Jarrett Walker picked this up from a TransLink infographic, and as a result it’s had a lot of play. No wonder: a perfect illustration of a key lesson from Mr. Human Transit: “All other things being equal, long, straight routes perform better than short, squiggly and looping ones.”
Here’s a collection of TransLink’s most heavily used routes:
And the least:
.
Jarrett:
The reasons are obvious to most transit riders (and are laid out in detail in Chapters 4 and 14 of my book) but you’d be amazed how many well-intentioned people haven’t figured this out, and continue to advocate land use patterns that make effective transit impossible. (Mantra: It’s not Transit-Oriented Development unless it’s oriented toward transit that can succeed.)
Now, TransLink can use this in their explanation whenever someone demands that a route should squiggle to serve their interests.
Reblogged this on metrobabel and commented:
Picked up another gem from Jarrett Walker’s Human Transit via Gordon Price’s Price Tags blog. It’s the beauty of geometry and efficiency in transit routes.
Conclusion about bus route 5?
I didn’t look up Jarrett’s definition of performance, but I wonder how much of this has to do with perceived “directness”. When people can easily conceptualize where a route goes, they are more inclined to use it. Perhaps this even holds true if it’s not the fastest route (for traffic or other reasons independent of geometry).