According to an MTA statement, some double-decker buses are being rolled into service in NYC for a 35-day trial run.

Officials told NY1 that the buses are cheaper to maintain, carry more passengers, and are more efficient than the extra-long buses currently in use.

“This bus is used around the world. It does a great job in both express and local. We’re try it on several routes in the city,” said MTA bus president Joseph Smith. “We have to get a few trees trimmed here and there, but this bus, from an environmental standpoint, carries more people that any other.”

The 13-foot-tall, 45-foot-long, 81-seat bus will alternate service on local and express bus routes: BxM3 from Yonkers to Manhattan, the X17J between Staten Island and Manhattan, the M15 limited on First and Second Avenues, and possibly the M5 along Fifth Avenue (if the tree pruning along the bus lane goes well).

Buses like these disappeared from city streets in the 1950s and made only a brief return in the 70s.

(Source: NY1 / NY Times)