Public Transportation: Rubber tires vs. Steel Wheels

[DC Al Fine]

One problem with inter-suburb transit is the conflict between transit as a profitable commuting service, and transit as a social service for the poor, elderly, and disabled. The former requires relatively few stops and direct routes, while the latter requires more stops and meandering routes. This conflict is muted in downtown transit.

To use a personal example; it takes me 15 minutes to drive to school downtown or work in another suburb. It takes me 20 minutes to bus to school and over an hour to bus to work.

The reason for the difference in times is quite clear. The downtown bus takes a direct route downtown and only stops a few times at major intersections and "Park & Rides". It's designed to get relatively well off people (who can drive to bus stops if need be) in and out of downtown as quickly as possible.

The inter-suburb bus takes an indirect route, goes through several out of the way poorer neighbourhoods, stops by seniors' homes etc. This makes for a much longer commute. Now I have no problem with municipalities trying to help the needy with transit, but creating routes like the one I just described is not going to get middle class commuters out of their cars.

Perhaps a good solution would be reducing the number of stops and/or changing the inter-suburb routes to be more direct during rush hour to move commuters, and then go back to the slower way in the middle of the day and at night.