01-28-2022, 08:01 PM
(01-28-2022, 04:22 PM)ac3r Wrote:(01-28-2022, 04:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Again, sizing a route to the number of passengers is of no value unless it costs significantly less to operate the smaller buses which I don't think it does. 3 passengers don't care if they are on a smaller bus or not.
As for tighter turns, I have no idea where that is, our region and cities have spent 60 years eliminating turns that a 45 foot bus can't navigate, but I suppose there might be a few that haven't been enlarged yet.
Lots of buses are forced to jump curbs, primarily due to vehicle drivers not stopping in the right places. Regarding the 27, the following turn is problematic. Every single time I'm on the 27, it can't make the turn due to drivers pulling up too far (I don't blame them, though, it's on a hill and gets hard to see traffic coming from the left): https://maps.app.goo.gl/sA7BvGj25LvLchNc6
Many other routes also suffer from this problem, especially in Cambridge with their grid street system. But it also occurs on many of the quieter residential routes. Safely turning a 50 foot vehicle is very challenging. You don't want to hop the curb since this damages the vehicle and it's also dangerous to pedestrians who may be waiting at a crosswalk only to suddenly have a giant bus drive over it. This can save the suspension of the vehicle, the concrete curb as well as the grass since it hopefully won't have to drive over that.
Plus, as mentioned, this could allow certain routes to shorten their route time. Currently, since the 27 can't turn off Fairway onto Morgan (here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3bVEwmvL294hvxiu8) due to how tight it is. It goes down King and then turns down Morgan. Cutting that detour off can shorten each route by at least 2-3 minutes. That's good for commuters.
I'm sure it is challenging to drive a 50 foot vehicle on our roads. Fortunately our buses are under 40 feet long.
I don't happen to think clipping a curb is a big deal (hell, all our intersections should be raised crosswalks), but a big part of this is the lack of planning around transit routes.