🚀 go-pugleaf

Stefan,

We appreciate your contribution, but this was posted at least 3 times. Once
would suffice.

Thanks.

"Stefan Ewing" <sewing@uvic.ca> wrote in message
news:c9a11bce.0307160911.dc9dba7@posting.google.com...
> We have a similar service up here in Vancouver, BC.
> Three "B-Line" bus routes operate along possible
> future rapid transit corridors.  The routes
> operate 20 hrs/day, 7 days/week, using all
> low-floor articulated buses.  The typical midday
> headway is 5-10 minutes (depending on the route)
> and 10-15 minutes in the evening.  One of the routes,
> which serves the southern suburb of Richmond,
> operates along dedicated bus lanes down the middle
> of Richmond's main drag (somewhat like a streetcar
> route), with landscaped islands/medians on either
> side.  The shelters have digital displays indicating
> when the next 2 buses will arrive, & buses can
> send a signal to prolong a stale green light to
> make it through without waiting for the next one.
> All 3 routes are insanely popular.
>
> Stefan Ewing
>
> rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message
news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> > As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> > few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> > Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> > Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> > frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> > people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> >
> > The original article, with pictures and a map is here:
> > http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/15/BA184829.DTL
> >
> > Introducing the speedy bus
> > AC Transit project in East Bay aims to be subway alternative
> >
> > Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2003
> >
> >
> > Oakland -- A new breed of bus is rolling through the East Bay,
> > threatening to change the way people ride what's always been seen as
> > the plow horse of public transportation.
> >
> > AC Transit's 72R line stands out not because of its shiny white paint
> > job with green and red stripes, its oversized tinted windows or its
> > European design, but because of the ambition behind it.
> >
> > The idea is to speed up and modernize bus travel. No more stopping at
> > every last street corner. No more lingering at stops to stick to a
> > schedule. Less time sitting at red lights and bus stops.
> >
> > Instead, AC's buses are scheduled to zip along the 16 miles of San
> > Pablo Avenue, through middle- and working-class neighborhoods from San
> > Pablo to Oakland, in 20 percent less time than the fastest buses that
> > used to ply the route.
> >
> > AC's project is one of two to three dozen being rolled out around the
> > country as transit planners look for faster, cheaper ways of moving
> > people than building light-rail or subway lines.
> >
> > "It's a real change in bus psychology," said Jon Twichell, AC Transit
> > planning manager and the of the rapid bus service. "This frees buses
> > to just get up and go."
> >
> > That's how it's worked in Los Angeles, where an experiment to cut the
> > time buses idled at traffic lights, bus stops or in stalled traffic
> > was such a success that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
> > expanded from its initial two lines to four. Plans are in the works to
> > add two more lines every six months until 28 are operating.
> >
> > "We had no idea it would work so well," said Rex Gephart, project
> > manager for LA Metro Rapid.
> >
> > Other Bay Area transit agencies are also looking at rapid-bus service.
> >
> > The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is gradually improving
> > its 22 line along El Camino Real. San Francisco's Municipal Railway is
> > studying the possibility of rapid-bus lines along Van Ness Avenue and
> > Geary Boulevard. And AC Transit is considering an advanced version,
> > with dedicated lanes and bus stations instead of stops, between
> > Berkeley and San Leandro.
> >
> > Anyone who's been stuck on a crowded bus in rush-hour traffic knows
> > all too well the appeal of a speedier ride. Passengers are used to
> > standing elbow-to- belly button, hanging onto overhead grab-bars, as
> > the bus lurches through traffic, stopping at nearly every corner.
> >
> > Rapid buses, on the other hand, stop only at major intersections. AC
> > Transit's stops are an average of two-thirds of a mile apart.
> >
> > Rapid bus service also eliminates the carefully choreographed
> > timetables, the ones that force many bus drivers to sit and wait by
> > the side of the road or cruise down the street slowly so as not to get
