Yesterday we spoke of the busways as bus rapid transit done right. Here we see it done…the other way. The new University Line will be what counts as “bus rapid transit” in most other cities: there will be dedicated lanes for the buses most of the way, but they will have to deal with traffic lights and dozens of at-grade intersections to get from downtown to Oakland.
Nevertheless, this will be leagues better than what we have now to get from downtown to Oakland, which is stacks of buses tied up in rush-hour traffic. Instead of street corners with little signs sticking out of poles to mark them as bus stops, we’ll have these sharp-looking stations, which will provide some shelter from the rain and a few amenities like farecard vending machines and emergency telephones. (Can you get emergency cat videos on those emergency telephones?) Here are two of the nearly complete stations downtown: Market Square, which is a short block from the Diamond, and Wood Street, which is right across the street from the Wood Street subway station.
Addendum: A correspondent pointed out what we neglected to mention: that traffic lights at intersections will be synchronized to let buses pass through expeditiously. This is an important detail, and it is certainly true that it will make the system considerably swifter than it would be if the buses had to wait for the usual cycles. We reiterate that this will be much better than what we have now. Father Pitt would prefer a subway, but he doesn’t always get what he wants, and he is grateful for what he does get.
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