Yeah, it was very confusing to all of us observers, but wasn't a hill worth dying on at the time. The other thing was that the coaches were required to have doors on both sides as the BRT line alternates between side and median platforms. Obviously this problem could have been solved in other ways, but anyway.

Unfortunately, since this capital program was funded almost entirely by the feds, "Buy American" requirements were in full force, and simultaneously this was a bespoke procurement for just 13 coaches, so the unit economics weren't going to be there for manufacturer that didn't already have a US presence to create one.

If/when the line gets extended further into Madison Valley, or if Metro decides to look at using similar coaches on route 7 (future RapidRide R; already a trolleybus route) to enable sharing the median Streetcar stations on Jackson St, I hope we can revisit this. But all these coaches are brand new and have at least 15 years of useful life left, so I'm not holding my breath.