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How is this an improvement over trains, trams, and light rail? I think reusing car-based infrastructure with busses is an important step in transitioning away

How is this an improvement over trains, trams, and light rail? I think reusing car-based infrastructure with busses is an important step in transitioning away from car dependency, but roads are not permanent. In many parts of America, trams and railways were torn down to be replaced by roads. The roads can be replaced too, if it is clear that alternatives are better. Plus, roads are destroyed incredibly quickly by cars and busses, so they will need replacing eventually, whereas rail is much more resilient. It seems to me that rail-based transport is much more effective in dense urban environments.

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
Point to point transit at the time when you need it. If I want to get from A to B at 14:00 and can do that in 30 minutes by car, but the only bus that goes there requires me to change at C, and it takes 20 minutes to get from A to C, 20 minutes to get from C to B, a 10 minute wait time at C, and the connection happens every 30 minutes and isn't perfectly aligned with my schedule, I'm now facing the choice between 30 min by car or over one hour (including the wait time at my destination because I had to take an earlier connection) with public transit. Add a 5-10 minute walk at each end to account for the distance between the nearest stop and the start/destination, and public transit can take 3x as long. If there is a van service that gets me there in 40 minutes at a time of my choice, that's a much more acceptable option. This may also consist of a car first taking me to a tram/bus stop a few minutes away that gets me more directly to the destination. The van service also solves the problem of those few-percent edge cases where regular public transit just doesn't work, which force people to get a car, which then gets used even for trips where public transit would otherwise be acceptable (but not great).

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago

Point to point transit at the time when you need it. If I want to get from A to B at 14:00 and can do that in 30 minutes by car, but the only bus that goes there requires me to change at C, and it takes 20 minutes to get from A to C, 20 minutes to get from C to B, a 10 minute wait time at C, and the connection happens every 30 minutes and isn't perfectly aligned with my schedule, I'm now facing the choice between 30 min by car or over one hour (including the wait time at my destination because I had to take an earlier connection) with public transit. Add a 5-10 minute walk at each end to account for the distance between the nearest stop and the start/destination, and public transit can take 3x as long. If there is a van service that gets me there in 40 minutes at a time of my choice, that's a much more acceptable option. This may also consist of a car first taking me to a tram/bus stop a few minutes away that gets me more directly to the destination. The van service also solves the problem of those few-percent edge cases where regular public transit just doesn't work, which force people to get a car, which then gets used even for trips where public transit would otherwise be acceptable (but not great).