10 Cities Where Buses Are Normal and Good, Actually

[@iamgoingtowatchthis1]

Most of the bus routes in NYC are literally just the trolley routes established before the 1920s. It's insane that they've never been updated to modern development patterns.

[@mayam9575]

Same as the new haven ones. A recently saw a trolley map in a bar and it was crazy how simular it was to the bus map. Like from my quick look only 1 line was different.

[@trainluvr]

The trolley routes were well laid out and the development they supported did not go away. Quite a few extensions and modifications have been made over the years (like the Q88 and half of Staten Island). There are major studies to overhaul the network in all boroughs.

[@yobb1n544]

It is neat how little has actually changed in the routes, but it does make sense considering many North American cities developed around their streetcars before they were removed.

[@himbourbanist]

Similar deal here in Philly from what I can tell. We even have some real trolleys (and trolleybuses) running still. And some just barely hidden trolley tracks are all over town basically begging to be refurbished

[@Jorge-lh6px]

Perhaps in the other boroughs, but the recent Bronx bus change has allowed for faster routes while reaching out to a wider base of passengers.

[@emcee2555]

As a native San Franciscan who grew up in the 80s, I always appreciated MUNI's bus system. I took it every day on my way to Junior high and High School. The most underrated thing about the system was that no matter where you were in SF, you were only 1-2 blocks away from catching a MUNI bus. I think budget cuts and consolidation removed a lot of bus lines, making that feat more difficult to reach these days. But MUNI buses are still used by so many different people in the city every day.

[@komilatte]

Yeah MUNI buses almost always seem like the best way to get around still, I think the city being 49 square miles really helps with that. I really appreciated them talking about how most residents prefer the bus over any other method in that Van Ness BRT video SEPTA did.

[@exelixium]

I also grew up in San Francisco and for the longest time, relied on MUNI buses to get around. We've cussed it and appreciated at different times of our lives. I remember reading a Herb Caen piece on MUNI where he said that you can get to 90% of San Francisco with only 1 bus transfer. With apps like NextBus, planning bus rides has made it much easier. It's been awhile since I've been in a MUNI bus since I live half a block from a T line stop and it gets me to anywhere I want to go.

[@RebekahCurielAlessi]

Yesss!! I love Muni and ride it daily. 🚌

[@kuyshina]

Ac transit is an amazing service that gets me to mostly where I need to go. I just wish they had better frequency, they had bus only lanes, and didn’t stifle bike friendly infrastructure.

[@mindstalk]

In 2000, there were 4 bus lines that would get me within 2 long blocks of home, from work near Market. Geary, Balboa, Hayes, and I think Fulton. And going home I could wait at a stop that had all 4 buses, though going to work I had to make a choice about convenience vs. speed. (Or pleasure, when I found I could walk up to the 1 California, for a slow but pleasant ride downtown.) Seems to still be true now, despite the route fiddling.

[@gideonvictor]

As a resident of Mission Viejo, thank you. I've been working with city council to try and expand the bicycle infrastructure. Please message for the Strong Towns style urban planning map I built for the city.

[@gideonvictor]

For those wondering at home, this is a bus stop in Mission. We regularly get summers with 85+ weather and this is just a bench with no shade at the college, a place where many transitors need to go. www.google.com/maps/@33.5578228,-117.6634739,3a,73y,220.1h,75.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUPHSCiXamJTtb5JWSe38gw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[@VulcanLogic]

You know where the Best Buy and Michaels are, in that stroaded commercial center between the OC rail line and the 5? Well, when that times out on depreciation, that will make an excellent mixed used development right on the OC line. Speaking of that, the Irvine Company is setting up for a ton of infill projects right now, including at the Tustin Marketplace where they are tearing down some vacant commercial for high density residential. They're doing that in Brea and Orange as well. I guess they ran out of land for single family so this is what they have to do. And I'm perfectly fine with it.

[@gideonvictor]

@@VulcanLogic I've brought that up to City Council and the Planning Committee. The city is financed by the medical center. I'd like to share the link but YT auto deletes YT links in comments.

[@samshultz9009]

@@gideonvictorthanks for sharing, I was a student there and hated driving but the alternative was 40 minutes to an hour by bus or bike. It’s truly sad how transit riders are treated like second class citizens.

[@gideonvictor]

@@samshultz9009 Blame the 55+ community. Some of the lowest revenue/acre parcels in the city but the most active against net positive revenue development.

[@harktischris]

i lived in Seattle while their light rail was still under construction, and King County Metro absolutely bus-pilled me. Many other places treat busses as afterthoughts, but king county metro had a great network (incl transit malls downtown) and every time I've been back it's always been further improved with better shelters, departure boards, etc.

[@16randomcharacters]

I dunno... I lived in Seattle for over 8 years. Maybe it's gotten better in the last 10 years, but I remember buses being OK at best downtown and in Cap Hill, but anywhere else, bad to horrendous. I didn't have a car the whole time, and lived everywhere from the East Side to Downtown.

[@eugenetswong]

Without looking into details, I am confident that Jarrett Walker must have helped to design that system. He tends to focus on a grid type transit system to produce as many opportunities as possible. Another focus is frequent transit. You can really see this in Greater Vancouver, where the provider had him redesign the system. We now have a separate map of frequent transit. He's done this around the globe, and it has consistently improved each transit system and consistently increased ridership. I'm shocked that CityNerd didn't discuss this.

[@sameoldcircus]

​@@16randomcharactersit varies. When I lived in Magnolia it was really bad especially since I work nights. I'll say there are some improvements but feels like a move to Rapid rides reduces some service outside of the major arterials

[@Purplesquigglystripe]

The buses even tend to be cleaner than the light rail, but a lot of people seem afraid to take the bus for some reason.

[@apbrit2009]

@@Purplesquigglystripe Most people are not fans of second hand fentanyl highs.

[@ommy7672]

Any city can become a bus city very easily.

[@ncard00]

Timestamps please!

[@spookysenpai7642]

More preferably, Trolleybuses 😂

[@tomzitiger]

@@spookysenpai7642wouldnt that create trolley problems?

[@timothyhoekstra2604]

Has to be better than the alternative (driving) otherwise it’s just the poor people option. Dedicated bus lanes!

[@snowinjuly4872]

@@chemicalfrankie1030 Almost every US suburb has a bus system. It is publicly funded by taxes and turns no profit. The catch is, of course, they are school buses intended to take children to school and back home. If we had the will to make a bus system work, we could.

[@guillermovidaurre7099]

2 Listener suggested topics: 1. Cities with population over 250K with the best schools (so important for continued urban growth but do understand defining best schools is difficult) 2. Best/most used transit of non OECD countries (its easy to have good transit when you are rich but what about on a budget.

[@sebastianjoseph2828]

This is a good one. Even the most urban-minded people in the US will often concede and feel they have to move to a less dense area once their kids hit a certain age because schools are often worse in cities. This is due to a host of issues relating to cities losing money to counties and poverty. This contributes to the perception that cities are for gentrifiers (who have no kids) and not for families (whether affluent or working class).

[@guillermovidaurre7099]

@@sebastianjoseph2828 It is all too common to see people leave cities once they have kids. If the schools were better I think many would stay.

