[Cirrus]

Buses that are "just as good" as rail:

Buses can never be just as good as light rail, because of inherent capacity, legibility, smoothness, and boarding differences. But buses can definitely be much much better than they are. I'm 100% in favor of both actual BRT and BRT-lite, when used appropriately as part of thoughtfully planned systems. My problems are when people try to insist on one-size-fits-all modal demands, or try to pass off a lesser solution as being just as good as something better.

Real-time info:

Real-time info completely changes how people use transit. For some people, it just helps you decide when to leave for the bus stop, giving you 5 or 10 more minutes to stop at the bathroom on the way, or buy a coffee, or read a few more posts on your favorite message board. But for others, it opens up additional opportunities and makes transit trips a lot faster.

As an example, consider my daily commute. To get from my house to the Metro, I can take the streetcar, any one of 6 different bus lines (picking up at 5 different locations so I can't just go to a single stop and take the first to arrive), or bikeshare. Using real-time information, I can see which option is going to be fastest, and therefore modify my commute literally every time to get the best result. This saves me up to 15 minutes in each direction, sometimes totaling 30 minutes less commuting every day, compared to if I just went blindly to one of the options and waited for it.

There is no physical infrastructure imaginable that would be even remotely as cost effective at saving people that much time.