Context: this is a copy I posted r/boulder some years ago to people's wish for ( long promised) rail to Denver.
I commuted to Denver daily from Boulder, CO for three years and never drove during that time.
My shortlist of why I only want bus service to Boulder County ( for reference I typically pick up the bus at Table Mesa).
I only moved to Boulder in 2009 so I know I haven't carried as much tax burden as some people who "dream of light rail to Denver" but I'm very very happy with the FlatIron Flyers.
1. Buses can adapt to weather conditions
- Frequently coworkers training up from the tech center were 10x more likely to have issues with trains when the weather was icy, during the three years that I compiled this list of why I prefer buses.
2.Buses can adapt to other buses on the same route failing
- the RTD train infrastructure has very few places that light rail can pass one another so it doesn't matter if your train is working if the one ahead of your fails
3. Buses do not have routes altered/closed for maintenance
- when I would take the light rail to the company's Parker office or visiting friends it was surprising to have to get off and catch a bus around a section of rail under repair.
- I acknowledge that sometimes specific stops can be closed or moved but rarely is a whole section down and require alternate solutions (i.e. deboarding the train to board a bus to deboard on the other side of maintenance and board a new train)
4. Buses have express options.
- see the comment above regarding the few places that RTD rails can pass other trains
- note when the W line opened the express bus routes were removed, I think that was also true with another line but I can't remember. My favorite part of this is the coworkers I know who used that route started driving because the train was significantly longer commute times.
5. Buses typically have storage for up to six bikes per vehicle and don't block entries of others
- as an avid bike-the-final-mile commuter having storage for bikes that don't hinder other passengers boarding or exiting is nice (if you want to complain that it sometimes means staying at a few stops longer go ahead)
6. Buses Can turn over quicker at end of the line
- waiting for the E Line to swap directions at union station was comically slow when compared to catching the FF2 that just dropped off people and pulled around to pick up.
7. Buses can reroute around accidents that happen.
- E line and other northbound rail had to stop because of a car accident on the I-25 on the other side of a jersey wall where someone died. But the law says all traffic must be stopped from crossing an area of a certain diameter from the accident scene. So the next train had to stop. No place for passengers to deboard in the middle of the railway and blocked trains behind it.
- See comment above where other trains would be impacted as well
8. IMO, The payment and boarding method is a better User experience on the bus.
- this was more true before the mobile app could hold an annual pass
9. I'm sure I could come up with more reasons.
- oh, I'd rather take the AB to the airport than the A-train (sheesh that is a long train ride for such a short distance)
- oh, someone just mentioned the "rich people lane" yes, the bus uses the HOV lane! How great.
10. Air circulation is better inter city buses
When my office opens I'll return to bike/bus commuting. It is a bummer that during covid the express buses have stopped but understandable. The few times that I have bused in during 2020 the added time of FF1 was noticeable. Typically bike/express-bus takes me 50minutes house door to office door
If the _feeling_ of loneliness starts with a sensory/somatic experience then to know it means it is interpreted. If it is interpreted then it went through a filter of values and beliefs. And all of this is contextual to environmental cues
In other words if we could stimulate the same somatic experience in people then some may find relief and others distress and others may not notice it amounts the billions of sensory input in any given moment.
Want to feel (dis)connected. Change the somatic experience? Change the environment/context? Change the interpretation?
My mantra for a while
“I am a tree in woods” ( reminded that I’m part of a connected system)
This article is right for a single scenario: the long straight away in and out of a fair weather, well drained path/road/bikeway
As others have mentioned adding a turn before or after the underpass increases risk. A number of them (person to person, hidden obstruction, unsafe traction spots: ice, damp silt, etc)
A pedestrian bridge has recently been replaced in town (boulder, co) And I miss the bridge each day I commute. The pedestrian underpass has poor visibility (compared to the bridge that was there) and the above stated risks. While snow/ rain/ice would build up at times, it would clear out days sooner than the underpasses along my four mile commute.
But I was shouting to the wind to keep the bridge, as part of the financing for pedestrians underpasses in town is funded by fed/state/local flood mdigiation dollars.
reply