[@CityNerd]

Thanks! Yes, the challenge is defining what constitutes a "good" school -- if a school has good test scores, does that mean there's something intrinsically "good" about the school, or is it just in a geographic location where the kids are more likely to come from a socioeconomic background that supports scholastic achievement? Trust me, I've thought about this for decades, and it's extremely hard to analyze! Still, an interesting topic. Second idea is cool, just need to figure out where to get data

[@stevebolandca]

Muni planner here. San Francisco actually has very little rail service given its built form (I know you're looking at the urbanized area, but the bulk of ridership is in the city). So you end up with buses running every 2-3 minutes and ridership on bus routes higher than most American rail lines (pre-COVID, a couple of corridors were ~50k daily riders). Wilshire in LA has always been a similar situation; of course it's getting a subway extension now.

[@pbriffy]

The issue is how slow and unpredictable Muni buses are. As I’m sure you’re aware as a planner, Muni buses now take around double the time to move the same distance as the streetcars they replaced. And also, from someone who used to depend on this system, a frequency of every 2-3 minutes is laughably unrepresentative of even the “frequent” core of the bus system. Maybe folks get that on the 38 for an hour or so a day (and they better, since as you point out the 38 has the daily ridership of many rail lines). But if you’re not on that specific corridor, and especially if you need to make a transfer, god help you - I would describe frequencies more as “nice if they show up at all.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to turn to Uber or Lyft to get to work or an appointment because there was a 20+ minute gap until the next 22, 28, or etc., even during commute hours, and those are supposed to be high-frequency lines. We are never going to get people out of their cars if the alternatives remain this slow and unreliable. It is a travesty that transit in one of the absolute wealthiest and most ostensibly-progressive cities in America remains this terrible.

[@nathanlandau9408]

Muni Metro light rail radiates out from Downtown SF to 6 corridors in the south, southwest, and west parts of the city. BART covers another one, and this is in addition to purely street running rail-the historic streetcars and cable cars. There isn’t a line out Geary in the northwest part of the city-the Richmond. That got progressively scaled back from BART to a BRT to a rapid bus. Still, it seems like pretty good rail coverage in a city that’s relatively small geographically.

[@dakotafisher8400]

I grew up in Hawai'i. I can attest to the bus system being pretty solid. I used it exclusively while I lived in Honolulu and studied at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. I look forward to seeing how the rail develops. It's been in development for a long time and people are already super negative about it's limited scope in Phase 1 - it needs longer hours of operation and better stops/development around those stops.

[@boxingandbulldogs6341]

Why would you ever leave Hawaii?

[@hi.laulau]

@@boxingandbulldogs6341 i grew up in Hawaii as well people leave for many reasons. I felt trap because you eventually explore most places on the island, cost of living, it's not always "paradise" (I grew up in a poor neighborhood), lack of job opportunities, so on so forth. It's similar reasons why you would leave your hometown, the main difference is we're leaving a tourist destination. Also, people look down on you when you take the bus in Hawaii. People see it as transportation for low-income folks.

[@dubphotek]

Yeah my father lived in Ewa Beach and I used to stay in Waikiki when visiting, the Bus definitely punches above its weight.

[@hi.laulau]

@@dubphotek Ewa Beeeach! Haha! That's where I'm from too. That's a long commute, especially with traffic!

[@truthislife9]

I agree, I used it a ton while I was in Hawai'i and working at...well, UH Manoa, actually. It spoiled me, it was pretty good--at least for what I wanted to do--and I never really had any desire for a car or even a bike while I was there. Ah, I miss it...

[@louiszhang3050]

I used to be a "train only" transit nerd. But all that changed when I started attending college in Blacksburg. I used the bus far more often than I did the metro system back home in Washington DC, and it was really convenient, fast, affordable (I mean it's free so), clean, and actually a very pleasant way of getting around. It was what taught me that excellent bus service, even if not as glamorous, is just as, if not more, important than rail service for transportation needs.

[@CraigFThompson]

The automotive industry "thinks" the same way, btw....

[@benstadler4337]

Go Hokies! Blacksburg transit was great :)

[@frenchfreys]

Shoutout BT!! I drive the buses there :D

[@contucomejor]

Being able to stand in any corner in Chicago and having a bus stop by every 5 mins to take me to my destination or a connecting bus/train in less than 20 mins just changed my entire perspective of bus transit forever

[@amyschneidhorst1384]

I lived in Chicago 25 years as a non-driver. And that was before apps made Chicago's public transit more reliable.

[@katethegoat7507]

The fact that buses are stigmatized in America is so odd to me. Buses and bus routes as being inheritors of historical tram lines in my hometown isn't just accepted, it's a fundamental part of our identity

[@tetsi0815]

Might be something amongst the lines of "You have to take the bus, if you can't afford a car, and that makes you poor". So people might think if you're using the bus you are poor and nobody wants to be viewed as poor?

[@katethegoat7507]

@@chemicalfrankie1030 not in my hometown. They're such an integral part of the town's identity that everyone knows the bus routes just as well as street names.

[@PastelSkies-n3v]

As a kid, I called Portland bus line 31 the Baskin-Robbins bus, so I can relate to that in a way. 😊

[@gcvrsa]

America has as many cars as it does people. The only people who take the bus in America are people in big cities, and people who can't afford cars or people who had their driver's licenses revoked. Even in big cities, subways are more prestigious than buses.

[@JesusManera]

@@chemicalfrankie1030 I disagree, I think it's only a US (or maybe North America) thing. In certain Australian cities like Brisbane and Sydney in particular, buses are extremely popular methods of commuting for everybody from the rich to the poor, white collar professionals commute on buses. In Melbourne buses have a bit more of a negative stigma - not to do with class though - just because the trains & trams are so much more dominant so buses are more of an after-thought, but commuting by tram in Melbourne is seen as a sign of affluence and has a very positive association that you must live somewhere nice.

[@rontalbot4966]

I salute your sacrifice, to spend 4 weeks in Hawaii for a good cause, so noble.

[@CityNerd]

The things I'm willing to do for this cause

[@DMVRailfan]

Someone from the DMV here. I wasn’t surprised that DC was in the top 5, since there isn’t really much “urban” action in the district because of how there aren’t skyscrapers there because of some old law, but because there’s so much urbanization outside of the district and in places like Bethesda, Silver Spring, Arlington and Alexandria (to name a few) and them functioning as their own cities in a way, they would obviously have lots of buses.

[@gpaulu]

Dishonorable mention: Arlington TX, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. Population 390K. ZERO BUSES. They have literally no public transit service at all, other than a commuter rail line that happens to run between Fort Worth and Dallas.

[@danielkelly2210]

Texans by in large seem to be transit-averse. Heck, a lot of their cities barely have sidewalks.

[@amj.composer]

It's Texas dude, cars are literally an extension of a Texan's body

[@trademark0013]

Jerry Jones wants ppl to drive to the cowboys games and other events so they can charge triple digits for garage parking. I wish I was kidding.

[@kennethduckworth7111]

In my eight car free years in the Washington, DC area (DC and Arlington,VA), I made use of both buses and the Metro, getting very often to Tysons Corner for work using the 28A. All this was using paper schedules, a bunch of which I kept in a basked in the kitchen.

