Quote:
Originally Posted by frinkprof
Intersections are a good place to put stops to maximize catchment (drawing from as many as four directions) and to minimize distance walking for passengers. As much as it may suck to wait 15 seconds in a heated car for the bus to load/unload, it sucks worse for the passengers to walk the extra half block each way while exposed to the elements.
|
Why not put the stop just before the intersection, rather than just after it? You'd have the same proximity to the intersection for the passengers, but it would reduce the inconvenience for both the transit riders and the other drivers.
The place I'm most familiar with where it's bad is at Macleod Trail and 71st Ave (by the Denny's). Traffic on Macleod gets stopped at the light and the bus is at or near the front of the line and the bus stop is literally just on the other side of the intersection. So, after waiting through the red light, traffic starts moving and the bus goes less than 50m and stops. Now, all the vehicles behind the bus either have to wait for the bus to unload/load or try to get into the other lane to pass the bus.
If the stop was before the light, the bus could have gone through its unload/load cycle while the light was red, or if the light was green when the bus got to the stop, the traffic would have an easier time moving into the other lane because it would be flowing better than it does after being backed up at the light.
Although, I do agree that a better solution would be to have the bus pull-in areas along Macleod Trail, and it's strange that they don't.