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An articulated bus (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usually a single-deck design, and comprises two rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint (articulation) enclosed by protective folding bellows on the in- and outside of the vehicle (usually of gray or black colour) and a cover plate on the inside of the vehicle. This arrangement allows a longer legal overall length than single-decker rigid-bodied buses, and hence a higher passenger capacity, while still allowing the bus to maneuver adequately on the roads of its service route. Around the English-speaking world, articulated buses have acquired several different synonyms that allude to their articulated design, such as bendy buses, bending buses, tandem buses, stretch buses, double buses, banana buses, slinky buses, wiggle buses, caterpillar buses, accordion buses or vestibule buses . Due to their high passenger capacity, articulated buses are often used as part of bus rapid transit schemes, and can include mechanical guidance. Used almost exclusively on public transport bus services, articulated buses are approximately in length; standard rigid-construction buses are usually . The common arrangement of an articulated bus is to have a forward section with two axles leading a rear section with a single axle, with the driving axle mounted on either the front or the rear section. Some articulated bus models have a steering arrangement on the rearmost axle which turns slightly in opposition to the front steering axle, allowing the vehicle to negotiate turns in a crab-like fashion, similar to hook-and-ladder fire trucks operating in city environments. A less common variant of the articulated bus is the bi-articulated bus, where the vehicle has two trailer sections rather than one. Their capacity is around 200 people, and their length about . ==History== Early examples of the articulated bus appeared in Europe in the 1920s. In Budapest, Hungary the first prototype of this bus was in service in 1960 and could carry 200 passengers. It was manufactured without the use of blueprints. Later Ikarus's blueprints were drawn up on the basis of this existing prototype. There is an ongoing exhibition in Budapest at the Museum of Transportation in 2010 with the title "The articulated bus is 50 years old". In the mid-1960s, AC Transit in California pioneered the American use of a modern articulated bus, operating the experimental commuter coach "XMC 77" (based on Continental Trailways' Bus & Car Co. Silver Eagle model) on some of its transbay lines.〔(Photo of AC Transit XMC 77 at the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, California, circa 1965 )〕 Articulated buses have also been used in Australia and Europe (Austria (Gräf & Stift)(), Italy, Germany(Gaubschat, Emmelmann, Göppel, Duewag, Vetter), Canada (LFS Articulated), Hungary (Ikarus), Poland (Jelcz AP02)) The first modern British "bendy buses" (as they are referred to in the UK and Canada) were built by Leyland-DAB and used in the city of Sheffield in the 1980s. They were subsequently withdrawn from service because they proved to be expensive to maintain. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「articulated bus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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