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ChineseGood Bus, Bad Bus
Contributed by Fred Camino on April 8th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Image courtesy of mattlogelin.
What makes a good bus ride? This is the question posed over at EcoWorldly in an article that traverses the world in search of the best (and worst) buses. Gavin Hudson, the car-free author of the story, lists three key elements that he has found to be the difference between a good bus and a bad bus, they are:
- You have access to a good schedule and map of the bus routes.
- You feel clean and comfortable on the bus.
- You feel safe on the bus.
Here’s my list:
- Your bus comes frequently, as in every 5-10 minutes. Schedules be damned, I want to walk to a bus stop and know that my bus is going to come within 5 minutes, so even if I miss a bus I know I’m not screwed.
- You aren’t packed like sardines. The only thing worse than waiting forever at a bus stop is having to squeeze onto a standing room only bus.
- All stops are clearly announced. Automatic stop announcements are a life saver, because the only thing worse than waiting forever for a bus only to be packed in like a sardine is missing your stop because it wasn’t announced.
Those are my three, what are yours?
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Discussion
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1. Whenever there’s going to be a detour have postings with available options or alternate routes.
2. Make it mandatory for rear exit (except for elderly and handicapped), for faster boardings and overall performance.
3. Professional, good customer service operators.
1. Access to an easy-to-understand map of bus routes & numbers.
2. Attentive bus drivers– I feel like I have to throw myself in front of buses to make sure they stop sometimes.
3. Clear stop announcements.
Great additions. Thanks!
Also, great website!
Now that traffic signal pre-emption technology is available, I think it should be considered required for “good” bus service.
Good points,
but… to me - a “Good bus ride” is almost an oximoron.
There’s no such a thing as “good bus ride”, a ride can be truly Good on a train, such as subway (or light rail), not on a bus.
That’s another reason why Los Angeles should build a citywide Rail system, and stop investing in useless bus service.
Alek F: Sure bus rides are unlikely to match the comfort of a train or subway, but there isn’t the money for a citywide rail system, much less the space. Buses serve a crucial part of the “hub and spoke” transportation model. One can’t have trains on every boulevard and street in LA, there’s no money for it.
Well I agree yet disagree. A countywide(citywide won’t happen since the MTA is a county-wide authority)rail transit system is what is needed and we’re at least 25% of the way there with what we have now. Once the Expo(both phases)and Eastside Gold is complete by the end of this decade we might be slightly beneath a 30% coverage for the county where rail can reasonably be implemented due to density and need. With that said, buses are the glue that will keep a transit system efficient even after we get enough rail that covers 75% of the county. But honestly living in NYC when and/if I needed to take a dreadful bus I just opted for a cab.
A good bus is one that doesn’t run cyclists off the road when moving to unload passengers.
5 minutes? Still not enough. That needs to be dropped to 2-3 minutes between buses when rush hour rolls around.