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@joelepstein uhhh, did you read my post?

@capntransit Spent some more time reading your thoughtful post. My issue as a walker/biker in the city is getting those buses, wherever they are parked (AND TOO OFTEN IDLING, AGAINST THE LAW OF COURSE) on the street or in a depot, out of there asap. That requires bus only lanes and other street infrastructure that speeds their arrival and departure at their location. NYC doesn´t do that as well as it can...

@joelepstein Thanks, Joel, for taking the time to read it and respond!

I agree with the general principle that buses are often unpleasant and sometimes even deadly to pedestrians and cyclists.

One problem is that certain cycling and pedestrian advocates frame buses as the only truly just form of transit, and dismiss trains and trolleys.

If we think that buses are bad for pedestrians, we need to push for more trains and trolleys. I wrote more about this in 2017:

https://capntransit.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-we-get-safer-crosstown-streets.html

@capntransit Echo! I am all for subways, light rail, trolleys and streetcars - fixed rail, grade separated rights of way... Surely the safest, Next up, true BRTs, à la Bogotá. But since the US cannot seem to build rail without giving away the store to contractors who like to bleed the transit agency with over-engineered gold plated subway lines such as the Second Ave subway, I am a big fan of cost effective BRTs like TransMilenio.

@joelepstein Is there something about Transmilenio that makes you think it's immune to the kind of padding we get with all other infrastructure projects?

@capntransit yes, Bogotá and Curitiba, Brasil which had perhaps the first BRT didn't have the resources of the US to create these relatively low cost programs, since replicated in Mexico, Istanbul, etc. The former Orange Line in LA is a pretty good BRT as are some the MTA's SBS lines but neither NY or LA's lines move the volume of Latin America's BRTs.

@joelepstein The problem in the US is not that we don't have enough resources. It's that the resources get captured by various actors along the way. American advocates have been trying to counter this with ever cheaper projects for decades, and it has failed consistently. It is not an effective strategy.

@capntransit lower cost projects mute the NIMBYs somewhat. It robs them of one of their disingenuous arguments against transit projects.

@joelepstein Does it, though? Do you have examples of where it's worked?

@capntransit look at the former Orange Line busway in the #SFV #LAMetro was opposed by #NIMBYs along Chandler Blvd in #ValleyVillage the #BRT now runs from Chatsworth #Metrolink station to #NorthHollywood aka #NOHO heavy rail subway to #DTLA and #UnionStation and it's busy and successful. Read #MikeDavis #CityofQuartz great book that explores politics in #LosAngeles #transit #signingoff #bonweekend

@joelepstein From what I understand, it's been so successful that it's way under capacity for demand, and has been almost since it opened, but nobody has the political will to shut it down and convert it to grade-separated rail.

To me that is not a success story. We're not going to save the planet in time for our children if we're constantly cowering around NIMBYs.