Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
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Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
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Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#2The problem with buses is that they're completely unpredictable. You might as well not even look at the schedule. There's also the issue of having to purchase your ticket; buses rarely have automatic kiosks as do trains and light rail, and you often have to talk to the operator to get your ticket. Finally, bus routes are byzantine and completely impossible to unravel by looking at a map. Rail systems are much more amenable to mapping, and if you're lost, you can always find a rail stop just by looking under your feet or giving your favorite mapping app a quick scan.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#3I'm prone to motion sickness on buses.
Even for people who aren't, I can't imagine the joltiness of travelling in a geared vehicle that's not on tracks is more pleasant than a train.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#4I'm prone to motion sickness on buses. Even for people who aren't, I can't imagine the joltiness of travelling in a geared vehicle that's not on tracks is more pleasant than a train.
I'm prone to motion sickness on buses.
Me too.
Plus, the question is often not trains versus buses; it's about grade-separated versus not grade-separated. Separating the trains from the cars is a huge improvement.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#5Most train systems I've taken don't have to stop at stop lights, but the buses I've ridden, even with a dedicated lane, still stop at the lights. This means twice as many stops and starts. Big negative in my mind. But then again, maybe this is another small improvement which could be made.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#6People do in general prefer trains over buses. This article is basically just saying that as you make the buses more train-like by giving them dedicated lanes and more reliability, people start to like buses more. Make them longer (articulated), faster, with dedicated lanes, and basically they start to become like a train with rubber tires. I think that is in fact, confirming people like trains better.
Titles do matter and I have an issue with the title of the article. It's like saying people prefer lobster soup over pea soup, but as you start to add more lobster to the pea soup... people start to like the pea soup... and therefore, it's a "myth" that people prefer lobster over peas. People prefer faster, reliable service with fewer stops - duh.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#7The problem with buses is that they're completely unpredictable. You might as well not even look at the schedule. There's also the issue of having to purchase your ticket; buses rarely have automatic kiosks as do trains and light rail, and you often have to talk to the operator to get your ticket. Finally, bus routes are byzantine and completely impossible to unravel by looking at a map. Rail systems are much more am…
None of those problems apply to proper BRT systems. That's the author's point.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#8The problem with buses is that they're completely unpredictable. You might as well not even look at the schedule. There's also the issue of having to purchase your ticket; buses rarely have automatic kiosks as do trains and light rail, and you often have to talk to the operator to get your ticket. Finally, bus routes are byzantine and completely impossible to unravel by looking at a map. Rail systems are much more am…
As always, it depends. Some transit systems are better than others, and some routes are better than others.
I've recently started taking the bus to work and have found that most of the routes keep to their schedule quite well. The local transit system is also rolling out smart bus technology which, among other things, provides real-time location information on each bus. This is available online and through the transit system's app. It's also used by a third-party app, Transit, which is quite good.
Based on my experience, the bus always arrives within a minute of its schedule in the morning. It tends to fall behind near the end of its route in the evening rush hour, though the most I've seen has been 10 minutes (according to the operator's console [when the bus has the smart bus stuff]). This is at the end of a cross-city route, so 10 minutes behind when the bus is passing through at least two construction zones is actually really good.
I should note that the route I take is an express route. I used to take a non-express bus that followed the same path (up to where I got off anyway) and it was a nightmare - usually behind schedule, too many people, too many stops and starts. I decided that the express bus was worth the longer walk.
As for mapping, this is true, but only because there are so many routes relative to rail. Google Maps helps immensely, but it is not perfect.
As for talking to the operator, it's not strictly required, usually you can just deposit your fare in the box and he hands you a ticket. That said, I always thank the operator when I get off. This is the guy that is driving through the traffic so that I don't have to, the least I could do is say thanks. I also make it a point when driving to do what I can to make things easier on the buses, for the same reason.
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#9> people have just used "trains" to mean "good transit" and "buses" to mean "bad transit." If that's the case, then marketing better buses as something like trains (or, at least, something other than buses) should weaken this automatic association.
> But such efforts will fall flat without meaningful investments in well-designed service: dedicated lanes, reliable peak and off-peak service, off-board fare payments, comfortable stations or enhanced shelters, or reconfigured routes, to start the list. A pretty picture alone isn't enough.
I wish the author had taken this further. It's not a "myth" that people like trains over buses, it's true and for really good reasons.
Buses / BRT are "bad transit", and Light Rail (or trains / subways / etc) are "good transit" the vast majority of the time it's actually deployed today. That's not "perception", it's truth. You can use marketing to hide that, but the fact will still remain.
This is intentional -- BRT intentionally comes full of big compromises that Light Rail typically doesn't have. These compromises are what makes BRT cheaper than Light Rail in the first place.
Transit authorities want to have their cake and eat it too. They don't want to pay for good service, but they want to pretend BRT is "like Light Rail" to make people think they've gotten good service -- that a route hasn't been shortchanged. It doesn't work that way -- claming BRT is "like Light Rail" is like slapping wheels onto a tent and saying its "like a RV".
The article is right to promote actual investments in transit. But if your going through the investment of making BRT as good as Light Rail (such as 100% dedicated grade-separated routes that can't be impacted by traffic) then your going to incur most of the costs of real Light Rail anyway, so you might as well make the service real Light Rail and get the full benefits of that investment (such as faster transit, smoother rides, much larger carrying capacity, less local air pollution, etc)
Re: Preferences for Trains vs. Buses
#10The problem with buses is that they're completely unpredictable. You might as well not even look at the schedule. There's also the issue of having to purchase your ticket; buses rarely have automatic kiosks as do trains and light rail, and you often have to talk to the operator to get your ticket. Finally, bus routes are byzantine and completely impossible to unravel by looking at a map. Rail systems are much more am…
None of those problems apply to proper BRT systems. That's the author's point.
In the opinion of myself, and perhaps others, a "proper" BRT system is few and far between. Even the system their describing in the article is almost exactly what they're creating in real live between Denver and Boulder, but many compromises have been made, and it's not going to work out as originally planned. Funnily, part the funding was through a program called, "Fast Tracks", which - you guessed it, was money allocated for a lightrail system that... wasn't created.