Bus lanes have higher throughput of commuters than car lanes.
If a mayor created a private lane only they could use between their house and work, that would be a crazy abuse of power. Or say, put in stop signs / lights right at their subdivision so traffic was more convenient for them in particular.
This mayor sped up the commute for thousands of people at a minimal impact to a significantly smaller number.
There’s no devil advocate on that though. It’ll even clear up the congested area for emergency vehicles and keep pedestrians on that street safer. Either way it’s adding a bus lane, not restricting any car access.
Say that street A feeds into street B. Street A flows freely and is necessary for a different bus route. Street B is a bottleneck, both cars and buses pass through slowly.
If you remove a car lane from street B, the cars might back up into street A and impede both cars and buses that previously flowed freely through street A.
It’s a contrived example, but honestly I can think of a few places like this near me.
I realize now I shouldn’t have broached this topic in fuckcars 😂
Feels like one of those “bad now, better later” changes—depends if it actually improves transit.
Bus lanes have higher throughput of commuters than car lanes.
If a mayor created a private lane only they could use between their house and work, that would be a crazy abuse of power. Or say, put in stop signs / lights right at their subdivision so traffic was more convenient for them in particular.
This mayor sped up the commute for thousands of people at a minimal impact to a significantly smaller number.
To play devil’s advocate…
Bus lanes having higher throughput doesn’t imply that it’s always the right choice to replace car lanes with bus lanes.
If the road was a major bottleneck for cars and this change made it even narrower, it could hurt throughput for both cars and buses!
Cars should be illegal
There’s no devil advocate on that though. It’ll even clear up the congested area for emergency vehicles and keep pedestrians on that street safer. Either way it’s adding a bus lane, not restricting any car access.
How would it reduce throughput for busses?
Say that street A feeds into street B. Street A flows freely and is necessary for a different bus route. Street B is a bottleneck, both cars and buses pass through slowly.
If you remove a car lane from street B, the cars might back up into street A and impede both cars and buses that previously flowed freely through street A.
It’s a contrived example, but honestly I can think of a few places like this near me.
I realize now I shouldn’t have broached this topic in fuckcars 😂
I mean, all discussion is welcome. City planning is a complex topic.