San Francisco's new bus rapid transit lanes on Van Ness getting rave reviews 

lovely to see you here! long time watcher (and also londoner). Immediately thought of your channel again for that video on why traffic is helped by improved public transit as opposed to just opening more lanes

Not just buses

Love your channel ❤️

Wish we had those in NY and Philadelphia.

I was just thinking about what NJB would say about this! Love your channel!

If you force people off the road and close streets to cars and only allow public transport to get to certain places people will have no choice BUT to use it.

@@nazc0 if you force busses to get stuck in traffic and don't leave room for bikes people will have no choice but to drive. The goal is to provide several different transposition options for any given trip.

@@nazc0 Looks like cars can still use the road, no?

@@alexcarlone7967 I mean all the numerous other street closures. Not this one specifically. Market street, great highway, so many downtown streets, union Square, bunch of streets in north Beach. Again, as someone who used to drive everywhere in the city and go to restaurants all over, I haven't stepped foot in those areas in over a year, and I'm not alone. The impact has been extremely evident with all the business closures even after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

@@nazc0 but even the car drivers are positive about this change. The reason: more people on the bus is less people in a car. Removing cars improves travel time exponentially for other cars and not linearly like a lot of people think.

an additional benefit of seperated lanes, emergency vehicle are less stuck in traffic as well.

Speaking of. I'm a NYC bus driver & a fire truck using our priority bus lane struck one of our buses that was picking up passengers in the bus lane.

@@King_of_Africa In the Austrian Capital Vienna it is very common that emergency vehicle uses these lanes

@@King_of_Africa That's a shame, but don't let that single incident be the enemy of a better solution. Remember that in NYC, fire trucks get hit by cars all the time as they weave through traffic at a slow pace. Just one collision in a bus lane is amazing news.

@@h.d.h Nah it's does bother me. I just mentioned it because it recently happened.

Indianapolis uses a GPS-based system for its signal priority on BRT. It's rare for the bus to catch a red light unless it has been sitting at a station and the priority timed out.

They do that with LRVs & Cable cars it causes a lot of traffic often especially on busy streets.

Usually I think they either use gps, cameras, or you put a radio proximity sensor on the front of the bus and sensors on all the lights to sense when the bus is coming

On time and on budget? Haaaaahaaa !

You don't need to do that. You want a bus to be reasonably fast, and most important, on schedule. In Europe some busses get priority only when they are behind schedule. That way you don't disturb traffic flow when the bus is on schedule.

I hv always suspected bad public transportation in SF is done on purpose.. Theres unscrupulous lobby working behind it..

I think it's great if you take public transit, but a mess if you have to drive. Taking 3 lanes for cars and jamming that traffic into 2 lanes will not make traffic better, this is basic physics. I have experienced a lot of traffic during the middle of the day when it should be clear, but the bus lanes are completely empty. From a Computer Science perspective, if you have a lane that is empty 95% of the time, and the other lanes are full, you don't have an efficient system. Not all of us can ditch the car and take public transit. I for one have to carry tools and spare parts from client to client all over the bay. I couldn't do my job taking public transit, and the delays in commute times adds cost to my clients bills. I have to avoid vanness now or it will add at least 10 minutes to get from one side to the other.

@@heyaisdabomb but cars still have the vast majority of space, including a street parking lane on either side which honestly shouldn't even exist on a busy thoroughfare like van ness. plus, traffic in cities is not caused by a lack of lanes but by chokepoints like intersections, lanes merging, freeway offramps, etc. it's also why widening a freeway in a densely populated area doesn't necessarily speed up traffic even in the absence of induced demand, because the chokepoints (basically city streets and traffic lights) cannot be improved. of course not everyone can take transit or bike, but the majority of san franciscans don't carry heavy things on a regular basis. plus, the redesigned street is a lot more pleasant, due to the new sidewalks and street trees planted in the median. and even after this, cars still dominate public space.

@@heyaisdabomb Van Ness BRT is just the first step towards clearing the road for someone like you. Many other things has to happen to chg the old city model that is car centrist. Unfortunately the process will make things worse, b4 it gets better.

