Quote:
Originally Posted by Sun Belt
Because the bus sucks. Nobody wants to ride a bus. It reminds them of the 2nd grade.
The [very successful] Phoenix light rail, replaced what was once called the Red Line Bus. It follows the exact route, for the most part.
The problem I see with Phoenix's light rail system is that the train has to stop at stop lights. That is an easy fix that won't involve tunneling or flyovers, just make every intersection protected with gates.
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The Phoenix light rail is successful!?!? By what measure? When I was there and rode very few others were on it and it took twice as long to travel as it did in my car.
As for placing gates at intersections... no thank you. That impedes car travel and for one is unnecessary when you can grade separate which will allow trains to run at higher speeds than a system even with gates and secondly will piss off a population overwhelmingly comprised of automobile drivers who already are gaining clout to shut the light-rail down with no future expansions. In that case tread carefully.
Buses don't have to be bad. Maybe people don't like them because in much of country especially in auto oriented cities like Phoenix they are ran half assed. Give nicer buses(more amenities), keep the homeless off from loitering, add real protected bus stops, and increase frequencies to a maximum of 12-15 minutes outside of rush hour with most non rush hour running at 10-12 minutes and I bet you find ridership would increase. At any rate I would think Phoenix should go crazy with a mass transit system. It seems to be doing nice with what it has. I very enjoyed much Phoenix and I'm considering a place there to get away from LA.