Interesting transportation things

[electricron]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I'm glad that this is coming up more often among urbanists. Too many people seem to think that only rail can be good transit, or that bus transit might as well not be there or "doesn't count." Buses are still the work horses of our systems and they need to be acknowledged as such.

What should qualify as "good" transit?
Should we set a minimum passengers per hour, set a minimum average speed, set a minimum frequency, set a minimum shelter, etc. to quantify "good" transit.
All too often in the USA, bus services wouldn't meet any of our suggested minimums.

That's why many Americans don't include bus services with good transit.

What could be compared to what is are galaxies apart.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Swede

I'm very much in the rail-is-way-better camp and I do think BRT is mostly a way to stop rail from happening.
That said, you gotta have good bus service. Modern buses, integrated fare system, buses having priority in the signaling, proper bus shelters/stops, etc etc. Routes that make sense, and frequency that makes them a real option.
Many parts of that are relatively cheap too, all a matter of political will to prioritize buses over cars.

But as you kinda touched on, the conversation seems to always come back to rapid transit (as in, bus vs rail) when local transit is so important to moving people around the majority of the city that doesn't have rapid transit, or getting to the rapid transit itself. That local transit is almost always buses, and it can't be ignored. I get that rapid transit is sexier and obviously needs to be developed as well, but slow local bus transit needs continued improvement too.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by electricron

What should qualify as "good" transit?
Should we set a minimum passengers per hour, set a minimum average speed, set a minimum frequency, set a minimum shelter, etc. to quantify "good" transit.
All too often in the USA, bus services wouldn't meet any of our suggested minimums.

That's why many Americans don't include bus services with good transit.

What could be compared to what is are galaxies apart.

But that's what I'm saying. It's good that shitty bus service is being acknowledged as a problem, and there are people who see that improving local bus transit will make a big impact in public transportation. Too many people take bad local transit for granted and think the only way to really improve transit is to expand the subway or whatever as much as possible, when really it's just as important to develop the local bus transit alongside that.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

But that's what I'm saying. It's good that shitty bus service is being acknowledged as a problem, and there are people who see that improving local bus transit will make a big impact in public transportation. Too many people take bad local transit for granted and think the only way to really improve transit is to expand the subway or whatever as much as possible, when really it's just as important to develop the local bus transit alongside that.

You have failed to grasp how spread out American metros are. Great local bus service doesn't solve commuters services from the boondocks. A bus making stops every two to three blocks is not going to make a great 10 to 15 mile commute. What's needed is a rapid service.
Let's take DCTA recent experiences as an example. Commuters from Denton into Dallas travel 30 miles each way. When the A-Train replaced express bus services directly to downtown Dallas, ridership tripled although it requires a transfer to DART's light rail trains in Carrollton. That's why trains are so attractive to transit operators. The express buses did not get riders away from heavy congested traffic on the freeway, the train did.
Once you are in downtown Dallas or Denton, to make the last mile or two connection, that's where good local bus services shine. But buses alone, no matter how great they are, will rarely satisfy long distance commuters needs.

[dubu]

Also with trains you can have them automated and also have them run 24 hours a day or close to it.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by electricron

You have failed to grasp how spread out American metros are. Great local bus service doesn't solve commuters services from the boondocks. A bus making stops every two to three blocks is not going to make a great 10 to 15 mile commute. What's needed is a rapid service.
Let's take DCTA recent experiences as an example. Commuters from Denton into Dallas travel 30 miles each way. When the A-Train replaced express bus services directly to downtown Dallas, ridership tripled although it requires a transfer to DART's light rail trains in Carrollton. That's why trains are so attractive to transit operators. The express buses did not get riders away from heavy congested traffic on the freeway, the train did.
Once you are in downtown Dallas or Denton, to make the last mile or two connection, that's where good local bus services shine. But buses alone, no matter how great they are, will rarely satisfy long distance commuters needs.

Did the express buses not have access to bus lanes or HOV lanes on the route? If not then the problem was that the municipalities didn't have suitable transit ROWs rather than that it was bus service.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by electricron

You have failed to grasp how spread out American metros are. Great local bus service doesn't solve commuters services from the boondocks. A bus making stops every two to three blocks is not going to make a great 10 to 15 mile commute. What's needed is a rapid service.
Let's take DCTA recent experiences as an example. Commuters from Denton into Dallas travel 30 miles each way. When the A-Train replaced express bus services directly to downtown Dallas, ridership tripled although it requires a transfer to DART's light rail trains in Carrollton. That's why trains are so attractive to transit operators. The express buses did not get riders away from heavy congested traffic on the freeway, the train did.
Once you are in downtown Dallas or Denton, to make the last mile or two connection, that's where good local bus services shine. But buses alone, no matter how great they are, will rarely satisfy long distance commuters needs.

Originally Posted by dubu

Also with trains you can have them automated and also have them run 24 hours a day or close to it.