@@heyaisdabomb cars take wayyyyyyyyyy more space than public transit as a whole. As an actual Computer Scientist, you have to take into account all variables, including the number of people who will now choose to take the BRT instead of drive, thus reducing traffic. You also have to take into account that San Francisco is a growing city and that the street was going to get congested no matter what, BRT or not. At least now, people have options to avoid traffic entirely. Not to mention that with most people and 99% of trips, they don't need to carry a van full of tools and spare parts.

It's also crazy how long and expensive it was

@@blanknblank1 Significantly more so on both counts because of all the obstacles along the way. Changes, delays, and basically people getting the way constantly for self interest.

@@blanknblank1 Highway projects cost way more money and carry way less people

*fewer

+ cycle-able !!!!!

People also want to live in cities where they don't have to navigate homeless encampments. I don't say this to be cynical but it's a big deterent to living in American cities.

@@janeknox3036 ehhh it’s only a problem in NYC, LA, SF. Most cities have managed the homeless quite well and though the issue was critical during the pandemic it has improved quite a lot since then. I noticed it a lot in ATL during the pandemic but since then the cities are clean, crime has gone down and m new projects have made things so much more walkable and pleasant. Love it here

I think the bike lanes should be integrated into the sidewalk, because people still use a lot of cars in the US. Baby steps.

@@dairokkan.sg2 You’ll be surprised at how effective it would be if the whole right lane was taken up, as they said, with flowerbed protected kerbs separating a 2 metre wide bicycle path. Eventually somewhere down the line it may even be easier to make this particular piece of infrastructure in the median that is dedicated for public transit be given rails like it is on Market Street. This way the public transportation can easily increase the capacity whilst not needing to worry as much about wear & tear. Plus there’s an emissions reduction benefit, as the fuel that would need to be used to propel the vehicle would legitimately just be the electrical grid.

A parallel bike highway might be better. Go 1 or 2 blocks over and take a small one-laner with parking and remove one side of parking. Parking lanes are usually 8-feet - that's 6 feet for a two-way bike lane and 2 feet for extra curbing. If you attach that right to the sidewalk and just make the bike lane visually distinct, that extra two feet will benefit everyone, and people wouldn't oppose the sidewalk space needed for trees, other plant stuff, bike parking, or municipal bike rental stalls. Now you've quieted down a residential street and increased capacity while giving bikers a MUCH nicer ride and improved the streetscape all without reducing traffic flows on the arterial, all only at the expense of a little parking. Granted, it can be hard to sell "Reduce available neighborhood parking spaces by 6%" or whatever, but if you're in a dense city that's already a problem that you're used to If you can't get that through community development boards, find a parallel 2-way and do the reviews to see if you can 1-way it without blowing up the grid. If you can, you now have 11 feet of former driving lane to work with

@@dairokkan.sg2 No, do it properly the first time. No more half measures Waltah.

@@ErdTirdMans The parallel road one block over, Polk St., is a really amazing walkable street with tons of shops, restaurants, bars, primary care, etc. I bike on that street all the time and that is the street encouraged for biking use rather than Van Ness, but it could be made much better (no protected lanes for most of the street, but because of all the pedestrians and light slow moving traffic it is okay). They can't simply get rid of the parking on it though because a lot of the parking spots are now used for outdoor dining.

Exactly. People have been trained to believe that cars are needed for absolutely everything and that there’s no way we could design cities to be more walkable and efficient

@@davidcarias4407 To be fair, in current city infrastructure, cars are needed for absolutely everything. My school is just over a mile away, yet it would take me around an hour to walk there, 40 minutes by bus, compared to the 10 minutes by car. That's just travel time, not even including the pain in the ass walking/bicycling there, small/no sidewalks, over 100 degree weather, no shade to cover you from direct sunlight. I'd enjoy better alternative ways of transportation, but current city design is meant for cars.

Yeah hopefully Canada, NZ and my home country of Australia will too!

@@geo3867 I guess Australian transit is decent already. The tram network in Melbourne is the biggest in the world for instance. 👍

@@yerlanbulekov3598 True the tram network for inner city Melbourne is really good but public transport access in Melbourne's as well as the rest of Australia's suburbs is comparable to the us albeit probably with better suburban bus and train networks

@@geo3867 OK, got it!

