2 ms·
They are, but for much lower passenger volumes than trains or subways. A bus rapid-transit line with all the bells-and-whistles like grade-separation (don't sh
by TheCoelacanth 7y ago
They are, but for much lower passenger volumes than trains or subways.
A bus rapid-transit line with all the bells-and-whistles like grade-separation (don't share any roads with cars), elevated platforms at every station for faster boarding, etc. can't handle more than about 3k passengers per hour[1]. A standard bus-line without that extra infrastructure, much less.
A subway line can handle 30k passengers per hour. You could build ten times as many bus lines on parallel roads, but it's probably going to cost more than the subway line and you are going to run out of space when you consider locations that have a subway station every quarter to half mile. Fitting ten bus lines in that space would be one every 150 feet or so.
[1] https://www.liveabout.com/passenger-capacity-of-transit-2798765 https://www.liveabout.com/passenger-capacity-of-transit-2798...
- bluGill 7y agoThe context here is app based transit. A fix route bus stuck in traffic can handle 30x as many passengers as the same bus running an app based route. Add in the other features you name and the bus can get 10x more than the bus in transit. Then you can go to a train (subway or elevated) and get another 10x over that!. Conclusion: app based transit isn't useful if you need to move masses. (Apps can be useful if there are a few rare trips that the otherwise good local system cannot handle)