Seattlest: The Surprising Speed of Transit

Jeremy M. Barker

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:52:43 -0800

pat5000 + MvB: To be fair about the tunnel, you're actually both right. The reason the tunnel works better is fewer bus stops and no traffic lights. A bus-only Third Ave. still suffers from cross-traffic.

MvB

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:08:15 -0800

BigGreenFrank: your first point makes me think of how some cities have switched to saying buses run every X minutes, rather than displaying specific times. That might make it easier for buses to "hang back." And ditto on the stops further apart--I see able-bodied people get on, go one stop, and get off. For god's sake, it's a walkable distance.

BigGreenFrank

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:50:19 -0800

As one of those that is more than a little dubious of how much ridership Seattle Light Rail will see, I have to say that a couple of changes to buses seem to solve alot of the problems that people talk about with buses. 1. A better regulated system so that what happened. Why can't 1 (or 2) of those buses "hang back" for a couple of minutes? Why not take a couple of minutes to transfer the passengers on those later buses to the first bus and "create" additional capacity? Yes, there'd need to be space for the bus to be pulled over for 5 minutes, and there would need to be some sort of "central control" for buses to communicate these things, but that doesn't seem like an impossible obstacle. 2. Bus stops that are further apart. I hate that the bus stops every 3 blocks. If more people were willing to walk a couple of extra blocks the bus would be much faster.

MvB

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:28:14 -0800

pat5000: Okay, I'll take your person-on-the-bus word for it. As you guessed, I don't take the bus through the tunnel very often. I was shortsightedly thinking only of the car traffic being able to negotiate around 3rd being closed. Still, since the tunnel was half a billion dollars to build (and fix up recently), I guess it's nice to hear there's a noticeable difference with it than without it.

romulus

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:22:51 -0800

See if you back BRT, then you come back later and insist that you need road expansion to make BRT better. It's a conspiracy by the road-building industry. I should watch what I say, one of them is in the office right next door.

herbisara

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:20:32 -0800

A #33 driver drove right past me the other day, and didn't stop until I ran out into the street waving my arms. Drove right on by, even though there were about 10 people standing at the bus stop. Then, when we came to my stop later, he said I shouldn't just stand there...but that I should wave to get him to stop. Isn't that the whole point of a bus STOP? They're supposed to STOP there, right? UGH!

TroyJMorris

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:20:06 -0800

I'm kicking all these BRT folks in the shins. Also, the tunnel was created to bring in a train. It was it's original intent before the Boeing exodus. That's where most of our transit folks hail from. That era of boom and exodus. They're afraid we're all going to leave again. But we're not a one company town. We have the best major city high-tech growth. We're fine. Invest in infrastructure or we won't be in 15 years.

pat5000

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:11:46 -0800

"One massively expensive 1.3-mile bus tunnel that, when closed, proves that a bus-only 3rd Avenue works out fine." Um, I dunno if you rode the bus when the tunnel was closed, but 3rd does NOT work out fine. I ride the bus every day and am thankful for the tunnel. When it was closed it meant leaving at 5pm via bus often included an additional 20+ minutes to my commute, and even sitting on 3rd or Stewart for 40 minutes on many occasions. The tunnel makes bus commuting downtown much more feasible and easy. Even now, when taking East side buses into downtown, taking a non tunnel bus adds 10 minutes to the trip, without the extra bus load that the tunnel absorbs. Easily double that when all the buses run above ground.

COMTE

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:54:06 -0800

Had exactly the same thing happen to me this a.m. Apparently, there was a problem at the Madrona turn-around where the #2 doubles-back for the return trip to downtown, and FIVE buses got stuck there for about an hour before the problem was resolved. The first in line picked up as many passengers as it could hold, then raced up the hill leaving quite a few perplexed commuters in its wake. Then another went by, nearly empty, but not stopping. Then another. And another. At that point one of the people waiting at my stop decided to step into the street to force the next bus to stop, which of course it did. Whereupon the driver admonished the passenger for stepping into the street to "stop" the bus.