4 ms·

Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like t

avn2109 11y ago
>> "...good for expanding transit where you aren't sure about." Is Ballard going to move anytime soon?
tzs 11y ago
> Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. Essentially, there's a lot less buy-in with busses which can be good for expanding transit where you aren't sure about. On the other hand, that difficulty in changing routes with trains, subways, and street cars means it is much less likely that a route will be shut down completely if ridership falls off. I could at least consider moving to be near a subway or train stop and then giving up my car. With a bus no way am I giving up my car. The risk is too high that some bean counter will decide that ridership could be improved by 5% of they shut down my route and replaced it with a new one a mile away, and then I'd be screwed. I think to really make a transit system be widely used there has to be a long term commitment to (1) keeping certain routes open, and (2) running at certain times on those routes, no matter how low ridership falls.
quanticle 11y ago
Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. That's actually a downside of buses when it comes to urban development. As a business owner, there's very little upside in opening up a new business next to a new bus stop, because I know that bus stop may move (or disappear entirely) next year. Compare that with a light rail line, which is guaranteed to be on a fairly fixed route, with fairly fixed stops. The literature I've read about urban development shows that additional bus lines do almost nothing for economic activity along their route, while light rail lines have significant, sustained increases in economic activity near their stations.
ocschwar 11y ago
> Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. YAGNI. In Boston, not only are many of the bus lines following the exact route of older trolley lines, but those trolley lines follow routes taken by horse-drawn street car lines, and the tracks laid down for those matches, block for block, the routes of older omnibus stagecoach services. You really don't need to reroute bus lines very often. But what about something blocking a track, you might ask? Well, streetcar cities deal with the prospect of an incident blocking a streetcar track by being very, very intolerant of things that might make that happen. And it works. But... since a bus can reroute easily, it can also be rerouted very easily by politicians for their own ends. Which means real estate investors ignore bus lines. They don't ignore streetcar tracks.

avn2109 11y ago

>> "...good for expanding transit where you aren't sure about." Is Ballard going to move anytime soon?

tzs 11y ago

> Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. Essentially, there's a lot less buy-in with busses which can be good for expanding transit where you aren't sure about. On the other hand, that difficulty in changing routes with trains, subways, and street cars means it is much less likely that a route will be shut down completely if ridership falls off. I could at least consider moving to be near a subway or train stop and then giving up my car. With a bus no way am I giving up my car. The risk is too high that some bean counter will decide that ridership could be improved by 5% of they shut down my route and replaced it with a new one a mile away, and then I'd be screwed. I think to really make a transit system be widely used there has to be a long term commitment to (1) keeping certain routes open, and (2) running at certain times on those routes, no matter how low ridership falls.

quanticle 11y ago

Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. That's actually a downside of buses when it comes to urban development. As a business owner, there's very little upside in opening up a new business next to a new bus stop, because I know that bus stop may move (or disappear entirely) next year. Compare that with a light rail line, which is guaranteed to be on a fairly fixed route, with fairly fixed stops. The literature I've read about urban development shows that additional bus lines do almost nothing for economic activity along their route, while light rail lines have significant, sustained increases in economic activity near their stations.

ocschwar 11y ago

> Busses are a lot more flexible in terms of routing - normal gasoline busses can be rerouted at will, and the cost of changing routes for electric busses (like the ones in Seattle) are much lower than street cars, where you basically have to lay new track. YAGNI. In Boston, not only are many of the bus lines following the exact route of older trolley lines, but those trolley lines follow routes taken by horse-drawn street car lines, and the tracks laid down for those matches, block for block, the routes of older omnibus stagecoach services. You really don't need to reroute bus lines very often. But what about something blocking a track, you might ask? Well, streetcar cities deal with the prospect of an incident blocking a streetcar track by being very, very intolerant of things that might make that happen. And it works. But... since a bus can reroute easily, it can also be rerouted very easily by politicians for their own ends. Which means real estate investors ignore bus lines. They don't ignore streetcar tracks.