The Failure and Success of Great American Transit | Busways

[@robk7266]

Philadelphia is weird when it comes to transit. They have just about every era of transit still around. Old streetcars, interurbans, old rapid transit, a modern metro, a busway, commuter rail, and light rail.

[@GustavSvard]

NYC is far better known world-wide, of course, but Philly? ah, the city of connoisseur urbanists. It's got it all, from all transit forms still around, to being first euro-settled as New Sweden, to the cops literally bombing a neighbourhood.

[@civ27]

sounds just like Rio de Janeiro (though Rio has ferries and BRT and no interurbans)

[@robk7266]

And then there's whatever the hell the Norristown Line and River lines are.

[@autokratao]

The city of Calgary, AB a couple of years ago started adding bus rapid transit called "MAX" similar to these in the video. Since Calgary's LRT is only 2 measly lines (they're planning a 3rd, though none go to the airport for unknown reasons), the new fast bus lanes helps a bit. I know you're only doing American transit, but maybe one day you could cover some transit from other countries, say, in your neighbors up north, eh? Great video as always.

[@blujitsu2180]

Honestly, it might be time for you to leave this whole KZbin thing behind and start a career in set design. Balloon letters? You’re a natural.

[@JordonMcConnell]

Lovely video. Idk if you will cover BRT separately, but the new Albuquerque Rapid Transit in my city is the first "Gold-standard" BRT according to the ITDP for what that matters. It's really made things better for me. Though I wonder if it'll be like the LA BRT you mention in that Albuquerque studied the corridor for lightrail going back to 2000... In any case, I'm happy to see American cities at least looking into high-quality BRT as a way to add to our infrastructure. Keep up the good work, I love your channel!

[@Alevuss92]

From Abq, and I second this post

[@btomimatsucunard]

Oh god great work again! I cannot wait for the shade you'll throw if and whenever you get to Light Rail! I'm and angelino and I have to say that your points on our busways are on point, tho I would point out that for the J Line, that it shares much of it's ridership with other bus agencies that also use the system. Like on the El Monte Transitway you have Metro with their J line and some freeway flyers, Foot Hill transit with their silver line and freeway fliers, and Monrovia transit with their fliers; the Harbor freeway sees Metro's J line and their freeway fliers to the gateway cities and south bay, Torrance Transit with their Downtown flyers, Gardena Transit with their fliers, LB transit, OC Transit, and LADOT's extensive Commuter Express network. I actually used to take the Commuter Express from south bay and it has to be one of the most popular commuter routes, with LADOT offering extensive service to/from downtown in conjunction with the rush hours, and with counterflow routes heading to El Segundo. The Orange (G) Line is truly a tragic tale of a route once proposed as the elevated extension of our Subway Network, then its own LRT line, both of which were killed by Neighborhoods who were nowhere near the route during its EIR study. Then they passed a law with banned rail expansion in the valley until recently, and now the G Line is slated for grade separations and crossing gates. I would highly recommend giving "Railtown" a read, it touches on the orange line saga much better than I can, and shows the sheer amount of shenanigans that happened in LA County in the build up to a new rail system that led to the less than perfect system we have today. Great work and I really cannot wait for the next one you'll come out with!

[@ethanwood2481]

Excellent video! Your grainy, retro title cards and other effects really add a lot to the quality. Thanks for putting in so much work on these! Yours are probably the most enjoyable transit-themed videos on KZbin.

[@baronjutter]

Good work!!

[@bigmoodenergy]

thank you!

[@austindonovan1970]

was gonna be upsetti that houston didn't get a mention, but then houston got a mention, yeehaw

[@Jandor1]

Love the thematic framing here, definitely got a huge chuckle when i first saw the balloon letters

[@Elise__Mae]

The busways are so emblematic of Pittsburgh's retooling after so much of its industry crashed. The mid-80s, when the busways got started, were a pretty low point for the city. Now they're a huge part of what makes the city work. Thanks for featuring them -- and for designating them the champs of CAR EXCLUSION!

[@GustavSvard]

1. WWPB-TV is my favourite channel. Always have it on in the hotel when I'm in Washburn. 2. 3:06 grampa standing there not noticing the busses running through him. Is he a ghost? The ghost of the old man who was always yelling about how awful the busway was gonna be?

