[sustran] Re: Bus and rail (fwd)

[Lake Sagaris]

Interesting observations, Eric, especially the last. Thanks.

Lake Sagaris
Living City (Ciudad Viva)
Santiago

At 12:29 PM 2/28/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Additional issues to consider off of the top of my head include
>1) the peaking characteristics of travel -- rail is much better at meeting
>large surges in demand since high frequency can be maintained all day long at
>the same operator cost, only the consist size changes.
>2) I have heard the Sao Paolo busways are atrocious to be located near. The
>wall of buses is very noisy and severs the corridor, much like freeways have
>done to the US.
>3) The type of alignment used. Once building an elevated section or tunnel
>anyway, the case for rail becomes much stronger.
>4) The number of corridors that need improvement. Cities that are more linear
>with with fewer corridors can better afford to concentrate investment than
>ones that have a sprawling grid to cover.
>5) The higher the income level of passengers you are trying to attract and
>the higher the income level of the vehicle operators, the more sense rail
>makes.
>
>Eric Bruun