Done at 10x+ the cost

Here they are handed tickets

well another benefit of the dedicated lanes is that emergency services can use them so i don't think that'd be ideal

@@keucher emergency vehicles can still use the bus lanes with barriers

Oakland REALLY needs this. We have some of the most dangerous drivers

I live in Mexico city and I love this system, in addition to the many new lines you can now use the same payment method in this lines (called metrobus), the underground metro, surface light rail and some other bus lines across the city. It really does improve driving, walkability and even cycling as you can travel with your bike at some periods of time during weekdays.

Light rail is still better with higher amounts of passengers (metro services even better), but long buses can absolutely be good. In Oslo Norway many of these buses are also fully electric now. Bus lanes is of course very common there.

Light rail would be better in the long term, but a bus can be implemented fast. Anything to reduce cars clogging up the road is good

@@thienphucn1 Yeah, electric buses are already a well functioning technology and even trolley buses could be considered. Regular buses are of course also better than car traffic.

@@rowaystarco Im a fan of the electric battery buses that can charge using a pantograph. Basically only need cables for the main streets w/ designated bus lanes, and the can be a regular bus elsewhere. And then doesn't have the range restrictions of a full battery bus.

@@chrisorr8601 Experience here in Oslo is that regular electric buses (even articulated buses) can work fine without cables in the main street. They charge at the end stops. That being said, Oslo has trams and metro lines in the higher traffic areas. So they fill in for trolleybuses (and are even better) . All public transport will be electric in Oslo in a few years.

Americans strayed from the path of public transit with the birth of the internal combustion engine and the total cultural dominance of the car. It's like fighting a battle for life and death to get people to even BELIEVE there is a better way, let alone vote/change regulations for it. The auto lobby has some completely, thoroughly, utterly fucked over the zoning, regulatory, and funding mechanisms that it is literally 10x harder to build public transit than it is to build or expand roads for cars. It's utterly insane until you think about it from the perspective of an automobile executive. We didn't just discover public transit - we are rediscovering it, and just how far we have fallen from using it.

As a fellow european, that's an unnecessary comment. No need to be condescending.

@@jeanlundi2141 yeah, you're surely an us-american. getting triggered by random comments on the internet.

@@afe31 No. I'm portuguese and I just don't like it when people talk about americans in such a tone. You come across as if you are from some enlightened state of existence.

@@jeanlundi2141 I just make fun about how a nation discovers the wheel in 2023. Calm down.

@Paul Smith Less people are on the roads because they see a better transit service, resulting in less traffic for only those who need their car

@Paul Smith Nope. Not how this works.

@Paul Smith n-no buses are more space-efficient than you think, they take away so much space that is mostly used by single-person cars, so that bus is doing more than that lane could, plus the other benefits of buses like less pollution per person, choices for commuters, etc.

@Paul Smith wrong! look at the Netherlands. Cars are the absolute last thing in priority for roads. Bikes and public transit get priority at intersections. Signals change for busses. The pedistrian light dosnt just signal that someone’s waiting, it sometimes just changes the light instantly. Yet it’s always voted the best country to drive in, because since there’s so many alternatives to driving, there’s very few cars, and as a result very little traffic

@Paul Smith the data done on public infrastructure shows that the best solution to traffic is to push people towards public transit. Things like adding lanes have proven to make traffic worse due to induced demand, just look at Houston or LA.

@@ZRodTW Hopefully more cities take this same approach

@@ZRodTW most people only think short term. It actually takes effort to think long term.

I'm curious about the number.

@@ZRodTW The problem oftentimes is, that many transportation system are privatized. Those companies do not get the reduced costs of less pollution etc.. That’s why public services should be run by some form if the government.

Every bus load of passengers is 12-20 cars off the road... less cars on the road means less traffic. If you live in a major metropolis and use a car to commute to work you are wasting your money.

Same applies for bicycle lanes, which are missing from this road.

@@harenterberge2632 there are bike lanes on Polk St, which is just one street east of Van Ness. I ride my bike on Polk all the time. I wouldn’t ride a bike on Van Ness. That’s practically suicidal.