[@paulmentzer7658]

As to the East Busway in Pittsburgh the communities want it converted to Light Rail and hook it up to the underground Light Rail system in downtown Pittsburgh. The county refuses to do so even through the Light Rail has a one lane connection with the East Bus Way. The Pittsburgh Light Rail is just below the East Bus Way in passengers, but the Light Rail goes on an old interurban streetcar line built around 1905. The East Bus Lane follows the old main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad main line and the older cities and towns along those lines. Thus the East Bus way has a much larger pool of people to pull from then the Light Rail system but the Light Rail almost beat out the Busway for the Light Rail is better liked then the Bus Way. Worse the top transit use is Downtown Pittsburgh to Oakland where the University of Pittsburgh is. The East Bus way bypasses Oakland by a far distance, thus most buses from Oakland go on public streets to Downtown. Technically on exclusive bus lanes. It is faster to take a bicycle then a bus in that heaviest transit corridor. I have done it, even in Winter. The main reason is the bus lanes are slow inner city lanes with stops and red lights at every block. Please note the Light Rail is mostly wheelchair capable. You can roll onto the Light Rail Vehicle at almost every stop (there are exceptions to this, many stops have only curb accessibility. i.e. you have to climb three steps into the Vehicle, but raised stops are more the norm on the Light Rail system). Each raised stop has ramps it is easy for wheelchairs to climb. The buses are not the three steps to enter buses of my youth, but you still have to get into the bus, if its system to take on wheelchair is working. With Light rail you can have a less then an inch gap between the stop and the Vehicle and makes for easy on off the Light Rail Vehicle. On the Light Rail no wheelchair lift is needed, you just roll in or out of the Light Rail Vehicle.

[@trainluvr]

Thank you for covering this under reported transit mode. It takes courage to talk in front of a camera. I admire that.

[@GregJonsson]

I realize this is super niche, but how do you not have 10x as many subscribers?

[@jmckenzie962]

Another amazing video! Here in NZ we have the Northern Busway in Auckland - compared to these American busways it's actually really good. Double decker buses, off-peak frequencies of 5 minutes (between the two main services) and peak headways sub 2 minutes. Auckland Transport plan to replace it with a rail link sometime in the future. It was interesting to learn about what BRT is like in the States (luckily it's not too annoyingly different this time lol!)

[@bigmoodenergy]

wow double deckers with 2-5min frequencies is some crazy high bus throughput, that's great service. I'll read about them!

[@dono87]

Nice video, but a bit misleading in that the Shirley Highway busway is not RIP. Even with the conversion to HOV/HOT lanes, it probably serves even more bus passengers now (from all over the region) than when it was exclusively for buses.

[@SkywalkerWroc]

Here in Europe I never seen something like a bus operating on a dedicated busway. Seems like a crippled, higher lifetime cost version of a tram. Buses might have some lanes where they skip traffic, or even a short, dedicated roads, but an entire lanes of a dedicated roads? Seems like a waste of money. If you have space for that - just build a train. Much better to drive in, quieter, more passengers... the only disadvantage is higher upfront cost, but we're in to use it for decades, so it doesn't matter nearly as much. [edit] Wow, they build a new one! Remarkable. It really seems like US has an addiction problem to the gasoline. It really strikes me as something ridiculous.

[@bigmoodenergy]

there are a few in the UK, most of them are guided busways built on former rail lines. It seems to be an Anglosphere idea, outside of NA and the UK the only others are in Australia and New Zealand.

[@SkywalkerWroc]

@@bigmoodenergy Fascinating. I actually lived in UK for 5 years and never seen any of those. Bad luck, I guess. Here's an idea for a video - how about versus comparisons? Starting with Busways vs Trams. Also it'd be hilarious to run Hyperloop vs Trains (watching all the Thunderf00t and donoteat01 videos on the topic was superbly fascinating, so was Well There's Your Problem Podcast episode 17), not to mention that the Hyperloop videos tend to get an unproportionally high viewership for the size of the channel they're posted on. Oh! And also Europe vs USA comparisons would be interesting for American viewers, I bet (I compare everything in my had, and I'm astounded nearly every episode by the bizarreness, if not stupidity of the US public transportation)

[@leongkinwai9709]

There's Bus G (same as Los Angeles funnily) in Strasbourg; that's effectively a busway.

