Empty Buses Are Okay | The Power of Frequent Transit

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[tonywalters]

unfortunately, people see poor transit services as a reason to get rid of them, rather than a reason to invest and improve services.

[mllux]

Nobody asks "Why are they driving these cars that only have one of the 5 seats occupied?"

[FPOAK]

When I hear people in my city say, “I’ve never seen anyone riding a bus” what I really hear is, “I’ve never been to the side of town where people poorer than me live.”

[denali]

In Houston, they built a lovely BRT line a few years ago through the dense and booming and wealthy but also very car-oriented neighborhood of Uptown, from a little south of the Galleria mall up to I-10, covering a distance of about 4 miles.

To the shock and dismay of the project's original backers and seemingly every local reporter, and to the utter expectation of people who actually understand and/or use public transit, the route has very low ridership.

Why? Because the line was built with ZERO connections to the other lines, and connects one end of a wealthy district to the other end of the same wealthy district, which district's lower-income workers commuted either by car or via the onstreet bus network that actually reaches into places where people who aren't rich can afford to live.

Now, Houston Metro is fielding public comment about the University BRT line that would run 25 miles, directly serve several different job centers (including, as the name suggests, several colleges and universities) AND many low and mixed income catchment areas, AND connect the existing BRT line as well as all three LRT lines.

Plus it will run parallel to (while providing better service than) three of the five most (currently) heavily used local bus routes in the city.

But, according to people at these meetings, it would be a total waste of money to build it because "nobody even rides the BRT line we already built!"

People are stupid and I hate everything.

[remicardona_poly]

Re bunching, in Paris, a less crowded bus will often overtake a crowded one. Drivers will coordinate with each other on the radio and inform central dispatch at the same time. It's a very common maneuver.

[chongjunxiang]

The argument of bus/train run empty can be countered by:
Then why, a corperate like McDonalds run empty during in-between time yet you expect them to open their door? Aren't corporates are less mercy on the idea of running empty business?

[neolithictransitrevolution]

I believe that having as few as 3 people on bus is an improvement over them driving. That's based on the fuel and road space needed for 3 cars.

[neolithictransitrevolution]

Thank you for coming to the defense of buses yet again. A lot of "Transit advocates" turn thier nose up and say "it's not 100% efficient 'cause rails so buses aren't worth talking about". But they are the back bone of our transit and the most effective way for use to expand service and grow ridership, and we have to embrace them.

[RadioJonophone]

One little point: there are times when most passengers travel in one direction, e.g. from home to work. The buses have to travel back to the houses, but there are fewer people wanting to make that journey at that time. So, full buses going in to town in trhe morning, full buses going out of town in the afternoon, with the less full buses going in the opposite direction ready to do the next busy journey.

[DutchLabrat]

Look at a night bus/train... At least half of these people would be driving home drunk if there hadn't been a bus.

[Norsilca]

I think the perfect response to most of these people is "The road in front of your house is empty most of the time!" because they're usually people who live on a little suburban street.

[katbryce]

Another reason for empty buses is where they are travelling against the passenger flow, for example from the city centre to a housing estate in the early morning, or from an industrial estate or business park to the city centre in the early morning. But they need to do that in order to get back to where the passengers are and pick up another batch.

[MarkMoreno_]

I remember when they cut night owl service on the mbta subway lines like 4 years ago because "there was low ridership". The mbta also cut late night "commuter rail" services in 2020 partially because of the same reason and partially because of pandemic cuts. those specific cuts have impacted me dramatically as I go to shows/concerts in Boston pretty frequently and nowadays I have to take $80 ubers back home to Providence because the last train home leaves Boston at 11 pm, sometimes uber drivers tell me they don't wanna drive all the way to Providence and kick me out of the uber

[Deckzwabber]

The last bus of the day always should be empty. So that you can try to get the one running just before the last, but know that you will still get home if you run into some delays.
If you cut the last bus off the schedule for being empty, people will still get the one earlier than the last bus. Or train, tram, etc.

[AutoGamerZ_]

Tl;dr: The coverage needed for transport to be viable for passengers, also means running vehicles at times and places sometimes where the buses won't always be completely full.

[kiefershanks]

The point about mostly empty cars really does say everything about why complaining about empty transit vehicles makes no sense. At least I could get on a quiet train or bus or tram whereas if I tried to get in someone's mostly empty car, I would probably get arrested. Transit with room to spare is good in my opinion. If it is packed like a tuna can, no one wants that. There should always be a little extra room. It will make transit always comfortable and thus more attractive.

[bills.prestonesq.]

Cars with 1 guy in them: I sleep
Buses with 10 people on them: real sh1t

[herdinstinct]

Another fun example might be:
"Imagine intersection lights only toggling red-green every 30 mins, meaning you might be stuck at one light for 30 mins."

Everyone would probably bike or walk since the other option is too risky.

[saschab.]

I always feel so happy and blessed, when my chauffeur drives me around in one of my Mercedes all by myself. People in cars miss out on this unique experience in busses. But admittedly, the BVG busses here in Berlin are especially nice.

[michaeloreilly]

We have a cross city route, subject to long traffic delays, where the locals call them the banana buses.
They are yellow, and come in bunches.