Better buses

Metro’s next big focus is on improving bus on-time performance, the Examiner reports. That’s great—my graph of L2 waiting times shows that it’s sadly unpredictable, and it’s far from unusual.

The article mentions two major innovations: dynamic dispatching and real-time arrival information. The dispatching would allow supervisors to fix problems like bus bunching by deciding to send some buses express or turn some around to fill a service gap going the opposite direction.

Real-time info would tell riders when a bus is really going to arrive. That will help people decide when to leave home or which route to take based on actual knowledge. Today, unless a bus is very frequent, riders have to plan to reach the bus stop a few minutes early just to avoid missing the bus, and then sometimes they miss it anyway.

Here are a few more ways we can improve bus reliability:

• Design streets to streamline buses. DDOT should adopt a “transit first” policy that when it redesigns a street or replaces a traffic signal, they will engineer it to help the buses as much as possible. Bus bulbs allow buses to stop in their lane without having to pull out of traffic and then in again. Electronically controllable signals can allow buses to extend a yellow light to make it through. Bigger bus stops can make it easier for buses to pull into their stops. And in key bottlenecks, we should use bus-only lanes to allow a bus to bypass traffic. Remember, a single bus usually carries as many people as a whole block of road filled with single-passenger cars. Bumping the bus to the front of the queue moves more people faster.
• Eliminate bus stops. Many buses stop every single block. What’s wrong with every other block or every third? Put clear signs along the route directing people from each intersection to the nearest bus stop. Each stop introduces more opportunities for delay.
• Introduce express service. Metro and DDOT created the Metro Extra that runs down Georgia from Silver Spring to downtown DC. They hope to add more of these routes, and they should.
• Simplify the bus routes. We have a lot of low-frequency bus routes right now. The lower the frequency, the more a single missing or delayed bus affects riders. We should run more buses on fewer routes. People may have to walk an extra block or two, but will wait less time at the stop. Simpler routes would also make buses easier for riders to go to routes other than their daily commute, easier for tourists, and easier to read the now-nightmarish map.
• Speed up boarding. Everyone who’s ridden a bus knows how long it takes for a line of people to climb the stairs (sometimes slowly) one by one, and fiddle with the machine to pay. Lower-floor buses make it easier to get on. And we should start installing machines at the busiest stops where people pay ahead of time, allowing them to go right on the bus and even use the rear door. Spot-checked enforcement ensures people don’t have an incentive to cheat (as long as the fine for cheating is high enough).
• Make buses free with congestion pricing money. One alternative for New York’s congestion pricing would have made transit completely free with a higher congestion charge. MWCOG is already floating congestion pricing for the DC region. With the right charges, we could remove fares entirely from buses. That would save a lot of time and even some money by removing the need to install and maintain fare collection boxes in every bus, enforce fare evasion, collect and cash in the money each day, and so on. And the higher ridership would reduce pressure to build more parking lots and wider roads.