[@Madwonk]

Hey! That's my local bus! It literally stops right in front of my apartment! Funnily enough, depending on the day (and if I'm stopping somewhere in Falls Church) it's more convenient to take it from Tysons than the metro!

[@kennethduckworth7111]

@@Madwonk you would take the Orange Line to WFC and then the 28A to Tyson Corner Center. Other bus lines that I used regularly were the D2 DuPont Circle to Glover Park and the L2 Connecticut Avenue Line. Just had my Sony Walkman and a good book. 😊

[@dianeshaw1145]

Even though I also own a car, the 28A bus is my preferred way of traveling from West Falls Church metro station to either Tysons Corner or Old Town Alexandria & points in between. It's relatively frequent and not overcrowded (at least when I've used it).

[@Pierrelourens1]

As an SF resident, I love the trolley buses. They do well on the massive hills as compared to gas/hybrid options. And SF continues to make improvements, most recently with the wildly successful Van Ness BRT. It is packed literally every time I have ridden it.

[@evanmckee7945]

Two things, as an ISU (Ames) Alum that city has fantastic busses, they also have the Moonlight Express which is a free bus on late Friday and Saturday nights (til 2:30am) to get people home safe from the bars. It was originally started by the school, but since then it has become co-run by the city and school. In addition, I live in DC, the Metro is great where it runs, but that's not everywhere. The busses cover the gaps that the Metro doesn't hit and get you more precisely where you'd like to go if you're not cool with walking a bit which is often required with the Metro.

[@GirtonOramsay]

I wish more college towns kept those late-night Fri/Sat buses. At the Univ of Florida in Gainesville, we had like 3-6 "Later Gator" bus routes doing the same things with routes from downtown to the various apartment complexes surrounding the campus. Unfortunately they just stopped it in 2018 after I left. Those buses were very useful.

[@thebestbaseballguy]

Pittsburgh again! I love living here. Many of the bus routes are literally the same routes the trolleys used to run. I live right on the busway and it's magic. 10 minutes into town on the bus, vs. 25 minutes at least driving, plus you have to find and pay for parking. With 5-10 minute waits for the bus on weekdays it makes absolutely no sense to drive.

[@Jason-pq5mq]

Check Alexandria, VA in the Washington DC region. They did an experiment increasing bus frequency and made buses free. They’re one of the only networks to have more current riders than pre-pandemic levels. The Washington DC region is going through a change to incorporate buses and bikes.

[@ahuman4013]

List of the top 10 cities: 10. Baltimore 3:13 9. Pittsburgh 3:45 8. Portland 4:10 7. Los Angeles 4:41 6. Las Vegas 5:31 5. Washington DC 6:19 4. Seattle 6:43 3. New York City 9:39 2. SF/Oakland 10:17 1. Honolulu 11:05 Honorable Mentions: Denver 8:07 Boston Philidelphia Chicago Ames, IA Dishonorable Mentions: Mission Viejo, CA

[@eugenetswong]

I wish that he had a 2nd worst, because Mission Viejo seems to be an anomaly.

[@CityNerd]

Killjoy

[@agme8045]

Thanks! I was hoping he would talk about some non-USA cities, but apparently he doesn’t. So I won’t even bother to watch the video through lol

[@MichiruEll]

In my smallish city in Switzerland, the buses are wonderful. There's about 10 line going to the city limits and adjacent villages and they run on average every 10 minutes. Within the most bus-dense zone, they are trolley-buses (connected to electricity throuch wires above), but once they get to the end of the wiring they disconnect, turn on their engines and continue on. I like watching them connect and disconnect. Buses here are used by everyone: kids, families, students, professionals, the elderly, disabled people, people bringing their cat to the vet, people going grocery shopping... it's great :)

[@HazardousItems]

I live around the central Jersey area and I have two offices to pick to work from either in North Jersey or Midtown Manhattan. It’s crazy that it’s way easier to get into the NYC office than the one in my state. Shout out to NJ Transit for awesome bus services 💚

[@hugz3805]

VIDEO REQUEST I grew up in North Port, Florida -- a car dependent suburban hell -- and think that the way the city (and county) has been designed was traumatic to me as a young person who had to travel hours by bus to see friends, walk hours in the heat to get places, and overall rely on non-dependable self-involved people to get me from place to place. There were no public squares or ways to meet people in my area. When I was younger I couldn't leave my house on my own at all. It was all terribly isolating. My mom's car would constantly break down and as a poor family we had to keep the cost of gas and maintenance in mind. I even had one friend that was abused by her parents and basic transportation to her school and work was always in jeopardy if she stepped out of line. My childhood and many others have been plagued by issues that wouldn't exist if not for awful urban design. I would love to see some more videos researching the walkability and public transit and its impacts on the mental health of adults and children.

[@misteryA555]

Walkable cities means more autonomy for children, the disabled, older folks who can't drive anymore, and everyone else too!

[@NathanBurnaman]

What I find hilarious about this area being car dependent is that it’s full of retirees who at some point won’t be able to drive….public transportation makes so much sense in heavens waiting room

[@CityNerd]

I do have an idea like this. Thanks for the prompt, I'll add your notes!

[@terryking7434]

I'm right there with you 😑 after 21 years of living in suburban hell, when I move out I vow to never touch a fucking suburb ever again.

[@scout8145]

Seconded. I don’t know if there any urbanist trauma specialists on youtube, but if so, I think getting input from someone with a psychology/sociology background would be helpful here

[@chriskungie5552]

Agreed, buses are cool, though most people who can afford cars don't seem to agree. I'm a daily rider of the MBTA 64 from Cambridge to Allston, after taking the red line from Dorchester. I could take commuter rail from South Station, but the trains are so infrequent that I gave it up years ago. Who needs the stress of running 100 yards to make your connection when the red line is slow, knowing that if you're late you'll just have to get back on the subway as the next train isn't for an hour.

[@hal763]

Just a correction. HART is not the transit authority for Honolulu. It is only responsible for building the rail in Honolulu and has always had its own website to provide updates and other information about the construction. HART then transfers ownership to Honolulu's Department of Transportation Services (DTS) which has a division responsible for transit on Oahu. DTS has a section on their website for Skyline. TheBus has also updated its website with connecting bus routes.

[@blindpanthervlogs]

I have actually been to Washington DC and used buses there. There are two main types of buses in the city. There’s the metro bus, which is more useful for locals, has more routes, and stops more places. There’s also the circulator bus, which is primarily for tourists, although locals can, and do use it. It costs only one dollar per ride, has like three or four routes and goes to all the tourist hotspot neighborhoods. It’s smooth it’s comfortable and it is efficient.

[@nightpups5835]

Big thing about making buses more popular is keep prices low and the buses clean and routes frequent but more importantly reliable.

[@mostlyguesses8385]

I've had 2 homes.. Minneapolis buses drive slow, Houston buses go scarily fast. Houston is also half the ticket price as M. . . P.S. Minnesota built a light rail but wow the weed smell and bums make it a no go area east of the University, so billion bucks wasted and literally when it goes by the Capitol building it shows politicians transit is a waste. St Paul city govt is democratic and liberal so they don't care it's hellish. It really made me sad to visit home, it's truly smelly and made me scared to ride...

