At 6-foot-7 and 400 pounds, Darrayle Williams might just be the perfect man to drive New York City's newest bus.
On Monday, Mr. Williams slid behind the wheel of a double-decker coach, the first two-story public bus in New York since it made a brief and ill-fated return in the 1970s. It was impossible to be subtle about the moment, and Mr. Williams did not even try. "Big guy, big bus," he said.
He proved himself adept at maneuvering the king-size vehicle.
"It's a very solid, steady ride," Mr. Williams said. As the air-conditioning beat down through individual vents over each upholstered seat, the bus took the corner at 34th Street with minimal tipping sensation, giving riders upstairs a privileged view of the skyscrapers down 34th, then Fifth Avenue, and a sense of majesty, mixed with mild dissociation, above the street-level world scurrying below.
Because of increased ridership and higher gas costs, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is thinking of bringing back the double-decker, which until now had been the sole province of tour bus companies.
Beginning on Thursday, the authority will rotate the bus through designated routes for 30 days. The authority will solicit opinions from passengers as well as Mr. Williams, to gauge how the bus handles in city traffic.
The bus drew a fair number of stares during a demonstration on Monday, with reporters on board (most of whom chose to sit on top). But Howard H. Roberts, Jr., the president of NYC Transit, said, "This is not just a show."
He added, "It's not a movement to titillate the public." If the trial goes well, the authority will buy an unspecified number of double-deckers for an expanded test. The bus now being used is on loan from the ABC Bus Company, a partner with the Belgian manufacturer Van Hool. Each double-decker costs roughly $650,000, said Elliot G. Sander, the executive director and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The agency is also considering a hybrid low-floor "articulated" bus - with an accordion-like middle - that costs $920,000.
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