[@qjtvaddict]

You people never shut down your trams so you never needed a BRT.

[@anindrapratama]

The closest thing to an “American” busway here is Corridor 13, an Elevated BRT line with 14 stops (12 of them elevated and one not open yet) it is 9,4 Km long running between the edge of the inner city highway to the SouthWest suburban town of Ciledug. The stops are mostly of tje narrow island design with 2 bus bays each side with steep metal footbridges serving as access

[@qjtvaddict]

What country?

[@collinpearsall9084]

I know this video would have been 27 hours long if it wasn't restricted to the US and one mention of Canada, but South America is "America" to some people, and they have some pretty solid bus systems

[@_TehTJ_]

Love the intro

[@SparenofIria]

Really informative! I wasn't aware of the Shirley Busway until today despite having studied pretty much every rapid transit system in the US to some level. (Having the busway closed will do that) Looking forwards to the next video in the series!

[@BURNANNATOR]

8:00 the G line in Los Angeles. Thats what up my homie. You a real G homie. And your new haircut is sooooo L.A Queen 👏 👑

[@MattBornemann]

lol thank you for confirming that real bad smell i caught wafting off Strong Towns Dot Org when i first discovered it

[@TheSpecialJ11]

Yeah I understand why you would say want to support incrementalism when large project politics are dominated by special interests, corruption, and red tape. But to proclaim you could one day build a metro line because demand has finally risen to that point totally ignores the myriad of factors that lead to a metro line being both economically feasible and politically possible. Also, infrastructure gets way more expensive to build when you have to remove something to make room for it. It's much cheaper to build a metro and then zone high density development along it than it is to zone high density development and then try to build a metro under all these high rises.

[@diegorivera6531]

Boston's Silver Line needs to get the "Dumbest Busway Award". Simple math, its a dumbness ratio: how much did it cost divided by how useful it is. When you divide by zero the dumbness ratio trends toward infinity. $BigDig/EffinUselessTunnel = big giant award for the MBTA. More Transit Oscars!

[@qjtvaddict]

Lol

[@potatoesforsale]

nice bangs! sorry, back to buses.

[@monty87838]

As a non-American who knew nothing of Pittsburgh... this is now a Pittsburgh Stan Account.

[@paulmentzer7658]

As a native Pittsburgher I like the support, but unless you like going up steps avoid the place. Pittsburgh has streets that are only steps, they to steep even for horses. More on Pittsburgh Steps: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steps_of_Pittsburgh upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Pittsburgh_city_steps_orphan_house_with_stairs-only_access.jpg Here is a Pittsburgh Street: external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.l1n-jsH0Tfo4WJM6DNu6CAHaE6%26pid%3DApi&f=1 And our Inclines: The Duquesne; external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.XEmB2S3vTg8_577QDR1hfgHaFj%26pid%3DApi&f=1 external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.p6I6ggs-lukXH0X_0Ev9EAHaJR%26pid%3DApi&f=1 and the Monongahela external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.GcfCzrfY7vQS3z0uzgd3sAHaEU%26pid%3DApi&f=1 Pittsburgh use to have more Funiculars (to use the proper name but in Pittsburgh they are called "inclines") but these are the only two left. Here is on Pittsburgh most famous race, the "Dirty Dozen" bicycle race up 12 of the steepest streets in Pittsburgh: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Dozen_(bicycle_competition)

[@dungandonuts]

Great video, it's really interesting to see different cities' approaches to transit! If you're interested in seeing examples of busways from other countries, Brisbane's busway network is also pretty great

[@qjtvaddict]

Excellent

[@tobydissel]

The quality is so good!!!

[@Mrrobi02468]

CDTA in Albany is investing heavily in BRT. They're going to be building their first bus way connecting Ualbany, the state office campus and downtown Albany. They're expanding their BRT from 1 line to 3 with plans for more in the future.

