This chronicle is about the side effects / consequences of stops spaced too close together, if you wish to read the first chronicle about this topic; comparing Saguenay and Ottawa, I invite you to click on the button below.
Having stops close together can have multiple impacts on one’s commute, as well as the transit agency itself. In this chronicle, we’ll talk about 3 of the downsides associated with stop spacing.
Commute time. As mentioned in my last chronicle on this topic, every stop can add about 50 seconds to the line. The perfect stop distance is 400m, or about 5 to 10 minutes walking. If there are stops every 200m, the 5 minutes it would take to walk, would then take about 2½ minutes on the bus, if there are stops at each end of that stretch.
In itself, it doesn’t look that bad, but now translate that to a stop every 200m on a stretch of about a kilometer. Just driving it would usually take 2 to 3 minutes driving, or about 15 minutes walking. We could put a stop every 500m. The bus would then take about 4½ minutes to complete the stretch, which is really competitive to walking.
Now, what if the bus had 6 stops in that stretch (every 200m), it would then, off the bat, take about 8 minutes, but we have to add to that the fact that a bus takes more time than a car to get from 0 to 50km/h, so with all that taken into effect, the bus could end up taking 9 to 10 minutes, compared to about 15 walking, which is really not competitive.
Opening the doors so often does not only result in a longer commute, it also lets outside air get in. When you get on the bus, it usually is at a right temperature, and that, both summer and winter. Now, what if the doors had to open every minute, what would happen is, the bus would not have time to heat up or cool down.
The air that just got to the right temperature, would always be exiting, which is not something transit agencies want to happen, and a good way to keep that right air in, is by opening the doors less, therefore simply stopping less.
These two facts in themselves do impact the riders a lot, but there is another one that impacts the transit agency even more than you and me. Basically back to the first argument. If the route takes 60 minutes to complete, but could only take 45 minutes if there were less stops. And this route runs every 30 minutes, it might seem like nothing, but it is a 4th bus on a route that could use 3.
This extra bus causes more drivers needed, a bigger capital cost of buying buses, a bigger maintenance facility, and more budget on specific stops as there are more to build. This all costs money and time, and as we know, money isn’t always available, which can lead to line closures on less busy lines, which will bring less people to the main lines, and well, here’s the transit death spiral.
I hope this chronicle allowed you to better understand why stop spacing should be a priority when planning a new transit line, if you are a transit planner, which I doubt you are, I am sending you a formal invitation to next week’s chronicle about how to space stops apart / guarantee a great distance from the start. In the meantime, I hope you can bear your current commute while it gets better!