@@ericdew2021 it is suicidal because there are no bike lanes ;-). But having bike lanes on a parallel street would indeed help cycle through-traffic. Nevertheless it does not help if your destination is on Venn street.

There are more public transport users especially in dense cities.

True but we take Ws where we can

It reminds me of a bus. -European

It's not cheaper in the long run because of fuel.

@@cubersanonymous5180 that's why I always advocate for electric trolley buses.

@@ransom182 Still a nightmare for the drivers and maintenance.

@@cubersanonymous5180 Maybe, but it's a step up from what it was before. We need smaller projects like this to show US citizens that public transit really isn't that bad. Then maybe theyll be less opposed to building better infrastructure.

@@Preetzole 100% agree

is way better than having not lane because it was worse .. the problem i'm seeing is that in 5 av from 110 to 59th i'm seeing more cars parking with not issues .. i don't know if the rich people from that area are having some consideration but anybody who drive around there will think that.

it is incredible how long these projects take in the U.S. so much corruption and red tape

Buses don't work

@@CaioHenrique-bt8qz if they have dedicated routes like the video above. They clearly work.

we just heard about buses this year

@@sammyp9514 Hahah that’s funny. Better late than never

Since public transport in the US is shitty people don’t even consider it as an option But create an effective public transport system and people will use it 🤷‍♂️ it’s that easy

Not discovering, but remembering. The US used to have the most extensive public transit system in the world until automobiles took over

@@carstarsarstenstesenn They took over because car manufacturers lobbied politicians and because they could also use highways to segregate communities

Hopefully the next ones take much less

Then the bureaucracy and politics must be sucks, If 18 years needed for such a little painted road and buying a few mass produced buses.

@@01_zenyobi Yes, some cities in Europe (re)built their whole tram network in that time...

@@01_zenyobi i think they had to completely re-do the sewers below the street but it’s still a lot of time

And $400M

We need to just make better mid rise housing closer to the citys and just abandon the suburbs cause NIMBYs are so irrational it isn't worth fighting them

Tbh you should just build a train at that point...

Elevated rail are cheaper than subway, but more expensive than BRT.. Money is the main consideration. But at the end, multiple types of public transportation will built to maximize the city budget..

@@jimbo1637 when labor is cheap, hiring bus drivers is cheaper overall than building expensive trains

I think the idea of above ground public transit is flawed. Go to Barcelona and experience their underground train system. We are so far behind in technology.

They need to physically separate it from mixed traffic lanes, like they did here on Van Ness. They need to put islands or even those yellow plastic poles to separate the bus lanes. Edit: People often think it's okay to drive on the shoulder to leapfrog traffic, so that's why they drive in the bus lane. They won't do that if it's a center bus lane though.

@Rocket Boards have you seen the central subway project? It is already over $313M over budget and delayed by at least four and a half years now. Keep in mind this is going to be $2.1B for 1.7 miles of subway. That's absurd, and that's with the expectation that it won't be delayed again, which I highly doubt.

@@heyaisdabomb It just has to be separated and prioritized properly. Since you mentioned Barcelona: just look at their tram network.

This highlights how the Van Ness corridor will totally fail. This only appears to work because city leadership have murdered this city and brought it to a necrotic resemblance of it’s former self. Bring people back to the Van Ness corridor and it will be as obvious a failure as the mission bus lanes or anything else done in the last 15 years to “improve” things

It's nice to see positive news for a change.

Based

MUCH more than 6 years, closer to 10 really. most of that time was spent doing absolutely nothing. this project could've been completed in under a year

I totally agree, Curitiba, Brazil (a city in a 3rd world country) executed a similar project in a few months.

Once cities start seeing projects like these succeed, then hopefully it'll change the perception of public transit, and they'll be more inclined to make them a priority.

Do you forget they have had this all till the "own car"-time starts. Now they must start from scratch to make all new after 100 years. This is incredibly first but if the bus do not stick in traffic stops it is the change for you to change to a bus ride for go order your products from jewellery shop next time.

@@OldLordSpeedy what?

