The 90% benefit for 0.01% of the cost is when comparing apples and oranges: dedicated median LRT with curb bus but they’re not the same benefit. Curb bus lanes still have friction with parking, driveways, cyclists, and right turning that LRT doesn’t and isn’t self-enforcing like rails (exposed).
sadly, in Canada we dont know how to do bus rapid transit.... outside of ottawa. Toronto should have stuck buses on the RT line but nope... I hate Toronto, I hate metrolinx, and the TTC and everyone who every served on TO council and in ON leg. damn them all.
That's a really insightful point, JackTatt! It's so true that comparing apples and oranges can be misleading when assessing the benefits of different transit solutions. The nuances you highlight about curb bus lanes and dedicated LRT are spot on! Thanks for liking my post, I appreciate it!
But you don’t have to put BRT in a curb lane. You should also make design choices to accommodate bikes, and honestly, just get rid of parking in that lane.
But frequently when people (aka politicians) say BRT they mean just painting a lane red and call it rapid transit.
Sure - but I didn’t think that was topic of this conversation.
Plus trains are really cool
Even more importantly from a financial perspective, trains are less labour intensive. Employing staff costs a lot of money in developed countries (unlike in say Latin America, where higher unemployment means employers can be less competitive), so trains running with fewer staff per rider costs less.
i dunno man, trans being cool is pretty important to me from a financial perspective i wanna spend my money and tax dollars on cool trains
Absolutely trains are cool. But buses are too (just they don’t work better as pretend trains). And there’s lots of other things governments need to spend on (like mental health, education, healthcare, defence, etc) so minimizing operating costs (the never ending cost of running) is very important.