[@GODDAMNLETMEJOIN]

Oh no, weed smell! Think of the children!

[@mostlyguesses8385]

... Many religious people, or recovering addicts, don't want second hand high when they ride light rail. Do you want to get high a 5 year old also riding the train, Jesus, what a scumbag city St Paul has become, gotta stop light rail expanding to suburbs based on this. How hard is it to now smoke on the public vehicle and cops to enforce this? So, ok, now light rail is seen as awful and crime filled, no expansion to nice suburbs.. . My cousin is recovering addict...

[@CraigFThompson]

​@@GODDAMNLETMEJOINInterestingly enough, NO ONE gave it a thought when it was okay to smoke TOBACCO onboard public transit vehicles....

[@GODDAMNLETMEJOIN]

@@CraigFThompson God, tobacco smoke is 10x worse than weed smoke, and way more persistent too

[@SanzRadio]

SF's Muni bus system is so good! One thing that I learned when traveling elsewhere is that apparently SF is one of the only US cities with all door boarding on the buses, meaning people board much faster decreasing dwell time at stops. The network is very comprehensive in the city and is great at both downtown and crosstown trips. It's always wild seeing the buses tackle big ass hills that have tough turns with relative ease, shoutout to those drivers. The hills also give some routes (like the 37 Corbett) some absolutely stunning views! The city also shut down a big stretch of Market St where a majority of lines run downtown, making travel times downtown quicker. And the new Van Ness rapid bus lane has been super nice! Also trolley buses are way better than battery electric buses! Biggest wants for me would probably better night service and improvements to the notoriously poor signage/lack of shelters in some outer parts of the city, but overall, could be much worse. On a semi-related note, would also love to see more non-bus Service to the Transbay Center, Caltrain or a 2nd transbay tube, where you at? One thing I will say about AC Transit in Oakland, the new BRT on International is lovely. It's super quick when I had to get to downtown from Deep East Oakland, and nice to see a great benefit to an under-served part of the city. I would love to see another BRT route going up Telegraph to Berkeley!

[@ClubGardeina]

Im from Chicago and recently visited SF and I was amazed with how frequent and well run the Muni was. So many options between the buses, light rail, historic streetcars and trolley bus. I also really enjoyed the get on at any door and the lack of turnstiles for the light rail. It blew my mind that the Muni ran on the honor system similar to the metro in Vienna. If the planning continues to be well thought out I can see SF having a top 3 metro system in the country. Something I feel the CTA is regressing in.

[@timpekarek9159]

My city, St Louis used to have a decent bus service that has been making frequent service cuts since before the pandemic, but more severely since then. The result is terrible service now. Not surprising, the Missouri Legislature has barely funded public transit and our cities are in bad shape due to that.

[@civilwarwasaninsidejob7405]

Yes! I use to always take the bus to work. I have a vehicle, but enjoy saving on gas, not dealing with parking, and be able to read or watch KZbin. It's been terrible the last several years. Even the bus stops om major roadways are not being used. Shame. St. Louis has so much potential for a great public transportation system.

[@jspihlman]

I read an article in I think the Post Dispatch that said right before the pandemic they had actually identified several popular bus routes and got them down to like 15 min headways, but then the pandemic hit and now its worse than ever.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

The Missouri legislature is confident that Jesus will provide you with all you need.

[@TheKeksadler]

But hey, nearly $3 billion to widen a highway is significantly more important... right? /s

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

I would KILL for some good bus service in STL

[@AtomicMegaNerd]

Topic suggestion: folding bikes, e-bikes, and multi-modal transportation. The ability to fold your bike and bring it on a train or a bus and then add a cycling mode seems like a really great way to get around a city.

[@pls5201]

Yes, and please add on some analysis about the annoying, but increasingly essential scooters for many.

[@harlander-harpy]

Something that people don't know about Seattle is how strong our regional bus system is. Sound Transit runs 28 lines, King County Metro runs another 20-25, and Community Transit runs another 10-15. Getting around the eastern side of Puget sound is REALLY easy and a bunch of those busses service some great hiking and mountain biking

[@sarahkoenigo7]

There are even public transit bus routes with Skagit Transit connecting Bellingham to Burlington/Mt Vernon to Everett. So one could ride public transit all the way from the Canadian Boarders in both Sumas & Blaine to Joint Base Lewis McChord

[@harlander-harpy]

@@sarahkoenigo7 yep! And even on down South through Olympia (though it does admittedly get a good bit worse). Not to mention the Cascades corridor. The regional transit system in this region is absolutely fantastic and underrated, I think partly because busses aren't as sexy as rail

[@snuffsonic23]

0:30 I never realized that bridge is supposed to be the rialto bridge haha. really a romatic spot to put a replica of that, right next to this giant street must be a great vibe up there

[@christophermclean]

Used muni while visiting SF last weekend and was surprised at how on time (and full!) the buses were for me. Also salesforce park (on top of the transit center) has a gondola from street level as well as beer garden featuring Barebottle brewing, which gets extra bonus points. Sidenote: I really wish the Capitol Corridor ran late enough to take it round trip from Sacramento. Last train back home around 9pm is such a bummer.

[@mark4707]

New York makes a lot of sense since you often need to take a bus to travel within the outer boroughs. Also there is a free transfer from subway to bus or vice versa, so if you aren’t super close to the subway you can/want to ride, you can take a bus there.

[@charlesbaran1106]

Even though New York has an extensive subway network, there are plenty of neighborhoods it doesn't reach. That makes the buses very important and well used (often in conjunction with trains). There are also numerous express routes connecting Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

[@DungTran-li2wn]

public transport makes areas less safe

[@CraigFThompson]

​@@DungTran-li2wnAnd what is it about the AUTOMOBILE that makes an area "safe"?! Hit-and-run drivers and road rage are nothing to laugh at these days....

[@DungTran-li2wn]

@@CraigFThompson working class citizens are exposed to dangerous demographics prone to violence on public transport. They can avoid these interactions entirely in a car.

[@everestjarvik5502]

I lived in Portland for years as a teenager with no car and I took the busses every day. Wouldn’t have been able to have any kind of social life without them so I think pretty highly of the public transit in that city

[@adiuntesserande6893]

Same. I grew up in Gresham.

[@jazzcatjohn]

The problem with Portland buses is that there are actually too many stops which makes them too slow. Good network though.

[@craigmcpherson1455]

Yup. I took the bus to school downtown, to Lloyd center, to Washington Square mall, to Beaverton. Lots of places.

[@carrjeep7538]

I ride the bus to work almost every day, but the pandemic hit us so hard. It feels much more unsafe now than it used to.

[@CityNerd]

TriMet runs very good service for a US city of that size, IMO

[@electrified0]

Seattle is an interesting case. When I lived there, parking was so prohibitively expensive that it makes almost no financial sense to own a car. The Orca card provides unlimited bus usage and is affordable and even subsidized by many employers. My only reason for rarely taking the bus there was that I was able to walk nearly everywhere.

[@MrBirdnose]

I had a subsidized bus pass and used it a lot. My main complaint was the buses were usually overcrowded. If I'm going to be on a bus for an hour and a half I'd like to sit down.

