City Buses
 

City buses have to have a traffic light controller, right? I see too many coincidences.

I'm OK with cops, fire, ambulances having the device, but city buses?

Can I buy one?:p

http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/traffic-signals-public-transport-priority

Dunno if they're using them in your area, but the theory is that if public transportation is more predictable/reliable, then more people will use it.

In California, at least, signal manipulation devices are illegal for private use.

An ex-neighbor, a traffic engineer for my city, told me our police aren't allowed to manipulate signals, only the FD and ambulances.

Thanks, for the link. Very interesting.

Sure. Untill two buses approach the intersection at the same time....

People talk about a "smart grid" for electric power. Imagine a "smart road" network?

If all roads had sensors to read volume and speed of traffic, lights could be managed by computer to increase the flow and decrease waits at red lights. Particularly at night.

smart roads would be fine - can we get rid of stupid drivers???

In the old days a strobe light would trip them. One of the guys in the frat house I stayed in (they took renter's) got busted using one in the mid-70's.
Jim

yes they do

usually only used at high traffic times and intersections

you sould see how fast some of those lights change on the main bus routes through Downtown

I take the bus sometimes, find it fairly convenient. When I am driving, however, I hate buses because they stop so often and block a lane of traffic while passengers c-r-a-w-l on and off. So, my proposal, is that the stops should be spaced out more. For example, the bus I take to/from work stops literally every two blocks. Ridiculous. If it stopped every four blocks, the average rider would have 1 extra block's walk - surely no big deal - but the delay to traffic would be halved and the bus trip would be faster too. Do that, and I'm happy to let them manipulate signals all day.