2 ms·

Even a half empty bus is considerably more efficient than most forms of personal transportation.

triceratops 1y ago
Is a half-empty bus more efficient than a 4-seater sedan carrying 3 people? Or an electric scooter? An electric trike? A golf cart?
- fwip 1y ago
  Yes, probably but I haven't done the math, yes, and yes.
  - rsynnott 1y ago
    _In principle_, the electric scooter is probably more efficient per unit volume, but only if arranged in a biker gang style convoy.
- mattdeboard 1y ago
  Yes
- rsynnott 1y ago
  The buses used here (double decker) take 80-100 people depending on model and are 12-14 meters long (about three smallish cars nose to tail. Half full they are massively more space efficient than cars. Even mostly empty, really. The story is a _bit_ worse for single decker buses, but honestly not much.
  - __alexs 1y ago
    The problem with double decker busses is you lose a lot of the capacity benefit by increasing the loading/unloading times. If you eliminated the whole ticketing process and optimised the loading times they would probably be a LOT better.
    - dahauns 1y ago
      Hm...dunno how generalizable the results are, but at least here in Vienna - where we _have_ practially eliminated the (on-vehicle) ticketing process - double deckers were ultimately deemed not worth it: With a high enough frequency for the capacity benefits of double deckers to have merit, the increase in load/unload times became a bigger limiting factor (at least for the models available back then). The city uses articulated buses instead.
      - rsynnott 1y ago
        Roughly every ten years, Dublin Bus tries a few articulated buses, which then get stuck on roundabouts, reminding Dublin Bus why it abandoned them last time. Eventually this is forgotten, and they try again. Really the great advantage of double deckers is precisely that they work where articulated buses don’t; otherwise they’re far too much trouble and you’d never use them.
        dahauns 1y ago
        Yeah, it's definitely not a straightforward "just do it" with articulated buses - they have done careful modifications here along the planned routes (e.g. redesigned corners/crossings to avoid too tight radii, removed parking spots to allow for longer bus stops in narrow streets etc). Vienna's not that roundabout-heavy though, I can see where those (at least small, tight ones) would be the end boss for an articulated bus. :)

Is a half-empty bus more efficient than a 4-seater sedan carrying 3 people? Or an electric scooter? An electric trike? A golf cart?

fwip 1y ago
Yes, probably but I haven't done the math, yes, and yes.
- rsynnott 1y ago
  _In principle_, the electric scooter is probably more efficient per unit volume, but only if arranged in a biker gang style convoy.
mattdeboard 1y ago
Yes
rsynnott 1y ago
The buses used here (double decker) take 80-100 people depending on model and are 12-14 meters long (about three smallish cars nose to tail. Half full they are massively more space efficient than cars. Even mostly empty, really. The story is a _bit_ worse for single decker buses, but honestly not much.
- __alexs 1y ago
  The problem with double decker busses is you lose a lot of the capacity benefit by increasing the loading/unloading times. If you eliminated the whole ticketing process and optimised the loading times they would probably be a LOT better.
  - dahauns 1y ago
    Hm...dunno how generalizable the results are, but at least here in Vienna - where we _have_ practially eliminated the (on-vehicle) ticketing process - double deckers were ultimately deemed not worth it: With a high enough frequency for the capacity benefits of double deckers to have merit, the increase in load/unload times became a bigger limiting factor (at least for the models available back then). The city uses articulated buses instead.
    - rsynnott 1y ago
      Roughly every ten years, Dublin Bus tries a few articulated buses, which then get stuck on roundabouts, reminding Dublin Bus why it abandoned them last time. Eventually this is forgotten, and they try again. Really the great advantage of double deckers is precisely that they work where articulated buses don’t; otherwise they’re far too much trouble and you’d never use them.
      - dahauns 1y ago
        Yeah, it's definitely not a straightforward "just do it" with articulated buses - they have done careful modifications here along the planned routes (e.g. redesigned corners/crossings to avoid too tight radii, removed parking spots to allow for longer bus stops in narrow streets etc). Vienna's not that roundabout-heavy though, I can see where those (at least small, tight ones) would be the end boss for an articulated bus. :)