[@Dimewick21]

Love it! One thing I noticed that that no cities with “showcase” BRT lines are on here (Indygo, Richmond Pulse, etc). I’m really not a fan of BRT as a piece of branded showcase transit. These almost seem like they are telling users “hey, here’s our good bus line, the rest of them suck.” In our busiest corridors let’s normalize frequent articulated (bi-articulated busses would also be cool), in dedicated lanes (median lanes where able), with signal priority, all door boarding, and bikes onboard. You know, basically BRT, but without making a big production of it. Cities like London, Malmo, Lucerne, etc just have great bus systems without having to brand segments of them.

[@shanesarver2072]

Baltimore has high bus ridership because there’s no East-west rail and relatively high poverty/low car ownership rates. Around 25% of the population doesn’t own a car I think.

[@SkremoMcThrftsto]

The thing that sucks about Bay Area transit is that there are a bazilion different services. There are at least 3 or 4 bus services in SF alone. I found this out the hard way trying to board a regional bus with my Muni pass. Then you have to take Caltrain to get to SJ, then buy a ticket through VTA (at least VTA covers things in SJ), or you have to take BART to the East Bay and deal with whatever other services in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, etc. You need an entire suite of apps on your phone (assuming the particular service has an app) to navigate the area.

[@SkremoMcThrftsto]

As an aside, I remember seeing somewhere that Reno had a highly rated bus system. I don't know if it merits a spot in a video but I'd be interested in a proper evaluation of it. I do think that RTC in general is pretty damn good, both in Reno and Vegas. Reno even has some sprouts of a rapid bus system with elevated bus platforms in some locations and really nice stops with covered seating and marquees with bus ETAs and whatnot.

[@manzell]

Pausing at the Top-3. My guesses: Minneapolis, Boston, NYC. I grew up taking King County Metro and I didn't realize that busses were stigmatized for "poor people" until later on in life. As a kid I used to take the 358 from 130th and Aurora down to the Tower Records off Mercer every Saturday to buy a CD. Good times.

[@BenSussmanpro]

I’m glad you included Portland. My brother-in-law was a driver for 25 yrs with Tri-met, and he’s won many safe-driving awards and had a reputation for being the friendliest & most helpful drivers in Portland.

[@NortheastAndRetired]

"TRAINS ARE GOOD" I love your intro and yes it even made me smile. 😄 And yes we need trains everywhere in the United States. Let's open all the closed train stations throughout the country and get back to business.

[@savannah4439]

I live in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area and the bus situation here is just awful. There are so many bus stops that are just a post with a bus stop marker next to the sidewalk. No seating, no shade. It’s nearly 120 degrees this summer and there’s not even shade. The few stops that have a bit of shade or seating are commonly metal bench seating, which makes it useless for like half the year when the metal will be hot enough to give you actual burns

[@czurawsky]

Ahem ... Pittsburgh. We recently had great urbanist, bike and transit boosting mayor, previously city council, in Bill Peduto. His tenure ended last year, fingers crossed that we keep our eyes on the future.

[@bradleyschmidt7190]

Sadly all too many car enthusiasts hated Bill because he actually wanted us to move forward as a bike friendly city. Remember their nickname for him was "Bikelane Bill"! One thing though, so many of the bike lanes were mere bandaids. They didnt connect very well to other bike paths and such. Too disconnected. There's supposed to be more plans down the pike, but let's wait and see if any of them actually come to fruition. The current mayor might be hesitant to spend much on them for fear of pissing off the driving public again and losing votes.

[@DCuerpoJr]

I live 12 miles north of downtown Seattle and commute to work which is in downtown. While the bus and light rail systems are effective means of transportation. Security has become a huge issue, especially in the downtown corridor. Bus stops anywhere along 3rd and 4th Ave are just not safe anymore. I'm a first responder and our firefighter/EMTs respond to hundreds of EMS calls treating patients for reported assaults along those avenues every year. It's gotten so bad that KC metro often closes bus stops along that corridor if one of their drivers or passengers were recently assaulted.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

I think one of the most important things for Bus's to thrive is cheap tickets, increased Frequency, cleaner with nicer and more comfortable interior designs and an intergrated ticketing service. These are integral to a great bus service.

[@vokasimid5330]

Well said

[@eallison9]

As a former resident of the Maryland DC suburbs the bus lines there were horrible. The last bus left my town at 7:30 pm which was inconvenient as a carless college student. Lehigh valley PA also had pathetic bus service for 3 relatively dense cities with a 1 million metro area.

[@blores95]

Nice to see LA here. Our buses can definitely have a lot of improvement, but are underrated, especially because our rail network is so sprawled out and has issues with safety/cleanliness that the buses don't really have in my experience. The buses could use more frequency, and should have more dedicated bus lanes or signal priority, but the network is pretty good and I rarely ever have a bus that just doesn't come. Plus, a lot of the cities in LA have their own bus network that fill in some of the gaps of Metro. Some of them are pretty worthless, like only have a loop that comes once an hour during the weekdays, but others like Long Beach are pretty good on their own. LA might be too sprawled out to ever make rail be able to pull all the weight, but if we could reduce road width and steal some lanes for bus-only lanes and improve frequency to funnel people into the rail network, then I think LA could have pretty good bike-bus-rail hierarchy that would eliminate a lot of car travel.

[@kennethridesabike]

“Steal some lanes for buses” Nah you earned those lanes by being a based bus rider

[@CityNerd]

I really didn't ride buses at all when I visited last year, but it was pretty evident how strong some of the corridors are -- you see A LOT of buses! I'll have to ride next time.

[@jacktattersall9457]

What LA really needs, may I suggest, is a crazy increase in frequency on Metrolink commuter rail. They need to copy their Canadian friends with an x (Metrolinx) and triple daily departures in the next several years.

[@kurenable]

I have experienced sooo many ghost buses in LA the past 2 years, especially at night... you're lucky you haven't. The frequency is a big issue, as is the fact that they've eliminated and consolidated a lot of lines without replacing the service.

[@HotDogLaws]

@@kurenable theyve been experiencing a pretty massive shortage of bus drivers ever since COVID, so theres definitely been a lot more missed trips bc of personnel shortages lately

[@buckyharris9465]

As a regular rider on Metro in Seattle, I have to say that bus transit here sucks, at least on the routes I use most often. Almost daily there are service holes lasting 30 minutes or more, during which certain buses are MIA. Weekends are the worst. The problem is a combination of infrequent scheduling and car traffic. The pandemic brought two blissful years in which traffic was light, but now the nightmare is back. Big cities need subways.

[@stevenedwards3754]

San Francisco's Salesforce Transit Center wasn't built as a fancy bus station, but as a grand terminal for the eventual extension of CalTrain and California High Speed Rail with facilities for connecting buses. Semi-finished space beneath the building awaits the extension and its eventual trains. STC replaces The Transbay Terminal which was finished in 1939 along with the Bay Bridge. Key System trains from the bridge's lower deck entered the old terminal where riders met Muni streetcars in front of the terminal's main entrance. The BART and Muni subway was built forty years later under Market Street, so it wasn't feasible connect it directly to the new terminal whose location was originally determined by its predecessor and the construction of the Bay Bridge.

