Bus -vs- Light Rail or "Ocklawaha Quits Clowning With JTA"

[Ocklawaha]

Bus vs. light rail
An article published in the Portland Tribune directly addressed one of the more popular debates of the Jacksonville "BRT WAR" buses vs. light rail. They compared the two modes on several different aspects and assigned a winner to each category, eventually concluding with an "overall" winner. Despite the competitive overtones this is no grudge match, and the author tosses in a disclaimer that we would all be wise to heed:

"...buses and trains are really on the same team in terms of sustainable transportation â€" either option a vast improvement over the one-car, one-rider model..."

Here is the Summary:(remember this is in Portland)

Access
A fixed-rail system never will have the reach of a city bus, which can get just about any place there’s a paved road. For folks in some parts of the Portland area, this debate is academic:

If there’s no MAX train nearby, their mass-transit commuting will have to be done by bus.

Advantage: Bus


Comfort
Studies suggest that light rail appeals to actual riders in a way that buses do not. Commuters tend to see light rail as more modern, more upscale and safer, with no real possibility of operator error.

Rail cars are more spacious, offer more freedom of movement and are easier to board and exit. And the ride is smoother: fewer sharp turns, no potholes, no sudden stops.

“People tend to like the quieter transit,” says Mary Fetsch of TriMet.

Advantage: Light rail


Who wins: Bus vs. light rail

Some of this comes down personal choice, certainly items like "vision" or "style" are subjective. Since I ride transit (whenever I get to Portland) , I When I'm somewhere that taking light rail goes where I want to go and doesn't make my trip longer, then I'll use that.  Usually there is no choice in the matter, LRT serving the heavier routes and Bus serving the lighter ones.

But sometimes I simply prefer to ride the bus or LRT or streetcar...just for the sake of a ride.

I think its an interesting comparison, yet it carrys some weight in passengers apparent choice.  Most of the time there isn't a choice for the individual user. There aren't really very many competitive trips and they are mostly happenstance. If we had rail, and you could take a bus from downtown to Gateway or to the Airport Transit center, but why would you?

It ought to be obvious that light rail is not a solution for lightly traveled routes served by bus. The savings in operating costs don't justify the investment. Without the region's bus network, there would be a lot fewer users of futue light rail. They really server two slightly different, although integrated, functions and in Jacksonville, we need ALL of the above! And Now!

Meanwhile in Portland, The Bus vs MAX LRT discussion is useful in transit corridors with high ridership...Barbur, Powell/Foster, etc. So it is really a BRT vs LRT discussion. The Metro study for the Milwaukie line (suburban West side Portland) started with no MAX option and with BRT at the top of the list. As I recall two things turned that around. 1. capital costs for REAL BRT were comparable to LRT in large part due to the need for exclusive ROW. 2. community perception that LRT is a better quality product, i.e. the "real deal" vs an "imitation spread." But it is really on the operations side that the cost differential jumps out....it boils down to "riders per operator" which is close to 4 times better with LRT even with our short two car MAX trains. Even using a smaller Streetcar vehicle to Lake Oswego, the operational costs of of "sorta BRT" ran much higher. If you want more service, more security, more of anything from a transit agency, you must look for ways to reduce costs/ride. LRT appears to do that. Let's hope JTA and Peyton get this message.

Ocklawaha