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> You could get them to prefer the bus there by making the car trip take three hours or cost $100, but what good is that? Whose life does it improve? It improv

> You could get them to prefer the bus there by making the car trip take three hours or cost $100, but what good is that? Whose life does it improve? It improves the lives of all those who are agnostic to their mode of transportation but want to get to their destination faster. The carrying capacity of a bus or a train is much higher than individual cars. It also saves cost on road maintenance because the amount of road strain / person decreases. > That's the point. If you want more people to take the bus, don't make it worse to drive, make it better to take the bus. In a perfect world, of course. We'd make separate bus roads, bicycle roads, and car roads, and then the road user would select their mode and their road and be done with it. In reality, budgets are limited. Prioritizing a car solution makes it worse for busses and bicyclists to use the same road. While a train can be a good non-disruptive alternative, it is extremely expensive to initially invest in. I'm also not exactly sympathetic to allowing car drivers free access to the space they take up on the road when space is a limited quantity.

AnthonyMouse 8y ago
> It improves the lives of all those who are agnostic to their mode of transportation but want to get to their destination faster. But they're not getting to their destination faster. They were getting there in fifteen minutes, now it takes three hours because they can no longer afford to drive but the bus doesn't actually go to their destination. > We'd make separate bus roads, bicycle roads, and car roads, and then the road user would select their mode and their road and be done with it. You don't need separate roads, you need mass transit that actually goes where people need to go. Or better yet, to put more people where mass transit already is. > Prioritizing a car solution makes it worse for busses and bicyclists to use the same road. A bus can use the same uncongested road as a car with no problems, and traffic congestion is the same problem for both. There are a hundred different ways to address congestion other than "punish drivers" -- add new mass transit routes, build more housing on existing routes, lower or eliminate mass transit fares, switch from property tax to land value tax to encourage density, etc.

AnthonyMouse 8y ago

> It improves the lives of all those who are agnostic to their mode of transportation but want to get to their destination faster. But they're not getting to their destination faster. They were getting there in fifteen minutes, now it takes three hours because they can no longer afford to drive but the bus doesn't actually go to their destination. > We'd make separate bus roads, bicycle roads, and car roads, and then the road user would select their mode and their road and be done with it. You don't need separate roads, you need mass transit that actually goes where people need to go. Or better yet, to put more people where mass transit already is. > Prioritizing a car solution makes it worse for busses and bicyclists to use the same road. A bus can use the same uncongested road as a car with no problems, and traffic congestion is the same problem for both. There are a hundred different ways to address congestion other than "punish drivers" -- add new mass transit routes, build more housing on existing routes, lower or eliminate mass transit fares, switch from property tax to land value tax to encourage density, etc.