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I love light rail, not the bus: http://setosa.io/bus/ http://setosa.io/bus/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunch
by maxharris 8y ago
I love light rail, not the bus:
http://setosa.io/bus/ http://setosa.io/bus/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching
- craftyguy 8y agoIn Portland, OR, the light rail does 'train bunching', with the exact same consequences (inconsistent schedule, overcrowded trains followed closely by empty ones, etc).
- blang 8y agoIs this because the train is not grade separated?
- craftyguy 8y agoIn many places it is, but downtown it is right there on the street sharing lanes with cars. I've been on the light rail when it was hit by a car, and when it hit a car (both low-speed, but still delayed things by quite a long time)
- maxharris 8y agoYup! The fix is to prioritize trains over all other street traffic, especially cars. (I suppose you could do this with buses, too, but people don't really see it that way because they have rubber wheels just like cars...)
- evandijk70 8y agoBuses in my country have priority over all other street traffic. They never have a red light, it goes to green automatically when the bus arrives.
- maxharris 8y agoIn Seattle (where I lived for three years, until just recently,) there was this dedicated bus lane. Cars for the most part stayed off of it, but the bus still had to stop at traffic lights. Anything on rail is just way more suited to nonstop use! People in cars can (or should) more easily understand that trains/streetcars can't just start and stop just for them.
- jschwartzi 8y agoThere are lots of those in Seattle and King County. They even close down an entire avenue during rush hour and turn it into a bus-only street.
- StudentStuff 8y agoDedicated lanes and roads help, but light rail is significantly faster than buses & more reliable. It is a huge reason why we're investing in building Light Rail out to the outer reaches of Seattle. With Light Rail, you are essentially buying people part of their lives back in the form of a shorter commute. That is quite important, as time spent driving in traffic is pretty well wasted.
- jschwartzi 8y agoWhich is why I'm really excited about the light rail stop at Northgate, because it will cut my travel time into the city by 20 minutes.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- munk-a 8y agoLight rail is... well terrible. Build a real rail system separated from car traffic to avoid slowing down public transit to match the speed of private transit.
- Reason077 8y agoProper light rail systems are fully separated from traffic. You're probably thinking of trams ("streetcars" in North America), which don't have a fully segregated right of way.
- lmm 8y agoIf it's fully separated from traffic why/how isn't it just regular ("heavy") rail?
- Reason077 8y agoThe "light" refers to the weight and capacity of the rail vehicles themselves. Light rail vehicles are typically smaller and carry less passengers per car than heavy rail. Light rail systems don't share track with heavy rail (which can include freight services, etc), so the regulatory requirements for things like crash safety are often reduced. All of this reduces the cost of the light rail systems compared to heavy rail.
- TheCoelacanth 8y agoWhy not both? Light rail in places dense enough to justify the capital cost and buses to supplement that in the lower density areas.