BUS SYSTEM's * USA: Overnight transformation
* Texas - How Houston's bus network got its groove back
-- Not long ago, Houston’s bus service befit a version of the city out of the 1950s. Despite decades of decentralized urban growth, most bus lines still zig-zagged into one small section of the downtown core, where only 25 percent of the region’s jobs are located. Route redundancies were rampant. And despite the all-day transit needs of university students and low-income riders, frequent service (meaning buses arriving every 15 minutes or faster) was mostly limited to weekday rush hours... But one Sunday morning in August 2015, Houstonians awoke to a completely re-envisioned system—the first that the Metropolitan Transit Agency had undertaken in four decades. A less redundant, more grid-like network of routes “vastly expanded the reach of frequent service” and offered all-day, all-week service on several key lines, according to Human Transit’s Jarrett Walker, who worked with the city as a consultant on the redesign. Houston Metro was able to transform the system largely by trimming and tightening unnecessary routes, with no significant additional costs... Inevitably, not all Houstonians were or are supporters. Because transit officials focused on cutting redundant bus service with low ridership to open up capacity for heavier-use lines, some riders saw their walks to the bus stop get a little longer... But so far the data suggest that the changes, even with their pain points, were worth it... By the third month of service, local ridership was up 8 percent. And transit experts believe that more people are poised to discover the new system as the months and years roll on, bumping up ridership more over time... L.A., with the second-largest bus fleet in North America, is considering following Houston’s lead...
Houston, TXS, USA - City Lab, by Laura Bliss - Apr 5, 2016
Labels: bus rapid transit - BRT
posted by Unknown @ 4:28 AM
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