Dear Commuter, Consider the Bus
In an age of ride-sharing, trains, fancy personal vehicles, and bikes, many commuters simply are ignoring the public bus systems running within their cities. As public buses fade, large companies like Facebook and Genentech have now developed new bus carpools taking employers to their office. It is not to say that buses as a means of public transit are a thing of the past, because many cities— including Seattle, Houston, and San Francisco—have successful bus networks, but for the majority of US cities bus systems lack critical components necessary for high ridership and efficiency. Namely, bus-only lanes, right-of-way, short headways, modern vehicles, and funding.
These bus systems are so important for job access, and mobility in general, yet cities have failed to sufficiently design good bus networks for the citizens that need them the most. So what is behind this?
It starts with the perception of bus systems. Within the United States, common excuses are used, ranging from “it doesn’t take me directly to point B” to “it doesn’t stop at the right times.” However, underlying such reasoning is the flawed assumption that poorer people ride transit, and thus “I ought avoid the bus.” This contrast is illustrated in the perception of the bus in places outside of the United States. While many countries laud the bus and advertise how easy it is for any citizen to ride, bus systems are often ignored by the wealthy or better-off in America. Pop culture, particularly movies and advertisements, generally only shows a certain type of rider using the bus—the poor, middle-class, and blue collar workers. As these mindsets are implanted in the minds of many lawmakers and non-bus-riders, transit bills suffer, leading to severely underfunded transit systems in state after state. This cycle continues the longer citizens hold this belief. It only takes a little to lead to great success; if city-dwellers believe that the bus system will benefit everyone, then good bus networks are built leading to lower poverty. If no money is put toward bus systems, then bus systems lack and, even if people use the system, they don’t pave the way for as much upward mobility potential.
There are a number of cities that illustrate this dilemma. As mentioned earlier, Houston is a great example of a success story. Jarrett Walker, the author of the fantastic book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, worked with the city of Houston to redesign the struggling bus network. Interestingly, Walker wanted to redesign the network not only to cover more area, but to expand frequency. What’s more, he wanted to “reset the system in a way that broke through perceptions that service was only for the most desperately dependent riders.” Not only is this a great way to approach a redesign, but it sets the system up for success if people come to respect the bus more because it inevitably leads to more riders. After the redesign—where many transfers were eliminated, buses re-routed to cover more area, and headway shortened at peak times—ridership increased nearly 7% the year after.
But many cities have not seen the same success. Close to 2 million riders use buses daily in New York City, but traffic plagues the system. The average speed of a bus in New York City is 6.4 miles per hour, good for a ‘D’ rating. To make matters worse, the average speed has been falling since 2018. Buses are absolutely essential to New York, illustrated by the high ridership even with significant delays. To put it clearly, many residents of New York have no other option, even in a city with one of the best subway systems in the world.
So what would improve the bus system in New York City?
- More bus-only infrastructure, preferably marked bus-only lanes
- Less car traffic on the roads
- More consistent funding for road improvements and general maintenance
- A governing body that also serves as an advocacy group, ensuring rider needs are met
Amongst these action items are things that can be solved. Less car traffic on roads is a product of good governance and transit-oriented policy. They also go in tandem, because if bus systems are popular, then less cars are on the road which make buses even more popular. On the flip side, if buses are infrequent and slow, more people use cars which makes buses even more infrequent and unpopular. That is why the disruption of this cycle is so important, and it starts with stigma.
The stigma non-bus-riders carry is damaging to progress on bus networks. Transit redlining, particularly divestment away from bus systems and into highways, continue to plague systems. While it is true that many impoverished people rely on bus systems as a form of mobility, not all riders are poor, nor are they all immigrants or non-English speakers. Yet many citywide governing bodies ignore bus systems for the sole purpose of preventing non-white Americans from having access to a better future. They claim that an upgraded bus system won’t generate enough ridership, and a highway would carry more cars and thus it is worth more funding. Yet, as this mindset remains, the nearly-invisible suffering of those that rely on the bus the most is perpetuated.
So what can you, a resident of the United States do? It’s simple: ride the bus. Just the nature of riding the bus will make our bus systems better. The King County Metro in Seattle didn’t become one of the best bus systems in the country because of the way the routes were designed. It became a good system because the people wanted to use the bus. They rode the bus even when the system lacked routes. When they called for more routes, the city had to respond. Now, ridership increases in Seattle are the highest in the country! As ridership expands, more people believe in transit, and the stigma goes away. Seattle is the epitomization of good transit—close to 50% of Seattleites use public transit compared to 25% that use their car! Similarly, nearly 70% of Seattleites are within 10 minutes from a transit stop with high frequency service. Compare this to Indianapolis, where less than 1% of commuters use public transit on some days. Recently, there have been developments to expand the bus network in Indianapolis, but many lobbyists turn the attention to other forms of transit that are “better,” which wounds up leading to further stigma and more single-occupancy-vehicle users.
If you can’t ride the bus because a bus doesn’t come close to you, consider this: does your doctor/nurse rely on the bus? What about blue-collar workers, such as car mechanics, or the cashier at your favorite store? Would that make you want to support bus systems or promote the efficacy of them, especially if you knew that poor bus systems could negatively impact your life indirectly? It becomes clear that even if you don’t use the bus, others do, and your voice is important. Donations go a long way, as does advocacy.
But what are the benefits of good bus networks after all?
Numerous studies, particularly research from The New York Times, have found that the single biggest factor to escaping poverty is good public transit. Why you may ask? Well, why good does increasing job opportunities do if the people can’t access the jobs from their place of residence? Similarly, healthcare is very important, but saying that healthcare was expanded is irrelevant if people can’t access medical facilities from their residence. A Brookings study found that Chicago ranks 6th in terms of public transit—as they have robust system in terms of infrastructure—but only 23% of commuters can access jobs within 90 minutes of using transit.
This is the crux of the problem. Good bus networks, particularly those that are put before individual drivers, will improve job access. Even if bus systems are not rapid, better bus systems remove cars from the road making bus systems even better. Put simply, good bus systems can be a one-way ticket out of poverty. Corroborating on such research, a 2015 NYU study found that poor public transit and higher unemployment go hand-in-hand. The evidence is clear: good transit is critical to a cities prosperity.
Success stories like Seattle prove that high-frequency bus service can lead to visible results in curbing poverty, coming in the form of greater access to jobs (and thus higher incomes), less cars on the road(environmental benefits), and a higher quality of life for all residents. All it took was advocacy, more riders, and ultimately funding. To replicate this, it is now up to all citizens to, instead of grabbing keys to a car, find the closest bus stop and ride it to where ever you may be heading—even if it means you might not have the seat heater of your vehicle or freedom that comes with driving. Other city-dwellers who have no other option but to use transit will thank you.
If you are interested in learning more, check out some of these books: Better Buses, Better Cities, and Human Transit. I am new to Medium so any feedback on the article is greatly appreciated. You can reach me at dtamtrak@gmail.com.
