3 ms·

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a double-articulated bus filled with people going to work/play/shop. Also, slow = safe. Around here, the operators are cau

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a double-articulated bus filled with people going to work/play/shop. Also, slow = safe. Around here, the operators are cautious, diligent, and the best drivers on the road.

selectodude 2y ago
MTA bus drivers are maniacs. I mean, I appreciate that they are but cautious or diligent aren’t the adjectives I’d use.
doctorpangloss 2y ago
> Never underestimate the bandwidth of a double-articulated bus filled with people going to work/play/shop. Let's imagine a chart, "Average door to door journey time experienced by a passenger" and "Total journey time" as a function of "Number of people on the bus." Do you think these lines go up and to the right, or down and to the right? If it goes down and to the right, do you think the slope is steep enough so that the total door to door journey time goes down? Who is the marginal bus passenger? Is it people who are in a hurry, or who can take their time to get to a destination? What does that say about average door to door journey time? I don't get it. It seems like common sense to me that busses are slow. As they get used more, they get slower, not faster. There is so much adverse selection for a bus passenger: the very first passenger is for whom it is most convenient, and the very last passenger likely has the worst journeys. In your scenario, you asked to estimate. The expected average passenger and aggregate journey times of a double articulated bus filled with people is much slower than an empty bus. That said, anyone is entitled to strongly held beliefs about anything. The only intervention that lowers average and total door to door journey times makes busses look more like Ubers than trains.
- abecedarius 2y ago
  It's hard to overlook bandwidth/latency tradeoffs when you are yourself the packet.
  - AStonesThrow 2y ago
    Especially when you're a low-latency packet with minimum payload who benefits from a lack of congestion on the network... Consider a city without any buses: everyone who's drunk, poor, has no license/insurance, underage, distracted by infants or smartphone, they're all on the road with you, walking, biking, in individual, poorly-maintained cars. You may begin screaming for them to get on a bus already.

selectodude 2y ago

MTA bus drivers are maniacs. I mean, I appreciate that they are but cautious or diligent aren’t the adjectives I’d use.

doctorpangloss 2y ago

> Never underestimate the bandwidth of a double-articulated bus filled with people going to work/play/shop. Let's imagine a chart, "Average door to door journey time experienced by a passenger" and "Total journey time" as a function of "Number of people on the bus." Do you think these lines go up and to the right, or down and to the right? If it goes down and to the right, do you think the slope is steep enough so that the total door to door journey time goes down? Who is the marginal bus passenger? Is it people who are in a hurry, or who can take their time to get to a destination? What does that say about average door to door journey time? I don't get it. It seems like common sense to me that busses are slow. As they get used more, they get slower, not faster. There is so much adverse selection for a bus passenger: the very first passenger is for whom it is most convenient, and the very last passenger likely has the worst journeys. In your scenario, you asked to estimate. The expected average passenger and aggregate journey times of a double articulated bus filled with people is much slower than an empty bus. That said, anyone is entitled to strongly held beliefs about anything. The only intervention that lowers average and total door to door journey times makes busses look more like Ubers than trains.

abecedarius 2y ago
It's hard to overlook bandwidth/latency tradeoffs when you are yourself the packet.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  Especially when you're a low-latency packet with minimum payload who benefits from a lack of congestion on the network... Consider a city without any buses: everyone who's drunk, poor, has no license/insurance, underage, distracted by infants or smartphone, they're all on the road with you, walking, biking, in individual, poorly-maintained cars. You may begin screaming for them to get on a bus already.