Better Buses, Better Cities
Buses can and should be the cornerstone of urban transportation. They offer affordable mobility and can connectcitizens with every aspect of their lives. But in the US, they have long been an afterthought in budgeting and planning. Transit expert S
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BETTER BUSES, BETTER CITIES
BETTER BUSES, BETTER CITIES How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit
STEVE N H I GAS H I D E
Washington | Covelo | London
© 2019 Steven Higashide All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, Suite 650, 2000 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of the Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019938723 All Island Press books are printed on environmentally responsible materials. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Keywords autonomous vehicle, bus operator, bus rapid transit (BRT), bus shelter, captive rider, choice rider, equity, fair fares, microtransit, National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), public transit, TransitCenter, transportation funding, transportation planning, transportation policy, transportation technology, walkability
CONTENTS
Preface: My Own Bus Storyix Acknowledgmentsxi Introduction: We Need to Unleash the Bus
1
01 What Makes People Choose the Bus?
15
02 Make the Bus Frequent
23
03 Make the Bus Fast and Reliable
39
04 Make the Bus Walkable and Dignified
59
05 Make the Bus Fair and Welcoming
77
06 Gerrymandering the Bus
93
07 Technology Won’t Kill the Bus—Unless We Let It
103
08 Building a Transit Nation
115
Conclusion: Winning Mindsets and Growing Movements 129 Notes143 vii
PREFACE My Own Bus Story As a public transportation researcher and advocate, I’ve heard a lot of personal stories about the bus. Some of these came during focus groups of transit riders I’ve organized as part of my work. Other stories have come from the public servants working to deliver better bus service and the activists and elected officials working to win it from the outside. This book shares the stories of dozens of people, across the country, working to make bus service better. It seems only right that I share my own story as well. Riding the bus figures into my earliest memories, of taking a Chicago Transit Authority crosstown local to the beaches of Lake Michigan with my family. Memory is a malleable thing, and I can’t fully trust in my recollection of the vehicle’s white, blue, and red livery; the blue fabric-backed seats; the plastic shovels and castle molds I carried in a mesh bag. But I know the bus made my childhood meaningfully richer. After my family moved to the suburbs of New Jersey, I didn’t take a public bus again until high school, when my friends and I visited Manhattan. Like many people, I mostly fou
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