Why was that bright green Triangle Transit bus traveling east on Interstate 40 -- through the middle of Tennessee?
N&O reporter Mandy Locke did a doubletake when she spotted the familiar-looking bus in an unfamiliar place last weekend on her way to the Nashville airport.
Brad Schulz of Triangle Transit says Locke saw one of TT's new 40-foot buses en route to the Triangle from their manufacturer, Gillig, in Hayward, California.
That's how new buses are delivered: somebody drives them across the country. It's about 2,800 miles from the Gillig factory to the Triangle Transit garage.
TT bought 23 30-foot Gillig buses last year to replace some of its antique Thomas buses (made not so far away in High Point). The agency is taking delivery this month on 12 40-footers, at around $330,000 apiece, that will go into operation in the next few weeks.
Besides being 10 feet longer and holding more riders, the new 40-footers also will have cushier seats.
Riders had complained that the seats on the 30-footers were "kind of rough on the rump," Schulz said. "We'll make sure we have more padding on all the new ones."
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter and editor since 1976, he took over the 
