Pet Peeve: Crooked Bus Routes
September 4th, 2006
When most of us urbanites drive to wherever we’re going, our trip process may look something like this:
local street>main artery>main artery>freeway>main artery>local street
You do this because even though it may not be the most direct route, it’s fastest and fairly easy to understand.
But a transit trip requires us to think in a completely new system of wayfinding. Many bus routes are designed to snake through every neighborhood and activity center so that people only have to hop on one bus to get to their destination.
walk>transit route>walk
As an example:
But while it may be easy for a person to say “I just hop on the 93 and it will take me there”, the route is a tremendous waste of time. A 10 minute drive or 30 minute bike ride can easily take an hour on transit.
People already have the street hierarchy wayfinding system etched in their brain. Why not create a bus system that mirrors our mental maps and stop wasting our time?
Alexa’s comment:
I asked Seth, “So what would a bus system look like that mirrors our mental maps?” He said he was just curious what a transportation system would look like where busses run up and down single streets (e.g. the High Street bus, the 8th street bus) and where you don’t have to pay for transfers.
So to get from place A to place B you’d get on the high street bus, then get off and get on the 8th street bus, etc… the way you do when driving or walking and taking the most direct route. Something like that.
I agree that busses take a lot of time which is a big deterrent to using them, but I wonder if it might be more annoying to have to get on and off all the time?
Entry Filed under: Transportation
4 Comments Add your own
1. Joshua Kaufman | September 5th, 2006 at 6:09 am
Because population density isn’t a straight line. In other words, buses stop where people need them to stop, and that is usually where people live and work. I understand your point, but bus systems are designed to provide public transportation; they’re not designed to be necessarily the best and/or most understandable way to get from A to B.
2. Allen K. | September 6th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
More specifically, bus routes are designed to be space-filling curves, so as to benefit the non-able-bodied who need them to stop very close. In most of the U.S., people can’t be bothered to walk ten blocks to get a bus.
Similiarly, you might also complain about buses stopping every 2 blocks. A little time is saved at the ends and a lot of time is wasted in the middle.
they’re not designed to be necessarily the best and/or most understandable way to get from A to B.
This point would be better taken if any other public transportation option were provided.
3. Alexa A. | September 6th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
I asked Seth, “So what would a bus system look like that mirrors our mental maps?” He said he was just curious what a transportation system would look like that has busses run up and down single streets (e.g. the High Street bus, the 8th street bus) and where you don’t have to pay for transfers.
So to get from place A to place B you’d get on the high street bus, then get off and get on the 8th street bus, etc… the way you do when driving or walking and taking the most direct route. Something like that (hope I’m not butchering your thought Seth).
I agree that busses take a lot of time which is a big deterrent from using them, but I wonder if it might be annoying to have to get on and off all the time?
4. Allen K. | September 6th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I wonder if it might be annoying to have to get on and off all the time?
My favorite bus system is in Budapest, partly because it’s cheap and ubiquitous, but also to a great extent because it’s a semi-honor system (see the movie Kontroll!) and I had a monthly pass.
The effect was that I’d start walking the direction I wanted to go, see a bus heading vaguely that direction, jump on, decide after a while that it was taking me further away, jump off, repeat, without going through the hassle of having exact change, needing to dig out my pass, or stamping a ticket.
BTW it would nice to have a “Preview” button next to “Submit”.
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