08-06-2015, 08:21 AM
(08-05-2015, 07:26 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Awesome news! Measures such as this help make public transit competitive with driving. Yes you lose time when the bus comes to a stop, but you regain it by having synchronized lights. So end-to-end should be comparable time wise. Now take into account that you can read a book or play with your tablet while on the bus, rather than driving and the ABRT becomes the choice of convenience for at least some of the people.
This is all true, and well-said. Transit signal priorities are not only logical (we are talking about prioritizing a vehicle with potentially dozens of riders over vehicles with one or two) but as you say a big piece of the puzzle to making transit competitive.
This Region is doing great when you can read something like "Signal priority for approaching buses at all intersections on Hespeler Road" and not read articles about councillors calling for traffic "chaos" and the like. Many municipalities in these parts of our size or larger do not have the guts to introduce signal priority on a single intersection, let alone every one of a major road.
Those features listed in that link are all important for getting people out of their cars and on to fast and comfortable transit. Those stations look great, and these buses will hopefully be fast and frequent enough to offer real choice. Now that we have the model in the Region (or will, when this starts running), what we should be doing next is pushing for "aBRT Ion" on the current iXpress routings, and replace the iXpress altogether.