[@ku1]

I personally don't really get busways: bus only lanes, highest possible speeds, and good bus stop design should just be a feature that normal bus lines have.

[@qjtvaddict]

That’s for express service

[@sergeykuzmichev8064]

what would u qualify houston's new silver line as? half the route is a dedicated busway in a highway median and an overpass to a transit center, and half the route is in the medium of an arterial road which was quite well done, made the street a lot more pedestrian friendly

[@bigmoodenergy]

I think it has characteristics of a longer range busway and a shorter range bus rapid transit line, but I'm not sure if it fits neatly into either category.

[@longbranchmike488]

Absolutely loved this episode and the great Award Show theme, ironically on a public television station!

[@kaymish6178]

that's a very sparkly dress. anyway there is currently talk of upgrading the North Shore Busway in my city of Auckland to a railway and there has been an especially serious amount of focus since some Major damage to the main harbor bridge caused a traffic disaster that would have been worse if corona wasnt keeping more people at home, i heard that it was originally designed with railway conversion in mind but it looks like there is too steep in grade changes for that to be the case it will need significant alteration of the vertical alignment or special locomotives/trainsets to cope.

[@dukctape]

this is such a fun video lmao, but lets be honest, you just didnt want pitt to hold two titles so early on the channel!!! cant wait for ur next project

[@metrazol]

Where can I get a WWPB tote bag?

[@hannahbmbmbm]

Yo Pooldad did the soundtrack for this? Combining my love of pc music and public transit! Great job

[@bigmoodenergy]

yes! They did this along with two other tracks that have been in past episodes

[@Iwatchcrapandcomment]

Flxible Metros running on busways? You win the internet.

[@SprattyD]

Awesome video, I agree dedicated busways are that sort of inbetween and can have uses. Like I mentioned on one of your video we have the Obahn here in Adelaide which serves its purpose brilliantly but its track is nearing the end of its life but no state government has bothered to address this yet. Since Adelaide has grown a lot since the 80s and the tram network has been extended in the CBD so that there is probably only a 2km distance between the start of the obahns dedicated track and the tram that it is probably best the obahn becomes a part of the tram network and the bus system instead be utilised to funnel more people towards the trams in greater frequency. I can't see it happening especially with our conservative government who are very anti tram.

[@EricTheRed4143]

this is a really great video

[@briannem.6787]

2:34 I suppose this is a weird thing to residents of LA, but I've never seen that model of bus except for in the movie speed (which I watched many times, I love that movie) and my brain thought for a second "oh shit, the madman rigged ALL the buses up?"

[@steph_man372]

This was a very nice concept :D

[@Jessie-vm6kq]

Another great video! I do have one question though, what about bus lanes on a existing street? Many of these project give buses dedicated row’s and have much better station design with things like level boarding, information displays, and of bus fare collection. The main one I’m thinking about is GRTC pulse in Richmond VA, since for most of the buses route it uses the dedicated lanes in the middle of broad st. I dunno if these are technical bus ways are just another part of the wide spectrum of BRT.

[@bigmoodenergy]

Some on-street BRT have small sections of "busway" where it's exclusive purpose-built road for buses. The BRT in Alexandria and Arlington, VA comes to mind. I'm planning on doing another video to tackle general bus rapid transit, since it has its own characteristics and strengths that are independent of longer distance busways.

[@adammurphy6845]

Awesome video and concept! Can't wait until next years awards.

[@maroon9273]

They can always have a train parallel, underground and even elevated along those busways.

[@miracletortoise6224]

Just emerged from a TB Skyen video, and I got this waiting on my recommended when I get out. Blessed evening. This is good shit here.

[@randomscb-40charger78]

What application did you use to create the Washburn busway map?

[@maglorian]

Thank you very much for another fun and interesting video!

[@laurilahtinen307]

When city-planning is so car-centric that private vehicles are allowed even on routes literally called *bus* ways

[@ganginfr4923]

honestly shocked my little el monte busway made it in!

