| Come to Edinburgh and the Lothians, it's not perfect but it's better than you might think. A couple of important aspects: Once buses are frequent enough, people don't need to worry about the timetable and will just get the next one. Edinburgh's main arterial routes have frequent enough buses to achieve this, even if not every bus goes to the same ultimate destination. Some of the busier bus lines have frequent enough buses all by themselves. This does mean that there are lots of empty buses off-peak, this may seam wasteful but it's a necessary component of a functional transit system. We also have a number of "bus gates", as well as bus lanes, with cameras to prevent other vehicles from using bus-only lanes. This lets buses go through residential areas without making them rat runs for car drivers. Buses and trams (especially trams!) can take a lot more people than cars. If everyone who gets the bus tried to take a car instead then no-one would get anywhere. And we also give free bus travel to young people, old people, and anyone with a medical condition that means they can't drive. A combination of a smartphone and free bus travel gives my disabled daughter a lot more freedom than she'd otherwise be able to enjoy. |