Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Diane M. Kurilecz" <d.m.kurilecz AT ieee.org>]

Thomas C. Meggs wrote:
> Well, that is one issue, but the real problem is running buses with
> street traffic. Or trains for that matter. It's just
> horrible. There is
> no way to accurately predict train times. Public transit has to be a
> closed system in order to run efficiently.

Huh?  I've never seen these problems.  The real problem is a Catch-22 of
users/bandwidth.

In Westchester County, NY (which includes Yonkers), the DC suburbs, the
Boston suburbs, the Toronto suburbs, and other places, they manage to
run plenty of buses (and electric buses, and streetcars) on regular
roads.  The trains run every five to twenty minutes, depending on time
of day.  There is a mix of express and local buses and trains.  The
Westchester County system is recognized as one of the best in the
nation -- usually on-time (I could set my watch by some drivers!), very
frequent, complete route information available at most stops and on the
bus.  I didn't have a driver's license until I was 27.  My father never
drove.

The key is to have bus routes run on major roads and intersect each
other at major intersections.  The crazy routes they have around here
are clearly (as someone stated) based on school bus routes.  Busses have
to run a maximum frequency of ten-minute intervals rush-hour and
30-minute intervals non-rush.  They must start by 6am and continue until
10pm.  Running later will encourage people to use mass transit for bar
hopping.  The routes also work best when they use a grid pattern rather
than a spoke-pattern; the only problem in suburban DC was that the
system expected people to live in the suburbs and work in the city.

Another local problem is these large business campuses, where it would
be quite a hike to get to the building from the bus stop.

***diane

--
Diane M. Kurilecz          d.m.kurilecz AT acm.org
Readercon                  http://readercon.org/
Trinoc*coN                 http://trinoc-con.org/