[@arimermelstein9167]

I grew up in a neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY that has no subway lines. You have to take a bus just to get to the subway. There are a few neighborhoods like that in Queens also. And in Staten Island, basically it’s all his service to get around as the railway isn’t as helpful.

[@himbourbanist]

I've been on the warpath of trying to make riding the bus cool again. Buses are a great form of transit, and secretly, there's something I find really enjoyable about riding the bus home after a night out with good friends. I know everyone will get home safely since no one will be driving

[@jasonreed7522]

They are also amazing for their flexibility allowing 1 city fleet to provide dedicated event shuttle service to a collection of distributed park and rides. I have driven out of 1 concert and the experience sucked (understatement), and the next concert had the option of a shuttle bus and it was such a blissful experience to zip past that traffic jam. These shuttle services have an additional benefit beyond the standard traffic reduction ones, they give people a positive experience with city buses. If someone who has a car has their first bus experience be getting stranded on the side of a stroad for an hour when they could have driven in 20min they won't trust the buses enough to give them a second chance, so providing people with a positive experience is a very important first step towards making buses "cool again".

[@charliesullivan4304]

You have succeeded: riding the bus is cool. The challenge is just that they're too many people who don't know that.

[@CraigFThompson]

The only thing really "cool" about buses is that they do an excellent job of selling private cars; in fact, they advertise the advantages of cars over buses while in service!

[@katydid2877]

Too hot, cold, or rainy to stand out there, inconsistent run times, late busses, weirdos on the bus, takes too long to get where you’re going, etc etc etc

[@Skip6235]

Wow, I am always shocked when I compare Vancouver’s ridership numbers to US cities, but wow does it punch way above its weight class. 277.4 million bus boardings in 2019 with a population of 2.6 million for a per capita ridership of 106!

[@jtsholtod.79]

Vancouver's ridership is impressive. In 2019, Toronto's TTC alone had about 400M bus boardings for a covered population of 5.5M. That's nearly 73 per capita, not even including GO Transit or any of the surrounding city bus services, many of which overlap or feed into the TTC. I'd guess Toronto would be slightly ahead of Vancouver all-in.

[@Purplesquigglystripe]

I remember seeing huge lines for the bus when I was in Vancouver. Some people would have to wait for a later bus since it couldn’t take everyone in line

[@chengyanboon]

@@jtsholtod.79 It's probably pretty close, but the other agencies don't make as much of a difference as you think. Looking at March 2023 numbers only Brampton really makes a dent, at 5.1 million boardings compared to Toronto's 30.4 million. The next biggest is YRT at 1.7 million trips and then GO at 1.2 million, but these almost get entirely cancelled out if you count BC Transit for Vancouver, as it has 2.3 million boardings. So the best case adds about 30% to Toronto's ridership compared to just TTC alone, which still leaves Toronto behind Vancouver per capita by a decent margin.

[@stefslon]

@@chengyanboon Toronto's in-city ridership in 2019 was 156 per capita--definitely lower in 2023 though.

[@chengyanboon]

@@stefslon TransLink covers the entire Metro Vancouver region, so I don't think we don't have those numbers for Vancouver proper, unfortunately. Some of the highest ridership lines cross borders to Burnaby too.

[@FutureCommentary1]

I live in Douala, Cameroon. I watch this as I would watch science-fiction: will never see this (type of bus network) IMBY in my lifetime. If you ever do a tour of cities where motorbikes are the primary form of mass transit you might cover Douala.

[@tristanridley1601]

If any Canadians are curious, I found Toronto's ridership for just the TTC and GO buses and the bus service for most of the suburbs. Dividing that by 5.5 million I get 71 riders per capita. Probably not the same methodology but it gives a perspective.

[@thomaspatricio]

If you do just the TTC, 2019's bus ridership per capita was about 158.

[@TomOmnom]

I found Ottawa's ridership for 2019 (pre pandemic, pre LRT) at 97 riders per capita for Ottawa, 90 for the CMA (including Gatineau). Also not the same methodology - but it's linked trips, which makes it almost certainly an underestimate compared to the list!

[@tristanridley1601]

@@thomaspatricio are you sure? I got my numbers from the ttc but found a few false leads where they were also including streetcars or even subway rides. Your figure looks a lot like that one.

[@tristanridley1601]

@@TomOmnom amazing! Makes sense given OCTranspo invested so much in making bus EVERYTHING, even the backbone of your network.

[@billyehh]

@@tristanridley1601 I used Steve Munro's figures. 1,176,496 for local buses plus 215,163 for express buses times 365 divided by 3,000,000. It comes to about 170 trips per capita in 2019. It does not include streetcars or subway as well as suburban transit systems. These are boardings, so some will have multiple boarding per trip, but most go to the subway.

[@Snarkitect1000]

I'm so glad you mentioned Pittsburgh! I grew up taking those busses all over that city and have found very few small cities with comparable transit systems. The only issue - it's not unusual for busses to be off-schedule and the last time I checked, Port Authority doesn't have a good app for live updates on their busses.

[@RC-ym5cm]

It would be great if you make a detailed video on Southern California's Metrolink.....I know you briefly touched upon in some other videos....But I feel with properly running frequencies it has great potential and also talk about recent extensions in San Bernandino..

[@goldenstarmusic1689]

As a Twin Cities resident I appreciate the shout-out and am hyped for the content! We're trying to build out a real BRT and solid bus network in the Twin Cities and I'm sure you'll have a lot to comment on it

[@bulldogmadhav5762]

Finally some respect for the humble city bus

[@jaredgolian98]

Baltimore resident- one reason we have high ridership is because for some reason we don’t have city school buses so a lot of students use them to get to and from school. And our single metro line is almost useless so buses are the cheapest way to get around

[@angellacanfora]

I've spent most of this last year living car-free in the sprawling suburb of Torrance (LA county), so naturally I've taken the bus here many times and have found it to be frustrating. The buses themselves are nice, clean and on-time. They always successfully achieve the goal of moving me from one place to another, it's just all the stuff on the periphery that's the problem - it's bus stops with nowhere to sit and no shade (no sombrita!). It's the homeless people crowding said bus stops. It's the discovery that as someone with an impaired immune system, I can't ride a crowded bus without a mask or risk getting very sick (as happened to me recently). And so on. Now my heart is no longer into taking the bus and I'm avoiding it, which is a bummer but health and safety matter. PS: and as someone who played trumpet in my high school jazz ensemble, I can't help but notice Miles Davis up there on the wall! 👍

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

I hear this and similar stories a lot. I don't feel safe on public transit here in Tucson for some of these same reasons.

[@blores95]

Hopefully that Green/C line extension to Torrance will improve things across the board. Dunno about the homeless issue though, that's an issue everywhere in LA sadly.

[@angellacanfora]

@@blores95 I'm hopeful, too, though really it's just supposed to skirt the outer central/eastern edges of Torrance. Looking at a map of the proposed routes, it might even wind up cutting through a corner of my neighborhood (which straddles the border of Redondo)although there won't be a station near here. Maybe I could just jump on it, hobo style, lol.

