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I am also very frustrated by transit advocates who don't seem to realize just how bad the bus experience is and just how strongly that shapes public attitudes a

I am also very frustrated by transit advocates who don't seem to realize just how bad the bus experience is and just how strongly that shapes public attitudes about public transit. Every time a train or trolley proposal comes along you get all these people yammering on about how much money we could save with "BRT", not realizing that you save that money FOR A REASON, by settling for a crappy, uncomfortable experience. [p.s.: there is actually a term in transit-nerd circles, "rail bias" - as though people have an unreasonable preference for trains when other transit modes would do just as well. So far as I can see, "rail bias" is a myth - the truth is merely "bus aversion".]

maxsilver 11y ago
> I am also very frustrated by transit advocates who don't seem to realize just how bad the bus experience is and just how strongly that shapes public attitudes about public transit. This times 1000x. It's common in the Midwest for many people to have never once used any public transit in their entire lives. So it's very easy for our public transit groups to pretend that BRT is "like Light Rail" hoping it will improve the public response to BRT. Instead, it just dampens enthusiasm for real transit. People ride BRT and are underwhelmed. Since they've been told BRT is "just like Light Rail", they decide that Light Rail must suck too. Which is how you get metro areas of 600k+ people which, despite having a dozen or more bus lines, still manage to have no useful public transit of any kind.