Congratulations, you have just discovered how a BRT works. The BRT here in my city has been under construction for almost 20 years and has yet to be finished. 😂

Cheaper?

Slower tram can’t go that fast

They needed to build this first, it must've been hard enough to get this approved and no NIMBYs would let a team line happen

As someone who lives in NYC, there's some routes where it's more beneficial to have a bus than a tram as buses can make detours or go through 2 lane streets.

No

It is an electric trolleybus, or at least is meant to be. The wires are up but few of the buses seem to actually use them

😂

The problem is that people prefer to use their cars other than being bunched up with random people. Due to COVID case rising, and especially the homeless issue. From my experience riding the muni buses, the homeless cause a lot of disruption on board, causing people to get off and wait for the next bus. Especially when they smell real bad, like really really really bad, making passengers to leave or distance the individual far as possible away from him/her. I’ve seen homeless with mental issues throwing a fit for nothing and they scream and yell. It’s really disturbing and annoying. Also public fights on the buses is always a common thing in any big cities. So these are the reasons why people choose to drive their car and pay the gas, rather than being on a bus with strangers and face uncomfortable occurrences.

People still need cars in Hawaii. Though Honolulu is building an automated light metro…

@@MSaleh-vy8rr oh god forbid, did the little rich boy have to look at a homeless person? oh I’m so sorry, this is absolutely an acceptable reason for why we should make it impossible to live in America without being burdened with thousands of $ in car costs

They don't spend 9 years pondering car-only lanes. Only lanes that are useful for all people take so many years of controversy.

are used.

Not just CA, most US cities design are decades behind those in EU & Asia.. You hv to understand there are those who are sabotaging the new chg..

They replaced a sewer main and various undocumented old utility lines, all while continuing to support 4 lanes of traffic. That took up most of the time. Building the bus lanes was the easy part.

They have built ok bike lanes on next street over

They forget that they have buses to the city

just let the the lower class who commute hours into the city eat cake too

Why? 10 years of planning and 6 years of construction for some bus lanes?

@@Gfynbcyiokbg8710 anything for better transit infrastructure.

TROLLEY BUS TROLLEY BUS

@@CiaGuy Evolution: Bus > BRT > Trolley BRT > Tram

BUILD A INTERURBAN/LIGHT RAIL/PRE METRO/METRO LINE!

​@@maxcchiruno

Thats what I said coming from Brazil, hahaha

Did South Africa also have a 5km long underwater metro tunnel as well? like San Francisco does and has since the 1970s? Didn't think so.

@@rabidmarmot first off stay of the topic of rail.. No one brought the discussion of a water tunnel to the table my guy..

In Holland also lots of dedicated lanes, especially in the city of Almere

We're about 30 years late but at least things are happening. Boston is really getting going here

The streetcars are still in San Francisco thought

Its just a bus lane

Erm... it's probably better than what US Americans are used to, but I hate to burst your bubble: it's still just a bus lane. Nowhere near the standard of most other developed countries.

Lol Muni ain’t it and never will be

All I can say is a good start I guess I will want to see them making a 100MPH Metro Subway next

The only sort of good public transit system in North America is the NYC subway.

These are not diesel buses

@@qjtvaddict They certainly roar and sound like diesel engines. Listen again. And they have no trolley poles on them. They're certainly not trolley coaches.

Still a hell of a lot better than having thousands of people using cars.

Most modern busses in the US these days are CNG so that’s probably what it is.

They're very efficient hybrid buses. There are no trolley wires at many places on VanNess.

Don't know. But the economic output is probably equal to those states too.

Sf GDP is higher than 37 full states

Could be. Sf budget is 13b$. If that money was spent right, sf could would easily be the best city in the country. But there’s too much corruption and mismanagement.

@@blainegabbertgabonemhofgoa6602 you know absolutely nothing

@@deancj1 care to enlighten us with what you know then

Is it possible for Europeans to write a comment without talking down to whoever they're writing too? You people always talk about how arrogant Americans are but holy shit you never miss an opportunity to climb on your soap box and pontificate.

They do have that

Can't walk in San Francisco anymore. You'll get mugged and/or stabbed.