![]() Transit executives trying to eke out a profit saw buses as a way to reduce spending on track maintenance and labor costs for “two man” operated streetcars. But this model was failing as riders became car drivers, new zoning laws prioritized car-friendly single-family housing and government regulators battled transit companies over fares and taxes. In 1922, American buses carried 404 million passengers by 1930, they were carrying 2.5 billion yearly.Īt that time, transit lines were mostly privately owned. Rolling fast on tires over newly paved streets, buses upended urban rail transit by freeing riders from aging, crowded, screeching streetcars. Buses as disruptorsĪ century ago, motorized buses were the technological wonder of their day. And the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021 is providing billions of dollars for new buses and related facilities. cities are coming around to the idea that buses are the future of public transit and are working to make that vision real. in providing quality bus service.īut it doesn’t have to be this way. Meanwhile, countries in Europe and Latin America have out-innovated the U.S. This was never a great strategy to begin with, and the pandemic-era flight of knowledge workers to home offices and hybrid schedules has left little to show for decades of rail-centric efforts. And many executives have lavished precious federal capital dollars on building new light, rapid and commuter rail lines, in hope of attracting suburban riders back to city centers and mass transit. politicians have focused on bus riders’ experiences over the past half-century. ![]() Instead, as I see it, it’s the result of cities, states and federal leaders failing to subsidize a quality public service.Īs I show in my new book, “The Great American Transit Disaster: A Century of Austerity, Auto-Centric Planning, and White Flight,” few U.S. ![]() But this doesn’t reflect the bus’s true capability. ![]() are old and don’t run often enough or serve all the places where people need to go. But as a researcher in urban policy and planning, I see more near-term promise in a mode that’s been around for a century: the city bus. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying taxis. is in a sorry state – aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
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