That’s not how traffic rules work, and for good reason. You can’t predict whether you’ll become part of a queue at the next traffic light, or whether a bus will come up behind that queue. In addition, a camera on a bus might only be able to see the license plate on the last car in the queue, when cars in front are equally culpable.
I think the camera bill is a bad idea for several reasons.
The bus lane implementations around here were done really badly. Many of them created traffic jams that didn’t use to exist. Before the bus lane, there was no delay for the bus.
In addition, the scheduled service in many of these lanes is so sparse that even if every bus were crush loaded, the bus lane could carry a fraction as many people as a lane full of single-occupant cars. A real bus lane like the one approaching the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey serves more than a hundred thousand people every morning.
The bus lanes around here are often marked really badly, with very few signs in a very small font, and pavement markings that aren’t maintained as they fade or the road is patched.
And some of the bus lanes don’t even have any buses using them! The city and state striped a lot of bus lanes for the October 2022 Orange Line shuttle, but didn’t bother to remove them. Why should people get camera tickets when the people making the rules are this sloppy?
You can’t predict whether you’ll become part of a queue at the next traffic light, or whether a bus will come up behind that queue.
You can’t predict it perfectly, but you can often do a very good job. For example, say you’re wanting to take the next right turn, and the lane becomes a combined bus lane + right turn lane not very far ahead of you. If you don’t see a bus and you pull into the lane a bit early you have an extremely good chance of making it to the combined section before a bus comes. Similarly, the buses all have transponders on them broadcasting their locations, so you could be running a bus-aware navigation app on your phone.
In addition, a camera on a bus might only be able to see the license plate on the last car in the queue, when cars in front are equally culpable.
I think this is fine? Yes, you only enforce the rule against the car immediately in front of the bus, punishment for being at the end of a queue should be enough to keep queues from forming where they would be in the way: joining the queue is risky because maybe no one joins it after you and then a bus comes.
Before the bus lane, there was no delay for the bus.
I’m not sure where you’re talking about, but as someone who commuted on buses for years (mostly the 94 into Davis, but a range of others as well) this was rarely my experience. Buses were regularly caught in traffic.
even if every bus were crush loaded, the bus lane could carry a fraction as many people as a lane full of single-occupant cars
A lane operating at ideal capacity allows about 1,900 cars per hour, but in the sort of very trafficy situations we’re talking about we’re well below that, maybe more like 600 (a car passing every 6s on average, but very uneven with periods of no movement). The cars are almost all one person each, so this is 600 people per hour.
A “crush loaded” bus would be about 75 people, so you’d need ~8 buses per hour, or one every 7.5min (or a lane that serves two lines running every 15min or four running every 30min). That’s probably more frequent service than most of these lanes get, but I’m not sure? If it is, though, it’s not by that much: a bus lane can still look “mostly unused” while carrying more traffic than a congested car lane.
The bus lanes around here are often marked really badly, with very few signs in a very small font, and pavement markings that aren’t maintained as they fade or the road is patched.
I haven’t seen that (where I’ve driven the lanes are a very clear solid red) but if it’s happening that just seems like a reason to mark it more clearly? Keeping the lane but not ticketing drivers who block the buses seems much worse?
And some of the bus lanes don’t even have any buses using them! The city and state striped a lot of bus lanes for the October 2022 Orange Line shuttle, but didn’t bother to remove them. Why should people get camera tickets when the people making the rules are this sloppy?
I agree if they’re not in use they should be removed, but I think you’re missing how my proposal helps with this. If you only enforce the bus lanes when drivers actually get in the way of a bus, then people who know that a line is marked for a bus route that is inactive are free to use the lane.
For example, say you’re wanting to take the next right turn, and the lane becomes a combined bus lane + right turn lane not very far ahead of you. If you don’t see a bus and you pull into the lane a bit early you have an extremely good chance of making it to the combined section before a bus comes.
This type of scenario potentially pairs badly with only enforcing the last car in the queue when the bus arrives. As soon as the car at the end of the line switches to the bus lane, everyone in the queue ahead of them is suddenly incentivized to abruptly jump into the bus lane ahead of them. Even setting aside the safety hazards of encouraging drivers to cut each other off, this obstructs the person who wants to make a right turn (particularly relevant if they’re in a situation where they were expecting to make a right on red in order to clear the lane), such that the person who made a sensible decision will potentially be punished for the actions of people who made less sensible decisions.
