Buses

All across America, city buses are waiting. Waiting at stoplights, waiting behind long lines of cars, waiting to pull back into traffic, waiting at stops for growing crowds of passengers. And no, it's not just your imagination: Buses are doing more waiting, and less moving, than they used to. A recent survey of 11 urban transit systems conducted by Daniel Boyle for the Transportation Research Board found that increased traffic congestion is steadily eroding travel speeds: The average city bus route gets 0.45 percent slower every single year. That's especially discouraging given how slowly buses already move, with a typical bus averaging only 13.5 mph.

Jeff Wood and I talk about the news of the week that most tickled us or burned us -- the BBC's exposé of anti-social urban design features intended to repel people, San Francisco's social tensions over the Google bus, and the decision by Cincinnati's new mayor and City Council to "pause" construction of the streetcar. (Update: The streetcar might be salvaged!)

In this week's podcast, Jeff and I discuss the impressive turnout -- and possible pitfalls -- of London's "die-in" demonstration for bike safety. We try to contain our envy (but not our amazement) at Paul Salopek's seven-year walk tracing the path of Homo sapiens from the Rift Valley to Tierra del Fuego. And we discuss why even passionate transit advocates know what it means to be embarrassed about taking the bus.

You’ve got to hand it to the Republicans. Even the party of transit haters had to admit that the only logical way to move delegates around in the congested streets around the GOP convention was by bus. And they would have been right, except they had a little snafu that will undoubtedly convince everyone involved that transit is, indeed, an utter failure.

An often-remarked-upon phenomenon in the transit world is the preference, perceived or otherwise, for rail over buses. But this tendency has not been well understood.

When the House Ways and Means Committee voted to divert all gas tax revenue away from transit projects, severing transit's only dedicated source of federal funds, they were essentially throwing transit riders under the bus.

Whether it’s just a short walk down the street or a five-mile bike ride, the journey between home and station is a major factor in people's decision to take public transit.

Buried in the FAA extension passed last week was a line item for air service to connect rural communities to major airports. These are usually tiny flights, leaving from remote airports. All together, they use annual subsidies of over $163 million.