This is a really great video on the efforts New York City is making to improve its bus network.
There are a number of things that Auckland could take note of:
1) The speed advantages of pre-pay ticketing. That cuts down dwell time significantly.
2) Camera-enforced bus lanes – takes the nasty surprise out of getting a ticket for riding down the bus lane. With cameras there you know that you will always get a ticket.
3) Articulated buses to maximise patronage per bus driver – which saves on operating costs.
4) Lengthy and high-quality bus lanes.
This is what B-Line should have been about.
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(5) Traffic light pre-emption. Buses lose a lot of time at stops, which is why they will almost always be slower than cars, so anything which can give them a time advantage needs to be in place.
Ah good point Ross, I forgot about that one. Apparently we do have such a thing in Auckland, but I’ve never actually seen any evidence of it.
As a cyclist, I’m very wary of articulated buses. Death by bendy bus was a regular event in London a few years ago — if I remember correctly, they are retiring them over there. Clearly, in NYC it’s not a problem as they have a seperated cycle lane and completely straight route. It would be a different story here.
I think bendy buses would most likely be used on the Northern Express and Dominion Road services so the issues you mention are not so much of a problem here. Also Aucklands roads are very wide, much more so than most London inner city routes.
I like all things mentioned but I think even more importantly both the mayor and transport commissioner seem open about the need to improve things. I can see Len doing being supportive but will the head of Auckland transport be a public figure to explain what is happening or will he he hide behind a desk?
Yes I like the openness of it too. My hope is that the Council will effectively force Auckland Transport into being an open and publicly accountable organisation.
Yes but there is a difference to just being open and publicly accountable to being public advocates for the system. The fact that Janette Sadik-Khan is in these videos pushing the benefits of things like bus lanes is impressive, they also have the staff experts in the various areas comment on why things are done a certain way. The comparison I would give for us is either Mark Ford or the CEO of AT publicly pushing these initiates and the the AT staff responsible for the various areas explaining their thinking. This is something we never saw from ARTA who tended to hide behind press releases and flashy marketing but who never publicly would get out and say why we need more PT investment.
You’re right Matt. While Rabin Rabindran often made very well articulated speeches at train station openings we didn’t often see ARTA wading into debates to provide a strong PT perspective.
Where were they during the bus lane debacle, saying how bus lanes were so important in improving the efficiency of the roading network, the time savings they bring to bus users, the number of people along key routes on PT versus cars (information they would have and nobody else really has) and the reduced operating costs?
Where were they in the Dominion Road T2 debate? I remember there being only two lines from ARTA in an NZ Herald article saying that Dominion Road was an important bus route.
I would like to hope that Auckland Transport might have a bit more guts than ARTA ever had, but on the downside it’s not exactly simply a public transport agency anymore, so might have mixed goals.
I’ve taken the SBS in the Bronx and its predecessor and the difference is night and day. Pre-pay boarding, signal pre-emption, placement of bus stops always after a signal and reasonable bus lanes all add to a real and (more importantly) perceived increases in travel speeds. Travel between the east and west ends of the Bronx that was once considered a prohibitive hassle became quick and simple. Auckland could hopefully enforce the bus lanes better than NYC. State law only permits the city to operate a very limited number of cameras, and of course, police cars are the most common vehicles parked in bus lanes.
I’ve taken the SBS in the Bronx and its predecessing local route and the difference is night and day. The pre-pay boarding, signal pre-emption and placement of bus stops always after intersections goes a great way toward improving the real and (just as essential) perceived travel benefits. Travel between the east and west ends of the Bronx was previously a prohibitive hassle and is now a quick and simple trip. Hopefully Auckland can improve upon NYC’s bus lane enforcement. State law allows NYC to operate only a limited number of traffic cameras, and of course, Police cars are the most common vehicles parked in bus lanes.