Making Buses Move Faster Could 'Revolutionize' Travel

Transportation planners measure progress in incremental steps. A minute less between stops here, a mile more between breakdowns there. In New York City, where many buses travel no faster than pedestrians can walk, MTA officials have set an ambitious goal of increasing average bus travel speeds by 10 percent. By incorporating techinques used successfully in Los Angeles, such as straighter routes, fewer stops, and signal timing, MTA hopes to improve service and increase ridership. "Bus service has grown exponentially because of free subway-to-bus transfers. Now that they've got these customers, they need to keep them," says Beverly L. Dolinsky, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the transit agency's parent. Bus planners caution that riders may not initially see evidence of the improvements, but they will produce a more efficient system. "It isn't putting a fancy bus with a happy face out there and calling it B.R.T. The sum of the elements is greater than the elements individually," says an MTA operations planner.

Thanks to Peter Buryk