics on the project remain to be determined at this stage but will be addressed as the project moves through the planning process,” Florip said.

The bridge replacement project’s draft supplemental environmental impact statement, expected to be released later this month, will offer more details on high-capacity buses, Florip said. C-Tran’s new buses would be part of the program’s transit expansion through the I-5 corridor, which will include light rail extending from Portland into Vancouver and a dedicated passageway for pedestrians and bicyclists on the new bridge. The new zero-emission, high-capacity buses were included in a slide presentation from Interstate Bridge Replacement Program staff to C-Tran’s board of directors in August. C-Tran currently operates express buses from Vancouver to Portland using the freeway’s shoulder lanes. The bridge replacement project is expected to expand that bus-on-shoulder service through the 5-mile project corridor.

If the double-decker buses materialize, this wouldn’t be the first high-capacity bus line operated by C-Tran. The transit agency operates a bus rapid transit line using articulated buses along its Vine routes on Fourth Plain and Mill Plain boulevards. C-Tran plans to add more Vine routes in coming years. Double-decker buses are more associated with London than the Pacific Northwest, but Seattle’s Sound Transit began operating double-decker buses in 2019.