Hacker News Reader

Comment by brudgers | Hacker News Reader

The meaningful difference is not between rails and tires. It is between dedicated rights-of-way and one shared with automotive traffic.

When buses get dedicated right-of-way, as in Curitiba they provide similar service levels to subways.

View on HN

Actually, I'd say it really comes down to rails and tires. Streetcars can be given the same rights-of-way as buses and would perform similarly, except: the streetcar is a smoother ride. I can grab breakfast and eat it on a streetcar knowing there's only one direction of motion to worry about. On a bus, however, you can never tell which way you'll be jerked around. It really is much less pleasant, even if it's faster without the right of way. (Due to left turning cars)

Can someone who's taken the new MTA Select Bus Service busses comment on whether they are smoother than regular busses? I took an MTA bus today for the first time in a long while and it was uncomfortably bumpy.

I haven't taken them very often, but I have had a couple really great experiences with the M15 1st/2nd Ave SBS. Due to cascading traffic lights, efficient boarding, and wide spacing between stops, it's almost as nice as taking the subway.

A lot of tram systems don't have dedicated rights-of-way.

Still they don't/can't break as abruptly as buses and the ride is a lot less bumpy in general. And buses are notoriously crammed, even when the next bus would supposedly be there in 2 minutes, people will squeeze into the one that's there now, with trams you can just attach another cart, and carts can be larger to begin with.

Ah, at least in Toronto, we tend to see our trams as streetcars rather than trains, so they fall victim to the same "next bus" problem you quote above. More so, as trains can't hop over one another to pick up passengers at alternating stops, a practice common with the busiest of routes. That said, streetcar drivers are often much calmer than bus drivers. There's just a different kind of expectation...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com