[@necrolavigne]

3:05 elderly person is run over by 6 buses in a row, yet another tragic victim of communism 😔

[@tjejojyj]

Another good video. Kudos. Thanks. Do any of the North American busways allow express services that bypass some or all of the busway stations? (Like the TransMilenio in Bogata and others.) It would be good to know what the capacity they have reached is. Can't they have longer platforms and longer buses? The best BRT systems can handle over 20,000 pax per hour per direction (pphpd) and TransMilenio's busiest line has capacity for 45,000 pphpd. It's interesting you didn't use the term "Bus Rapid Transit" once. Is this just not commonly used in the US? I know it has been misapplied to many bus systems to give a veneer of better service. PS. I was amazed when I read the US school bus system is larger than all they other US bus systems combined. I think a video dealing with the overall extent of the system would be interesting.

[@khalilheron8385]

Love the video. Though not american i think the Mississauga busway in Mississauga canada could easily take a few of these categories

[@bigmoodenergy]

thank you! I hadn't been aware of the Mississauga busway it looks like a really nice example. Canadian transit is really so nice to look at, it's so similar but things like suburban networks are done so much better.

[@khalilheron8385]

bigmoodenergy yea i think the differences between american vs canadian transit is really interesting. There a lot more differences than id expect really highlighting how much of an impact national policy can impact regional and local transit

[@BlargleRagequit]

ok but what about Bus Way in southern Seattle? Very pretty when you ride through it.

[@bigmoodenergy]

Wow I can't believe I missed one, SODO busway didn't show up on any resources listing busways. I wish I had found out about this, it's a good example of 80's busway. Thank you for bringing it up!

[@ClaudiaNW]

Yet another transit tour de force!!

[@transitfan2000]

I subscribed to your channel

[@Cyarrick1]

OMFG YESSSS!!! I was wondering if Ottawa's wacky busway would come up! HYPE. Unfortunately Tunny's Pasture is a mess, and the trains are having basically a billion problems, but they still rule

[@Cyarrick1]

Every one of your episodes is a gem btw, I hope you really catch on. Don't forget, the 417 highway in Ottawa also has dedicated bus lanes past the edge of the busway, and in the direction of Cumberland the rail line is getting extended! We're incrementing right now!

[@blackpanda7298]

☺️☺️ awesome video I’m learning a lot 🤓🤓

[@SephYouTube]

great video. Can you link the strongtowns article in the description please?

[@bigmoodenergy]

Yes, it is in the description!

[@Dexter037S4]

We're thankful for the Award, but we don't deserve it. The O-Train was kind of shit. Sincerely, Ottawa.

[@anindrapratama]

Are the Flxible metros exclusive?

[@bigmoodenergy]

I haven't uploaded them anywhere, it's a repaint of an existing asset. But if anybody is interested I could put them up

[@anindrapratama]

Which asset? The Chinese flxible buses?

[@bigmoodenergy]

yeah, it's this asset repainted: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1883390506&searchtext=flxible

[@BURNANNATOR]

Wait Los Angeles didn’t win 🥺 😭

[@DariaBrashear]

Washburn wasting that prime riverfront real estate on a busway 😬😬😬

[@jonathanst.thomas31]

The real city of Washburn, Wisconsin has a population of around 2,100 people.

[@revolutionarycomrade]

Hi I really want to sub, but it doesn’t look like you’re putting out vids anymore??

[@bigmoodenergy]

My release schedule is around 1/month and last month I had to move cross country on short notice so I'm running behind, I'm working on a script now

[@revolutionarycomrade]

@@bigmoodenergy ahhhh that explains it. I really like the series so far, and was hoping for more! Good news!

[@potatoesforsale]

18:57 indecisive bus riders

[@sominboy2757]

Washburn public televison Lol

[@longbranchmike488]

PS Great bangs.

[@fishingoutofwater]

im so gay for this channel

[@Tarkalark]

Bus good!

[@leongkinwai9709]

Guess _someone's_ got to argue for cities using a politically conservative lens... (vis-a-vis the Strong Towns jab)

[@civ27]

RIP no South American nominees 😔🤙🏻

[@theorosen8350]

Great video but I can't stand how you use letter names for the LA Metro lines. Color names forever!

[@bigmoodenergy]

RIP Orange and Silver lines 😔🤙🏻