The public is invited to climb aboard a hybrid bus, one just like the three expected to enter the city’s transit fleet in the middle of next year.

The electric-diesel bus will be available for viewing, boarding and inspection from 6 to 7 Tuesday night outside City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets. The bus will be parked in the turnout lane just outside the city’s Riverfront parking garage.

The bus rolling in is on its way to Kansas City, Mo., to become part of that city’s transit fleet. The bus started its journey in San Francisco, where it was built by Gillig Corp.

Lawrence city commissioners will be expected to check out the bus before their weekly commission meeting, which begins at 6:35 p.m. An invitation-only tour Wednesday morning will give city officials, transit operators and others a chance to take a test drive around town.

“It’ll give everybody a chance to get a feel for it, to see how it rides and how it sounds compared to a traditional bus,” said Robert Nugent, the city’s transit administrator.

Last month the city of Lawrence agreed to buy three such vehicles — each to be 40 feet long and cost about $600,000. The city is using federal stimulus money for the purchases.

Once in the city’s fleet, each diesel bus likely will be used on Route 11, which is a coordinated bus route serving both the city of Lawrence and the Kansas University campus. Nugent said.