Buses of the future visited Ames on Tuesday.

The demo buses seen on campus are prototypes of a new design that is starting to be produced and distributed by Gillig Corporation.

The buses used by Cy-Ride on Tuesday have only one step instead of the traditional three steps to board the bus. The front half of the bus is low to the ground, like a car, and contains seats and the wheel-wells.

Near the middle of the bus, there are stairs up to a higher level with seats on each side and a bench in the rear.

The two buses, which ran on the Brown Route to Towers Residence Hall and Orange Route to the College of Veterinary Medicine, are manufactured by Gillig Corporation in Hayward, Calif. The company is touring the buses throughout the country to display the new model.

Bob Bourne, director of Cy-Ride, said the manufacturers were “showing off” the new design in markets that may soon purchase new buses. He said the response to the buses was very positive at ISU.

Lisa Wentzel, a freshman in animal science, was excited about her ride on the demo bus to Towers.

“It was fun to ride. Cy-Ride could use buses like that all the time,” she said.

Cy-Ride has received a grant award for four new buses. It would like to use the grant to buy this “low-rider” style of bus, Bourne said.

The new type of bus, he said, will eventually take over the market. “In 15 to 20 years, 75 to 80 percent of the buses in operation will be this style.”

The buses are extremely popular because they are all wheelchair-accessible. Because of the low step, they don’t need to be equipped with wheelchair lifts, as many Cy-Ride buses are.

“We don’t get many wheelchair users on the buses right now because not all of our buses are wheelchair-accessible,” Bourne said. “The low step makes it easy for handicapped as well as elderly and injured riders to use the buses.”

The new bus design could also help ease the congestion on Cy-Ride, especially on the frequently-used Orange Route. “The demo buses seemed bigger. They could fit more people than the regular buses,” Wentzel said.

Cy-Ride will consider the company’s bids for the new buses in May or June and award the contract in July. The buses are on a two-year backlog, so they won’t arrive in Ames until the summer of 1999, Bourne said.