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Comment by lavelganzu

2 days ago

Meanwhile here in central Austin, it's a 0.9 mile walk from my door to the nearest bus stop that I can use to commute, walking along major stroads some of which don't even have sidewalks, much of the year in Texan heat with no scrap of shade. Then it's up to a 30 minute wait for the delayed or canceled bus, then almost exactly a 1-hour ride on the express 801 to go 7 miles to work downtown.

Somehow we combine inaccessibly rare bus stops with speed barely over walking.

The solution, I imagine, requires many changes that are politically infeasible. First, double the number of buses to reduce the wait between them. Second, add neighborhood circulator buses to get people from the neighborhoods to the express buses. Third, either add dedicated bus lanes in congested areas or, in an ideal world, make all congested inner-city roads toll roads, and use the tolls to subsidize buses.

But if you live near Lamar its pretty great. I use to alternate bus and light rail despite owning a car because it was very convenient, despite always being the slower option.

But that does also reinforce the point. Even at max convenience, with two good options (rail, rapid bus line), it was still about 15% slower than driving. Add a single connection or your situation and you're losing an hour a day round trip.