The 'Tortured Transit' of Bus Routes

Weary commuters will tell you: As convenient as city buses are, rides can feel torturously long as they zig-zag their way across town. A trip that should take 20 minutes via a direct route can easily double in travel time by bus, as they often follow a more roundabout path, taking detours off of main roads and making loops around faraway neighborhoods. Add in traffic, and you’ve got a possible hourlong ride.

Buses follow such routes so they can serve more people in more areas within a single trip. But some advocates are calling for simpler routes, arguing that it will not only improve efficiency, but also ridership. The Transit Center, a research organization focusing on improving urban mobility, is one of those advocates. The organization’s recent survey of 3,000 transit riders from 17 metropolitan regions found that the improvement commuters value most is cutting travel time.