Why Buses Are the Saviors of Our Most Car-Crazy Cities

[finehoe]

One of the most radical experiments in American public transportation is being conducted right now in Houston.

Yes, Houston—the sprawling oiltown where life without a car seems almost unlivable. But if the experiment works as planned, a carfree lifestyle will be a real possibility for hundreds of thousands of Houstonians.

Houston's public transit agency, Metro, has redrawn its entire system—a route-by-route makeover that is intended to dramatically increase access and ridership. They're doing this by making a major shift not only in the paths of bus routes but also in the frequency of bus service along key routes.

The redesign, which was rolled out August 16, will double the amount of people living within a half-mile of high-frequency bus service, and shift routes to focus on areas with high concentrations of jobs and riders.

It's a strategy that other cities—including Houston's cousin in decentralized urbanism, Los Angeles—are considering. If Houston's transit overhaul works as planned, it could serve as a model for a widespread rethinking of how buses can work in American cities.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/17/why-buses-are-the-saviors-of-our-most-car-crazy-cities.html