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Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

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Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#141

Post by TheCoelacanth »

jessaustin wrote: post #65
tathougies wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently moved to Marin county and use the bus to commute to SF. The Golden Gate Transit buses are pretty amazing. They come on time, the seats are clean and comfortable, and they have (usually fast) wifi. The clientele is clearly professionals commuting to the city in the morning and evening, and it works. Honestly, if more bus systems simply got wifi and nice seats, that would be a huge step forward. I've taken t…

Comparing those buses to those that serve other areas seems a little bit like admiring charter schools that only accept rich smart kids...

The cost of wifi and some nice seats has got to be a rounding error compared to the cost of actually purchasing and operating buses. There is no reason normal buses couldn't have those things too.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#142

Post by dredmorbius »

stevejb wrote: post #100
tathougies wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the government funding these systems is the same -- the state of California. Also, the Marin system still deserves commendation. First of all, while it is a rich county, there is still a large wealth gap. There is a substantial number of obviously poorer people on the buses as well. Some routes mainly serve disadvantaged areas. Yet, the buses serve everyone, and people still want to ride them. And they're still p…

http://time.com/money/3014512/richest-wealthiest-highest-inc... It seems that there aren't many counties richer than Marin. And, a large wealth gap may just mean, there are some rich people, and some really rich people. Are the "obviously poorer people" still on iPhone 6's and 2015 MacBooks? (ok that part is sarcasm). The point is, if you are getting the bus in Marin county, you are getting on the bus with others who…

Marin City and San Rafael's Canal district are generally poorer. Also less well served.

Many people in San Rafael and Novato are fairly solid middle class. Outlying areas range from redic wealth to rural poor.

There's wealth, yes, but as with that future of Gibsons, there are somme kinks in the distribution.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#143

Post by TheCoelacanth »

downer68 wrote: post #126

Buses fucking suck. Buses make you wait in the rain. Buses get stuck in traffic very easily. Buses create traffic and make it worse with their size. Buses idle diesel fumes as they stand in traffic. Buses are noisy and idle outside of homes. Bus stops in front of homes are filled with noisy people. Buses that permit requested stops go nowhere slower than ever. Buses are a half measure. Buses fucking suck.

Bus shelters, bus-only lanes and electric buses solve nearly all of those problems.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#145

Post by s2g »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #80
s2g wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Force the middle class out of the city, give them shitty transit options, then tax the hell out of them when they decide to drive. Wonderful.

You're gonna get flagged for that because it's in direct contradiction with the beliefs of most here.

You're gonna get flagged for pointing out that HN is a pretty extreme echo chamber.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#146

Post by ajmurmann »

Endama wrote: post #5

I suspect the uncomfortable truth behind a lot of the problems regarding public transit isn't the transit itself, but the passengers. If you had the choice of riding a public bus with a large collection of the public or paying a few bucks and selecting a preferred subset of the ridership (e.g. chariot in SF, uber, lyft, etc.) I think most will choose the non-bus option to feel comfortable during their ride. I'm not s…

I wonder if we couldn't have a "business class" option. When I took Muni in SF every day I'd have happily paid a little extra for some more comfort and less likelihood of a homeless person who smells like urine nearby. That money could even be used to subsidize the economy tickets. Maybe it might even work out that we could have a freemium model.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#148

Post by ajmurmann »

edaemon wrote: post #94
ravitation wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. When I moved to Portland (from NYC, unfortunately), I hoped that I would have access to the MAX, but if not then I'd be able to take the bus to work. I ended up being about 20 blocks from the nearest MAX stop, but there was a bus stop right outside my apartment. I took the bus maybe a dozen times before I realized that it really is a non-option; what takes me ~15 minutes (20 on a extremely rare bad day)…

Part of Portland's problem is that its transit is built to move people into and out of downtown. Very little of it is built to move people between neighborhoods or across routes. That's somewhat understandable since downtown is the most common destination, but plenty of people (like you) end up without many options.

Some cities I've lived in have a star model. In Munich I'd take the subway downtown, change trains and head into a different suburb. Because the train was quick and the stops reasonable spaced resulting in a decent experience. In Portland the MAX stops so frequently downtown that taking it for example from the west side to the airport is way too slow. You spend way too much time just slogging through downtown. It starts to suffer from the same problem like most US buses that stop every fucking block. What's up with that insanity?! The T-Line in SF suffered from the same problem and I ultimately stopped taking it in favor of a kick scooter.

Re: Buses Need Our Love More Than Ever

#150

Post by so33 »

nordsieck wrote: post #135
cozzyd wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but if the bus is faster, more people will take the bus and so you will add more buses. In places like Quito with dedicated busways, there are buses basically non-stop. Buses can follow one another better than trains too because you don't have the signal system reducing headways.

For the record I'm a huge fan of busses and highly skeptical of trains. I'm sure that there are some places in the world where the Mayor's statement is true. Those places are rare. In a downtown corridor during rush hour? Sure - I could totally see a lane full of just busses. However, most dedicated bus lanes won't be that busy. This isn't to say that there aren't good reasons for dedicated lanes - just that the reas…

>In a downtown corridor during rush hour? Sure - I could totally see a lane full of just busses. However, most dedicated bus lanes won't be that busy.

These are precisely the places where dedicated bus lanes and BRTs exist. BRT is called bus rapid transit because there is a planned frequency for these buses - therefore a need for consistent, uninterrupted rights of way.

>In a well run business that would be true. In the first world, most busses are heavily subsidized.

Only because highly popular bus routes (and train routes) subsidize unpopular routes that exist for the public good and not to make money - neighborhood routes, night buses, etc. In the US, routes are highly subsidized because of a lack of density compared to Europe or Asia.

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