I'm not saying buses are better than trains or anything, just that they're ignored at the city's own peril. As Nouvelecosse said, if you treat your bus system like shit while giving the train its own right-of-way, it's not the bus's fault it's stuck in traffic. Trains certainly have an important role in sending people long distances, and buses can be used for longer trips too by being limited-stop, but I just see many situations where people dismiss bus improvements in frequency and things like that because "it still sucks" or something like that.

What I'm saying is treating bus service as a hopeless social service is a self-fulfilling prophecy, because if you question its utility in the first place you're not gonna work very hard to improve it. Vancouver has an extensive rapid transit network, but the regular bus system is crucial to getting people around all over the city as well. "Improving transit" often seems to just mean "extending rapid transit," which it should, but it should mean expanding frequency and operating hours of regular bus routes too. It's called a system for a reason - every piece plays their role. Otherwise, with the inutility of bus services as you describe them, why have them at all? Just run rapid transit only. I think not every corridor can warrant rapid transit, so on those, local transit needs to be made as good as it can be. It'll help more than people think.

[KevinFromTexas]

This has renderings.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ying-uber.html

Architecture firms design Skyports for flying Uber taxis

By Bill Hethcock – Staff Writer, Dallas Business Journal
6 hours ago

Three Texas-based architecture firms have unveiled their designs for what's being called a Skyport concept created to serve as takeoff and landing facilities for the flying taxis being developed by ridesharing giant Uber Technologies Inc.

Uber’s urban air taxis are set to debut on a demonstration basis in three test markets — Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Dubai — in 2020. Commercial flights are targeted to start in the test markets in 2023, Uber spokesman Travis Considine tells the Dallas Business Journal. From there, San Francisco-based Uber plans to roll out the service in large urban areas worldwide.

[JManc]

^ Good. Let DFW be the guinea pig for crashing Uber taxis.

[Busy Bee]

Mind blown

[redblock]

Also in the DFW area, the suburb of Frisco will start a demonstration in July of on-call autonomous cars.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/f...-july-10668718

[M II A II R II K]

More gimmicky piss


• Video Link

[Busy Bee]

I've seen a lot of stupid shit but this __________________________________________. (fill in the blank)

[dubu]

Dahir Insaat has a new video, those videos are funny

[NikolasM]

I got to hand it to him/them. That is some imagination. Can they show how it will work in inclement weather?

[M II A II R II K]

Chinese city gets 'smartphone zombie' walkway

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-...where-44383449

.....

- According to the Shaanxi Online News, the pavement along the Yanta Road in Xi'an has now got itself a special lane for "phubbers" - people who stare at their phones and ignore everything else around them. The lane is painted red, green and blue, and is 80cm wide and 100m long. Pictures of smartphones along the route distinguish it from an ordinary pedestrian lane.

.....

[mrnyc]

^ apparantly or should we say appropriately enough its a tourist draw and everyone is snapping photos of it with their phones

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Did the express buses not have access to bus lanes or HOV lanes on the route? If not then the problem was that the municipalities didn't have suitable transit ROWs rather than that it was bus service.

There are freeways in Dallas with HOV/Managed Lanes, but I-35E all the way from Denton to Dallas isn't one of them - yet. It will take more than a $Billion to make it so - DCTA's A Train capital cost was around $300 Million. You do the math!
The problem with new HOV lanes in the Dallas area is that they are open to everyone who is willing to pay the toll to use them; a variable toll depending upon usage; so they're almost as congested as the regular free lanes.

[M II A II R II K]

Beijing subways could get facial recognition and palm scanning tech, Chinese media reports

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/chin...ning-tech.html

.....

- The operator behind the Beijing subway system is considering introducing face scanning and other so-called biometric technology which could be used to pay for a ticket, China Daily reported on Tuesday, but the move also raises concerns over surveillance. Facial recognition and a system for scanning people's palms could be.

- The technology could be used to bypass traditional ticketing systems. For example, a person's face or palm print could be recognized by a camera or sensor which then allows them through the gates to board a train. A commuter could top up an online account.

- But the biometric technology could also raise fears that commuters are being spied on, especially given sensitivities in China around censorship and privacy. China Daily said that the Shanghai Metro currently uses palm scanning for certain groups of people, disabled soldiers for instance, on a particular line of its network.

.....

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by electricron

There are freeways in Dallas with HOV/Managed Lanes, but I-35E all the way from Denton to Dallas isn't one of them - yet. It will take more than a $Billion to make it so - DCTA's A Train capital cost was around $300 Million. You do the math!
The problem with new HOV lanes in the Dallas area is that they are open to everyone who is willing to pay the toll to use them; a variable toll depending upon usage; so they're almost as congested as the regular free lanes.

How could it possibly cost that much just to paint HOV labels on a lane in each direction and put up some signs? I'm trying to do the math but I'm having a hard time coming up with $1 billion. I mean, even if they needed to do the entire 34 km route, it would still cost 29.4 million per km. Not much less than some LRT lines. But yeah it sounds like they're not managed very well in the area and would be better off strictly as bus/EV/3+person only lanes.