[ahoy]

Public bus transit and private car transit are inherently in conflict. You basically can't run them on the same streets and expect the bus to not suck.

You could, of course, run the bus in a dedicated, separate right-of-way to solve that problem. But like you said, just build rail at that point

[kwhitefoot]

> You basically can't run them on the same streets and expect the bus to not suck.

That's just nonsense or specific to some areas. I spent a couple of hours on the Stagecoach buses today travelling from Paignton to Kinsgwear and then Dartmouth to Totnes and back to Paignton. The same journey by car would probably have been more expensive because of the cost of parking the car in busy tourist towns and it wouldn't have been much quicker. Some of the roads are barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other yet the buses still keep to their timetable.

[andylynch]

Quite. Bus schedulers are very well informed on traffic patterns and account for this. Some days when things are faster then usual this means they will ask drivers to stop for a bit in order to avoid running early.

[supertrope]

Dedicated lanes are still cheaper than an entirely new right of way such as transitway, tunnel, or above grade upper deck road.