🚀 go-pugleaf

compata@cup.portal.com (David H Close) writes:
=I previously wrote,
=" IMHO, LA had the best mass-transit system, ever, in the mid-60s (the
=" freeways).  Its been downhill ever since Jerry Brown changed priorities.
=
=mludwig@bonnie.ics.uci.edu (Michael Scott Ludwig) then commented,
=" Roads/freeways/etc. cannot be considered mass transit by any stretch of the
=" imagination because it's just as easy for a single-occupant vehicle (not a
=" mass of people) to use them as it is for a bus or other multi-passenger
=" vehicle (a mass of people) to use them.
=
=I used "mass-transit" to mean a transit system which was designed to move
=large masses of people.  I think the freeway system better fit that
=definition than any other system around.  Buses, vans, and family autos
=travel on freeways, carrying "a mass of people" each, and still more masses
=collectively.  While some buses, especially in LA, are nearly empty.

Yes, *some* busses are nearly empty.  But *most* busses have quite a few
passengers in them.  Almost all, if not all, bus companies are smart enough
to put more busses on the higher-patronized lines.  Thus, looking at bus
ridership in (e.g.) Northridge is not the same as looking at bus ridership
in downtown L.A.  For example, I remember a ride on RTD line 70 a couple
years ago where the standees on the bus (including me) were almost packed
like sardines.  Also, the only RTD busses I've ever been on that could be
called nearly empty were the times I rode RTD 130 between Cerritos and
Fullerton (100% suburb, which tends to have lower ridership and less busses).

And, as has virtually been pointed out, a *much* higher percentage of
automobiles carry only one person each than the percentage of busses or
trains or ferries (take your pick) that are nearly empty.

Also, a bus or train or ferry does not have to have a lot of people on it
before it is transporting more people per amount of land area it takes up
than a one-, two-, or even four-passenger car.  So busses/trains/ferries can
easier move masses of people than cars.


"We have not inherited the earth    |    Michael Ludwig
from our ancestors, but are         |
borrowing it from our children."    |    mludwig@bonnie.ics.uci.edu
                                    |
 - David Brower, conservationist    |    UCI and I don't agree on anything.
--
Michael S. Ludwig