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Buses in the USA with limited funding do not work absurdly well, no. I've ridden buses in Hong Kong that are very nearly as efficient as anything else, and one

Buses in the USA with limited funding do not work absurdly well, no. I've ridden buses in Hong Kong that are very nearly as efficient as anything else, and one comes along very frequently. Some of that is that Hong Kong is small, but it illustrates the point that buses can be better if funded well. Spend as much money on buses as the Boring Company wastes with silly unusable routes nobody wants, and you'll get great bus service.

imgabe 4y ago
I actually live in Hong Kong and don't have a car and that has nothing to do with buses. Everything is within walking distance. Within 5 blocks of my apartment off the top of my head I can think of 4-5 grocery stores, 3-4 butcher shops, a wet market, 3-4 vegetable stands, 3-4 different dentist offices, several different daycares / pre-schools, at least 2 gyms, a public pool, about a dozen hair salons / barbers, dozens of restaurants and bars, and on and on. There is literally nothing I need on a daily basis that I couldn't walk to. I almost never take the bus anywhere. If you had to commute regularly from, say the New Territories in to Central (about as far as you can go in HK), the bus/MTR takes 2-3 times as long as driving.
- pwinnski 4y ago
  I am not suggesting that the bus service is essentially for daily life in HK, just that it is remarkably efficient for getting from Sai Wan Ho to Central and back again, for example. It's efficiency would amaze more US residents, who've never seen a bus system so well-funded and well-operated. FWIW, Sai Wan Ho to the New Territories took me MTR and light rail, where I was ultimately picked up in a car by the person I was visiting. People living in the New Territories seem to find a car nearly-essential, but that seems to be because MTR doesn't run out there, and the bus service is not nearly as well-developed as Hong Kong Island or Kowloon.

imgabe 4y ago

I actually live in Hong Kong and don't have a car and that has nothing to do with buses. Everything is within walking distance. Within 5 blocks of my apartment off the top of my head I can think of 4-5 grocery stores, 3-4 butcher shops, a wet market, 3-4 vegetable stands, 3-4 different dentist offices, several different daycares / pre-schools, at least 2 gyms, a public pool, about a dozen hair salons / barbers, dozens of restaurants and bars, and on and on. There is literally nothing I need on a daily basis that I couldn't walk to. I almost never take the bus anywhere. If you had to commute regularly from, say the New Territories in to Central (about as far as you can go in HK), the bus/MTR takes 2-3 times as long as driving.

pwinnski 4y ago
I am not suggesting that the bus service is essentially for daily life in HK, just that it is remarkably efficient for getting from Sai Wan Ho to Central and back again, for example. It's efficiency would amaze more US residents, who've never seen a bus system so well-funded and well-operated. FWIW, Sai Wan Ho to the New Territories took me MTR and light rail, where I was ultimately picked up in a car by the person I was visiting. People living in the New Territories seem to find a car nearly-essential, but that seems to be because MTR doesn't run out there, and the bus service is not nearly as well-developed as Hong Kong Island or Kowloon.