[@kevhayden6506]

Orlando has a really high number of bus ridership but its mostly private and not reported. Between UCF (the 2nd largest university in the us) and the buses between disney, the airport, universal, seaworld, and the" trolleys" on Idrive, you would think we would be high up there. Lynx (the public buses) are low and terrible. Its almost an inoperable system.

[@pacerdanny]

Great video! You gotta come to SF to check out the Transbay Transit Center (with its dedicated bus overpass and beautiful elevated park) and the hugely successful Van Ness BRT.

[@tomfields3682]

"Salesforce Transit Center"? WTF?

[@pacerdanny]

@@tomfields3682 Ah, yes. TRANSBAY Transit Center! Salesforce PARK is on top.

[@LVtrin27]

People always overlook this but Las Vegas only has such a high per capita ridership number because the toursists that ride the Deuce on The Strip weighs so heavily. It lauches that number through the roof. Las Vegas would be nowhere near the top 25 if you take out the one route on The Strip and look at local routes only.

[@liamdavis9068]

I’m from LA so I’m somewhat biased, but San Francisco was the first city I thought of regarding good bus service. It’s extremely comprehensive, has great frequency, and has multiple BRT corridors within the city built over defunct cable car lines. Also, the connections with BART are really thoughtfully designed and complementary.

[@jimpern]

When I was a kid in Puerto Rico, I rode a few buses (there they're called "guaguas") and later in Miami Beach I took a city bus home from high school. I lived in Seattle when the only rail tranist was the monorail, and I was very impressed with the bus service, which even had bus stations on the freeways and dedicated buses to Boeing plants. It was the first place I ever saw bending buses and trolleybuses. And on my big Amtrak trip last September, I rode a number of buses in Los Angeles and Seattle and they were just fine.

[@thebestbaseballguy]

As someone who used to live in the outskirts of Queens, I'm not at all surprised NYC is on this list. Generally speaking, in areas served by subways, buses are most useful for traveling within the borough, whereas the subway is good for getting from Queens to Manhattan. And of course there's also express buses that run into Manhattan from neighborhoods that don't have subway access. To give you an example. I lived near the end of the F train. The F runs express under Queens blvd, only making a handful of stops in Queens. Very convenient for getting into the city quickly, but not convenient if I have to go to say, Rego Park or some other destination in Queens. And of course, the subway only runs in one direction, West. If I needed to go in any other direction, that's what the bus is for. There were 5 bus routes easily accessible from my apartment. There's really buses everywhere in NYC.

[@charlienyc1]

I was surprised just thinking back to all the times I have ridden a bus crosstown or on up or down an avenue in Manhattan. Those were dreadfully sloe. But upper Manhatten as well as the outer boroughs did have necessarily good bus service. And as another commenter (as well as the video) reminded me about NJ Transit, a very good system.

[@kmcrain26]

King county metro recently made it free for all children 18 and under ride free. A lot of the Seattle schools have multiple bus routes nearby.

[@jasons6021]

I'm Canadian and I'd love to see a video of you comparing Canadian cities transit ridership with comparably sized American cities. Id bet few if any American cities can cmpete with their northern counterparts.

[@TomOmnom]

Found some numbers for Ottawa, came up with 90 linked trips per Capita in 2019 for the whole Ottawa-Gatineau CMA, enough to beat Honolulu by quite a large margin for #1 in NA. That's also an underestimate, as it undercounts transfers! Ottawa's pre-LRT bus rapid transit system probably makes it the highest bus ridership in Canada for 2019, but I know Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver would all make the list with the bus elements of their transit systems. All the other Canadian CMAs large enough to make the cutoff have a pretty good chance of passing the 30 trips/capita mark to reach the list too.

[@SteveBrandon]

@@TomOmnom I miss Ottawa's pre-LRT bus rapid transit system because, you know, the bus rapid transit system didn't go down for weeks at a time (well, okay, aside from the strike in December 2008 when there was no transit). (At least the south-eastern part of the Transitway BRT system still exists from Hurdman to South Keys, which is the part of the BRT I take the most anyway).

[@guitarball]

Nice list. As a longtime DC-area resident, I was very much not surprised to see the region on the list. When I lived in DC, the bus to/from work would often be packed. Now that I'm in Arlington, I ride the bus daily to get to the Pentagon metro station to ride the blue line into the city for work. Not as packed, but the Pentagon transit center is always busy, with Metro, Fairfax Connector, Arlington ART and Alexandria DASH bus service.

[@_d0ser]

Baltimore is on the list because it's the best city in America. Duh. But also, it has tons of late night routes that people actually use and driving in the city is awful because our road layout is dumb as hell.

[@sebastianjoseph2828]

I remember taking the light rail and it stopping at Patapsco and being pleasantly surprised how many people transferred off to buses waiting there. I do think with higher frequencies, operating speed, and stoplight priority downtown the LR could see a lot of more use.

[@josephfisher426]

@@sebastianjoseph2828 That scene that he chose (Baltimore Street) is where they should put the Red Line, on grade. It's not as if the existing stoplight operations downtown give traffic "priority" anyway... I would imagine that people coming from the south use Patapsco as a transfer point because there's very little transit south of there.

[@paulworkman2370]

The thing about the San Francisco/Oakland area, is that we have a good regional rail system (or a few actually) but pretty poor local train systems. Maybe the new Chinatown line is the first step in a new right direction. It's kind of surprised me, when I moved to the region, how much people assume that everyone should just drive everywhere, while simultaneously congratulating themselves for being like an old-world European city (a claim I find hard to accept). Anyway, in SF one should be able to get to Richmond (the neighborhood in SF) or the Marina by subway, and ideally between them without having to pass through the Financial District, before the transit system can be considered sufficient. I will be taking no questions at this time, thank you for attending my TED Talk, etc etc etc.

[@danielplanetburns]

Coming from a bus heavy city (London, 245 rides per capita in 2019), I can’t state how important busses are to a good public transport system. The tube may be flashy, but I take the bus far more often.

[@ommy7672]

245???? Damn we're still way behind

[@kailahmann1823]

You can also walk many trips and use the subway in London, so those 245 aren't that bad - but it's still quite a low share of those average of 1000 trips most people do, given cycling in London is no real fun and the city does everything to discourage driving.

[@danielplanetburns]

@@kailahmann1823 36% of journeys are still by private car or ride share. A big part of the problem is that public transport in outer boroughs is lacking. There's no ojter orbital tube or overground line and it's only in recent months that plans for express busses in the outer boroughs were announced.

[@officialgreendalehumanbeing]

isn’t that due to the bus being cheaper to take than the tube?

[@totallypixelated]

@@officialgreendalehumanbeing Not necessarily. The bus is more convenient than the tube for some journeys.

[@NDBF123]

Was at Salesforce Transit Center last night on the way back from Giants A's riding a packed bus all the way down to Berkeley at 10 PM. All vibes and peak living.

[@tim1724]

I grew up in Dana Point, which is in that Mission Viejo region. At the time (’80s and early ’90s) it was pretty isolated from the rest of OC. The empty areas of OC have filled in with houses since then, so if you look at a road map it no longer looks isolated (and I can't imagine why it's sill considered a separate metro region) but check out the "South County" portion of the OCTA service map and you'll see that OCTA pretty much ignores it. Dana Point has a grand total of three OCTA buses serving it but the service levels are dismal and the buses don't really go anywhere useful. OCTA is somewhat passable in northern OC but it's truly awful in the southern portion of the county. Most of the cities in that area (Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, etc.) operate their own free "trolley" (in reality just a bus) services during summer months (targeted entirely at tourists) which probably aren't represented in the transit data you looked at. The ridership on those is probably higher than the OCTA buses during summer months.

