In response to an endless comment thread that was devolving into buses-vs-rail, a brief recap of STB’s position, which we probably ought to put in a FAQ:

1) Transit does not “solve” congestion in the sense of causing highways to flow freely, but does give people an alternative to staring at the brakelights in front of them.

2) Any train route can, of course, just as easily be served by a bus. However,

  • The train is on a dedicated right-of-way and therefore is essentially unaffected by traffic congestion. In many cases this makes it faster than driving.
  • Trains have higher capacity. You can put 800 passengers on a 4-car light rail train. When you put buses too close together, they tend to bunch up (see: Route 48). You can space trains a couple of minutes apart and have them stay evenly spaced.
  • More people are willing to ride a train than a bus, so you get higher ridership, which has positive externalities for society.
  • The permanence of a train line encourages dense, transit oriented development.
  • Trains don’t clog up the roads for everyone else.

That is all.

3 Replies to “Buses vs. Rail”

  1. Thanks for this Martin.

    None of us are against buses, we just know that buses have limitations, and anyone who has seen completely full articulated 545 bus after completely full articulated 545 bus come 10 minutes apart on an incredibly crowded highway know that buses cannot be final solution.

  2. As someone who posted in said comment thread, I never said I was against trains. I’m against creating inefficient, political routes rail routes. I want more light rail. A lot more light rail. But I want it to be done smart next time.

  3. Passenger rail does not work as well as buses because the tracks don’t come close enough to my house, for instance, for me to walk to the station. And the train can’t take me all the way to where I work. Buses can do this. This is why most serious mass transit commuters will not ride a train, but will ride a bus, especially if routes are expanded into more neighborhoods and to more work places. The billions of dollars being spent on light rail should be used to eliminate road choke points and to expand bus service.

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