EVERETT — They weren’t old enough to drive or even for school, but three small children were at the wheel of an Everett Transit bus Friday morning.
The kids paid no attention to the road. No problem, their vehicle was going nowhere. It’s only part of a bus.
“It’s very popular,” said Nancy Johnson, executive director of the Imagine Children’s Museum in downtown Everett.
On Nov. 5, a new interactive display featuring an Everett Transit bus — the front 5 feet of one — was unveiled at the museum in a ceremony attended by Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson and Tom Hingson, Everett Transit’s director of transportation services.
Made from a decommissioned bus, the exhibit gives children the chance to climb aboard, sit in the driver’s seat and try shifting gears. The bus was installed to look as if it’s coming out of a 12-foot-high stone tunnel, which was built by Edge Concrete. The Woodinville company also made the museum’s climbing wall.
Everett Transit’s loss became the museum’s gain. “The bus had been rear-ended,” Johnson said.
The 29-foot bus, one of Everett Transit’s smallest regular passenger buses, was hit from behind by a large truck while southbound on I-5 a couple of years ago. It was on what Hingson called a “deadhead” run, traveling without passengers to its first point of service. No one was hurt, he said.
“The frame was bent, so it wasn’t cost-effective to fix it,” Hingson said.
The exhibit was a logistical challenge for both agencies. Just getting the bus through the museum door was tricky, Hingson said.
The bus adds hands-on experience to an existing effort by Everett Transit and the museum to teach kids about public transportation. For several years, the Imagine Children’s Museum and Everett Transit have teamed up to offer school groups a two-for-one field trip.
“They visit the transit center, ride an Everett Transit bus up to the Children’s Museum, play on the exhibits, then ride the bus back,” Johnson said. “It’s teaching kids about the importance of riding the bus.”
“The field trips are so popular,” Hingson said. In 2007, Everett Transit and the museum produced an interactive DVD called “ET — Protector of the Planet” as another avenue to teach about riding the bus.
The Imagine Children’s Museum is supported by admissions and class fees, and to a larger degree by donations and community partnerships, Johnson said. The bus project is one of several new exhibits, including a firehouse and a “glow zone” using black lights.
Kids can play on a model of a Boeing plane. The jet has a genuine cockpit, but the body was built for the museum, Hingson said. The bus is the real thing.
“That’s unique about this display,” Hingson said.
Reporter Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Transforming an Everett bus
The city of Everett’s Motor Vehicles Department did extensive work to turn a wrecked Everett Transit bus into a kid-friendly exhibit at the Imagine Children’s Museum, including:
n Removing the front 5 feet of bus
n Building a support frame under the bus front
n Having a custom backing made for the area behind the driver’s seat
n Installing new grab rails
n Rewiring so turn signals and other flashing devices work
n Repainting bus
n Reupholstering seats
n Installing decals
The Imagine Children’s Museum is at 1502 Wall St. in downtown Everett.
For more information, call 425-258-1006 or go to www.imaginecm.org.
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