According to Valenti's article, County transportation officials picked the global positioning technology to signal traffic lights when a bus is off schedule, it will change a green light "automatically", according to Naomi Mein, of the county Department of Public Works and Transportation. "If a bus is behind schedule, it will give it that extra green time that it needs to meet that schedule," she said. By changing to a green light, or extending a green light for an approaching bus, the system could "easily" shave six to 10 minutes or more off a 14-mile trip that now takes an hour to an hour and a half from White Plains to the Bronx, Mein said.
What's the flip side of this scenario?
First, any bus making a 14-mile trip is certainly out for a long hall. Is saving six to ten minutes that critical? More importantly, is it worth $2.4 million? Second, how often do the buses run? Isn't there usually another bus behind it? Third, once the motoring public realizes what's going on, how many cars will "draft" behind a bus to run what would otherwise be a red light? Or, how many people driving on Central Avenue, already running late, will be driving alongside a bus as well to get through a red light? Third, how many accidents will this cause as people who were already planning to turn, for instance, are now unsafely in an intersection because the bus tripped the light. Fourth, when a bus is out of service, will the other buses have the requisite equipment? Fifth, will they be looking to expand this to other routes? Eventually, there won't be a place for cars, just buses. Sixth, urban planners, not suburban planners, want everyone to use mass transit. Forget that they don't want the bus ridership to run late, what are they doing to make car ridership run on time? Nothing! Eighth, once the Tappan Zee Bridge/Rail/Bus/Bike/Pedestrian/Dog Park/Sun Panel/Wind Turbine project is underway, what kind of traffic light accommodations will those buses get? Will cars be able to move at all? Ninth, what about the bus that's late because of the riders taking too long to get on or off, fumbling for their money, dropping their fair, struggling with packages, crutches, walkers, etc.? Finally, how many people will get in trouble at work because they were late due to the buses changing green lights to red? "You're late!" yells your boss. Your timid reply, "But I didn't take the bus, I treated myself and I drove in." It's out of control!
Our local traffic planners are not doing anything to alleviate traffic. Rather, they are making it more difficult for those of us with cars, almost treating us as second class citizens. We live in the suburbs. Simply, we need cars. ABG understands that large municipalities/cities must have public transportation systems. But outside of the cities, planners for the Towns and Villages planned inadequately for the growth and use of automobiles, biking and walking. While they are now unable to create thoughtful solutions to our traffic woes, they revert to the hollow arguments of increased public transportation as the solution. It won't work. Not because there's anything wrong with public transportation, but because our infrastructure is already too overloaded for the space we're in. Stop building! Stop.
Planning takes time, thinking, adjusting and compromise. We aren't seeing this lately and while recent events have proven just how fragile our world is, ABG believes there must be a better way to approach and deal with buses running on schedule. Here a suggestion that costs nothing: leave earlier.
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