> > ahead of schedule.
> >
> > Instead, rapid buses start at a designated time, and drivers complete
> > their routes as quickly as possible. Schedules simply designate the
> > time buses leave their starting point and an estimated time they reach
> > the end.
> >
> > AC's rapid buses are running between Jack London Square in downtown
> > Oakland and Contra Costa College in San Pablo every 12 minutes from 6
> > a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
> >
> > AC, which is in the midst of severe budget troubles, is betting big on
> > the new service.
> >
> > "The bottom line . . . is that the 20 percent running time reduction
> > is imminently doable," Twichell said. AC's hope is that ridership on
> > the line will increase 25 percent.
> >
> > Although the San Pablo Rapid started service last month, some of its
> > fanciest features have yet to be installed. Infrared devices in the
> > windshields will send signals that will hold some green lights for
> > rapid buses and make red lights turn green faster. Bus shelters,
> > outfitted with digital signs that tell passengers when the next bus
> > will arrive, will be installed in the next few weeks.
> >
> > "We're working all summer to get everything running nicely," Twichell
> > said. "Then, after Labor Day, when the kids return to school and
> > people go back to work, we'll start the marketing campaign."
> >
> > So far, riders seem to like the new rapid service, though they're
> > still getting used to the changes.
> >
> > "It was real fast," said Norman Johnson, a College of Alameda student
> > and basketball player who caught the bus in Emeryville and rode it to
> > downtown Oakland. "It's a big improvement."
> >
> > Others took a more skeptical view.
> >
> > "So this is the new rapid transit system," said one man who didn't
> > want to give his name. "Most other cities get rapid transit on
> > tracks."
> >
> > AC Transit's program, which cost $4.5 million to put on the road, is
> > modeled in part on Los Angeles' Metro Rapid, whose fire-engine red
> > buses have transformed bus travel in a city whose transit system is
> > more often ridiculed than copied.
> >
> > Metro Rapid has cut travel times by 25 percent and boosted ridership
> > by 40 percent.
> >
> > Visit the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
> > in the heat of a morning commute, and you'll forget you're in
> > car-crazy L.A. Hundreds of riders pile off buses on one corner, scurry
> > across a plaza and, with little or no wait, hop aboard other buses
> > that zip off toward their destinations.
> >
> > "To tell you the truth, I didn't think it was going to work when they
> > first started it," said Ray Alcantar, a Metro supervisor whose job is
> > to choreograph the flow of passengers and buses during the morning
> > commute at Vermont and Wilshire. "But it works pretty well, and people
> > really seem to like it."
> >
> > Passengers say the buses have sped their travels and made the bus an
> > alternative to driving.
> >
> > "It's better service," said Ciro Mojica, a San Fernando Valley
> > resident who rides to downtown. "It's a lot faster because you don't
> > stop at every street."
> >
> > Metro, Los Angeles's countywide transportation agency, started the
> > experiment after a study found that Angelenos wouldn't ride buses
> > because they were too slow. A subsequent study discovered that buses
> > spent half their travel time stopped.
> >
> > So in spring of 2000, Metro started running rapid buses on two lines
> > -- along Wilshire, which stretches across the city, and on Ventura
> > Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
> >
> > The expense, said Gephart, was minor -- especially compared with light
> > rail,
> >
> > which costs $20 million to $30 million a mile to build, or subways,
> > which cost $100 million to $300 million a mile. Los Angeles' rapid-bus
> > system carries a price tag of $200,000 to $250,000 a mile, he said.
> >
> > "It has a lot of impact," said Gephart. "For that kind of money, you
> > can get speed and frequency for the public. It's great."
> >
> > Metro Rapid has prompted visits from scores of U.S. transit agencies,
> > including those in the Bay Area, eager to duplicate Los Angeles'
> > unexpected success.
> >
> > And while Gephart admits it's strange to have people visiting Los
> > Angeles to learn about transit -- "we're not exactly known for our
> > transit system," he says -- he realizes that Metro Rapid offers hope
> > to other cities.
> >
> > "If we can build a successful rapid bus system in L.A., where everyone
> > loves cars," he said, "anybody can do it."