TABLE OF CONTENTS Buses are without question the workhorses of the transit world. There are a great many places where they are the only public service mode offered; to the best of the author s knowledge, no city that has transit operates without a bus component. Leaving aside private cars, all indicators passengers carried, [1] vehicle kilometers accumulated, size of fleet (see Fig. 8.1), accidents recorded, pollution caused, workers employed, or whatever else show the dominance of buses among all transit modes, in this country as well as anywhere else around the world.
Yet, their presence causes no excitement; there is no shred of glamour in their role on the urban stage. They are taken for granted, and, particularly in American communities, they are seen as the mode for the less-prominent part of society. If a bus service is substantially improved, which usually means adding more vehicles on routes, the photo opportunities for local politicians and celebrities are limited. Monies are spent in a quiet and routine way; no major public works efforts (except for largely invisible garages and yards, and occasionally a terminal) are involved; there is not much ribbon cutting. The service tends to be slow, and the vehicles are frequently not particularly comfortable. They are regarded as common, both in the sense of occurring frequently and of lacking special status. [2]
Nevertheless, buses provide the base service in most...