I agree that this is a risk, and it’s possible that it’s enough that this is a bad idea. I’m especially worried about very long stretches where you can see that a car is coming along, and so have plenty of time to pull out in front of it.
But I see two main mitigations:
Cutting other drivers off would still be a traffic violation and people don’t want to cause accidents, so I don’t think we get the worst behavior of sudden lane switching.
People might only use these lanes close enough to when they know that they are going to be getting out of them that they won’t people vulnerable to other people getting in front of them.
That’s not how traffic rules work, and for good reason. You can’t predict whether you’ll become part of a queue at the next traffic light, or whether a bus will come up behind that queue. In addition, a camera on a bus might only be able to see the license plate on the last car in the queue, when cars in front are equally culpable.
I think the camera bill is a bad idea for several reasons.
The bus lane implementations around here were done really badly. Many of them created traffic jams that didn’t use to exist. Before the bus lane, there was no delay for the bus.
In addition, the scheduled service in many of these lanes is so sparse that even if every bus were crush loaded, the bus lane could carry a fraction as many people as a lane full of single-occupant cars. A real bus lane like the one approaching the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey serves more than a hundred thousand people every morning.
The bus lanes around here are often marked really badly, with very few signs in a very small font, and pavement markings that aren’t maintained as they fade or the road is patched.
And some of the bus lanes don’t even have any buses using them! The city and state striped a lot of bus lanes for the October 2022 Orange Line shuttle, but didn’t bother to remove them. Why should people get camera tickets when the people making the rules are this sloppy?
You can’t predict it perfectly, but you can often do a very good job. For example, say you’re wanting to take the next right turn, and the lane becomes a combined bus lane + right turn lane not very far ahead of you. If you don’t see a bus and you pull into the lane a bit early you have an extremely good chance of making it to the combined section before a bus comes. Similarly, the buses all have transponders on them broadcasting their locations, so you could be running a bus-aware navigation app on your phone.
I think this is fine? Yes, you only enforce the rule against the car immediately in front of the bus, punishment for being at the end of a queue should be enough to keep queues from forming where they would be in the way: joining the queue is risky because maybe no one joins it after you and then a bus comes.
I’m not sure where you’re talking about, but as someone who commuted on buses for years (mostly the 94 into Davis, but a range of others as well) this was rarely my experience. Buses were regularly caught in traffic.
A lane operating at ideal capacity allows about 1,900 cars per hour, but in the sort of very trafficy situations we’re talking about we’re well below that, maybe more like 600 (a car passing every 6s on average, but very uneven with periods of no movement). The cars are almost all one person each, so this is 600 people per hour.
A “crush loaded” bus would be about 75 people, so you’d need ~8 buses per hour, or one every 7.5min (or a lane that serves two lines running every 15min or four running every 30min). That’s probably more frequent service than most of these lanes get, but I’m not sure? If it is, though, it’s not by that much: a bus lane can still look “mostly unused” while carrying more traffic than a congested car lane.
I haven’t seen that (where I’ve driven the lanes are a very clear solid red) but if it’s happening that just seems like a reason to mark it more clearly? Keeping the lane but not ticketing drivers who block the buses seems much worse?
I agree if they’re not in use they should be removed, but I think you’re missing how my proposal helps with this. If you only enforce the bus lanes when drivers actually get in the way of a bus, then people who know that a line is marked for a bus route that is inactive are free to use the lane.
This type of scenario potentially pairs badly with only enforcing the last car in the queue when the bus arrives. As soon as the car at the end of the line switches to the bus lane, everyone in the queue ahead of them is suddenly incentivized to abruptly jump into the bus lane ahead of them. Even setting aside the safety hazards of encouraging drivers to cut each other off, this obstructs the person who wants to make a right turn (particularly relevant if they’re in a situation where they were expecting to make a right on red in order to clear the lane), such that the person who made a sensible decision will potentially be punished for the actions of people who made less sensible decisions.
I agree that this is a risk, and it’s possible that it’s enough that this is a bad idea. I’m especially worried about very long stretches where you can see that a car is coming along, and so have plenty of time to pull out in front of it.
But I see two main mitigations:
Cutting other drivers off would still be a traffic violation and people don’t want to cause accidents, so I don’t think we get the worst behavior of sudden lane switching.
People might only use these lanes close enough to when they know that they are going to be getting out of them that they won’t people vulnerable to other people getting in front of them.