[@PacificNatureTV]

True

[@alec_cooking_channel]

Funny I just took the trolley last weekend while visiting, it was completely full!

[@cornishpasty4344]

In the UK i got the bus EVERYWHERE. It was so normal and people of all origins used it. When I moved to the states and used the bus the women I worked with looked at me with disgust and would say things like "ughhh, you wouldn't catch me dead on a bus!"

[@daviddittrich5764]

Could you make a video comparing how Canada and the U.S. compare in terms of attitude towards public transit and the systems in general? I think a country overview/ comparison series would be interesting

[@sexygeek8996]

Based on my experience, the U.S. has more of an attitude that only poor people use transit.

[@jordynbebus6641]

@@sexygeek8996 unless you live in NYC or Chicago this def is the view

[@danielkelly2210]

It's less stigmatized in Canada. I seem to remember per capita transit usage in Canada is about 2x that of the US.

[@omarhamza7996]

Yay Baltimore on the list! You're absolutely right though, bus ridership is high because the city has way less rail than it should. Hopefully that changes in the next decade or two with the Red Line, but we have a long ways to building the type of rail transit network the city needs.

[@clamato54]

The Steel City doesn't have enough rail... letting that sink in

[@michaelderobio5256]

OMG, I used to ride the bus in Pittsburgh. It was not pleasant. The only time it was OK was in the middle of the day. Most of the time I had to stand up the entire way trying to keep balance. Sometimes there were people of questionable sanity. Scary.

[@safuu202]

Surprised Baltimore even made it on this list (albeit at #10). Considering that the bus system doesnt exactly have the best local reputation, even after its rebranding in 2017. P.S. the reason why Baltimore doesnt have as much rail transit as it should is bc the state of Maryland (which runs MTA) hasnt had any interest in investing in rail and didnt want to upset NIMBYs in suburban counties around the city. Hence no expansion of the only Metro Subway line after 1987 and no expansion of the Light Rail to Annapolis that was planned in the 1990s. Example: Previous Governor Larry Hogan (2014-2022) completely cancelled the Red Line after the citys uprising following the police-involved death of Freddie Gray and shifted local funding for it to highway and road construction in the suburb and rural counties that voted him in. And in pitiance tried to "reform" the citys bus network (CityLink) making the routes more long and less direct than they were before.

[@sebastianjoseph2828]

One MD specific problem is that MTA has no general manager, the governor is their ultimate boss.

[@SturmZebra13]

My city of Aachen, Germany with about 250k inhabitants and only buses (and one line of heavy rail with 5 stations in the city, negligible for modal split) has around 140-180 bus trips per capita per year, depending on which metrics I use to calculate. It's so strange to see the discrepancy, especially because the bus system is comparatively slow here, but it still beats every US city by far. Even if I count all inhabitants of the city region, of which some live far outside the city and never ride the bus or have anything to do with the city, it will still be about 70-90 trips per capita.

[@barryrobbins7694]

10:17 Yes the SF Bay Area has a decent backbone of rail systems, but without buses it would be useless for many people.

[@gwohlers]

Lots of love for Ames, IA. I went to school there and really miss how normal it was to take the bus to do anything. I wish I could have that anywhere.

[@jonathanraithel1025]

CyRide is proof that public transportation can be great when you don't treat it like an afterthought.

[@dcseain]

Speaking as a native Washingtonian, the Buses go LOTS of places the subway does not, and connects many subway lines more efficiently than riding the trains. For example, from Columbia Heights to the National Mall, the 50 series and S series buses are faster than the trains to that part of the city. We locals totally get why the bus ridership is so high. Buses also shuttle us from neighborhoods to the Metro.

[@jamalcolorado4260]

Great video, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it ❤

[@jasonolaru-hagen909]

LETS GOO Oakland!!! I just got off my AC transit bus from work earlier today

[@graceharrison9861]

Great to see Oakland represented here ❤

[@seandevlin725]

Providence, RI and Rhode Island in general has a pretty good bus transit agency: RIPTA. Almost the entire state has some from of bus service. It compliments the MBTA commuter line Boston to Wickford Junction.

[@TimeTravelingBunnis]

I know Orange County and LA share a lot of services, but they are different counties. Orange County communities can be very wealthy and will make themselves insular, especially on the coast in the hills, like Laguna Nigel and Mission Viejo. I used to go through there all the time from San Diego county to Fullerton on the Metrolink or Amtrak.

[@bootmii98]

Hey if Mission Viejo can be its own MSD why can't Half Moon Bay

[@johntelesca1440]

Neat video! So much of NYC is a subway desert! You have to use the bus to get around if you live in eastern Queens, southern Brooklyn, or most of Saten Island.

[@jonah3608]

I was getting worried that Honolulu wasn't gonna be on the list 😂 Honolulu does a great job at serving the entire island and should honestly try to lead the way in becoming a transit-friendly city

[@pura517]

Trains can't go everywhere. My town as an okay bus system but the bus stops suck and it's very slow, but I like the relative ease of using the Muni in SF. I can tap on the CalTrain to get into town, transfer to BART, transfer to a Muni train or bus all the with the Clipper card on my phone.

[@ommy7672]

Wow! Buses! I'm expecting a lot of college towns here Edit: ok nevermind

[@aurelspecker6740]

As a swiss, I can assure you, it's never "Bus vs Train" but "Bus AND Train vs cars". The better the transit, the better the ridership for ALL forms of transit. A car in an urban area is just a stupid hassle. If there is good alternatives, people will switch. And since trains and buses to not really compete for the same grid-density equilibrium, they are perfectly complementary.

[@nomihamm5690]

Sf/oakland definitely makes sense. SF has pretty low car ownership and most neighborhoods have at least one bus or light rail service coming every 10 minutes or less. The network is very grid like in nature meaning you can get almost anywhere in the city with at most one transfer. Many routes around sf and the rest of the bay are designed to feed rail services which really helps drive ridership. It's a great system and a model that i think most cities of reasonable density could implement easily.

[@Pierrelourens1]

If only transfers between agencies were easier and cheaper. I wish my Muni fare meant a substantial discount on Bart :(

[@nomihamm5690]

@@Pierrelourens1 one day i hope for all these agencies to be unified. It would massively improve the efficiency of the transit network and with proper implementation would make longer trips so much easier with a unified fare structure.

[@Mickey_McD]

While SF does have a good bus system it used to be better. Over the years the price has gone up, there are fewer bus routes, the ones that do exists start later in the day and end much sooner. In my neighborhood the last bus used to be at 1 AM, now it's 10 PM. You used to be able to use Muni to get to BART for early morning flights out of SFO -- now you have to rely on taxis or Uber for thar.

[@Unmannedperson]

I'd like to give another dishonorable mention to Arlington, TX. The largest city in the US (400,000) without regular bus service.