Will BRT Get People Out Of Their Cars?
No. But neither will rail. Generally speaking. But rail presents a much lower barrier to entry for people. Everywhere rail opens in the next couple of years, we’ll continue to see their ridership numbers explode. For BRT, things will stagnate, and the people will generally dislike the bus experience - as the top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art, all-in-bet Cleveland BRT is already showing.
Just to be clear, when I and others speak about ‘getting people out of their cars,’ we mean that the totality of transit commute experience has to be better than the totality of the car commute experience if we want people to choose public transit over their personal cars — that’s it. And it’s not just ‘ride quality’ or ‘ride experience,’ it’s all of the associated costs, speed, efficiency, reliability, intangibles, etc.
So, when you yell and scream at people of modest means - that is, people who have a choice - to leave their cars at home and take the bus — they will tell you, rightly, what to do with your bus.
If, on the other hand, you provide those people of modest means with real public transportation, they can, will, do, and will continue to flock to it much more readily than they will to the bus.
If you are a walker or cyclist, you should support real transit — it’s not just in the best interests of would-be riders — it’s in your best interests.
Leave comment (2)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
April 15th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
*sigh.*
BRT systems are not the same as your typical bus route.
* faster
* bigger, nicer buses
* fewer stops and nicer, safer stations
please take note: a HUGE advantage of a BRT system over rail is cost. california is having a financial crisis as it is.
finally, since when does san francisco look to cleveland for advice?
curitiba, on the other hand…
August 16th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I feel like it WOULD get people out of their cars, probably not in significant numbers at first though.
However, with time and improvement a program like this could be even more beneficial than originally imagined…