There is a certain happiness sighted when your bus comes along. It is of course a small specialized form of happiness and will never be a great thing.

-Richard Brautigan, The Old Bus

Thursday, May 1, 2008

A real puzzle: Making buses more attractive

Scientific American has a puzzle I want someone to solve for me: How to Make Buses More Attractive Than Cars?

Actually, I want someone to solve this for Sacramento Regional Transit, but I'd settle for someone figuring out the answer to the puzzle and telling me. I'll be the first to admit that math wasn't my strongest subject in school.

3 comments:

wburg said...

Step 1: Put them on fixed-path guideways to provide a more stable ride and help ensure developers and neighborhood riders of the long-term stability and permanence of the route.

Step 2: Power them with electricity to promote sustainable uses and decrease concerns about pollution and reduce noise. In order to maximize efficiency, metal-on-metal low-friction systems are better than rubber-on-pavement.

Step 3: Increase capacity by using wider-bodied vehicles larger than buses.

I think you see where this is going by now...

Jake said...

Step 1: Give them their own lanes
Step 2: Make them run on time
Step 3: Make them run reliably

and people will take them.

FLUBBER said...

fixed guideways, like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway
this system has to be so ridiculous...at least the when seattle made their transit tunnel, it was capable of being converted for LRT use

curitiba and bogota seem to have a better handle on BRT, something like those systems, which are fast and easy to understand, needs to be implemented