Buses to control lights

[spooker]

If transit riders are getting to work late, very simple fix. Take an earlier bus, problem solved without disrupting all other commuters.

If drivers are speeding, they just need to learn to leave earlier so they don't feel the pressure to put themselves and others at risk ...

Transit riders work with the published schedule and plan accordingly ... if they're getting to work late it's usually because the bus was held up in traffic caused by everyone else using a 5-6 person capacity vehicle for a single person ... North America seems to be about the only place in the world where people who use transit are condescended too, like people on bikes and those on foot

[Urban Cowboy]

If transit riders are getting to work late, very simple fix. Take an earlier bus, problem solved without disrupting all other commuters.

If drivers are speeding, they just need to learn to leave earlier so they don't feel the pressure to put themselves and others at risk ...

Transit riders work with the published schedule and plan accordingly ... if they're getting to work late it's usually because the bus was held up in traffic caused by everyone else using a 5-6 person capacity vehicle for a single person ... North America seems to be about the only place in the world where people who use transit are condescended too, like people on bikes and those on foot

Oh get off your high horse sport.

Buses have their own lane all through town, we already yield and give them the right of way, something a few of their dimwit drivers abuse by improperly signaling, and now we going to allow them to interfere with traffic signals also?

They aren't gods, just some butts in seats hauling around buses that more often than not are more than half empty.

All the traffic signal controlling ability on earth won't make up for what in some cases is simply poorly planned routes and timing.

[crookedmember]

Likely for buses, the controls and interventions will be limited.

So if a bus is approaching a green light, the light won't suddenly change and force the driver to choose between slamming on the brakes, and running a yellow/red.

Using the technology like this makes sense. There are also cameras at intersections that help determine when lights should change and how long left arrows should flash.

Traffic engineers are smarter than you think. Some are even smarter than Castanet posters.

There's really no reason to get casterical over this.

[RVThereYet]

Likely for buses, the controls and interventions will be limited.

So if a bus is approaching a green light, the light won't suddenly change and force the driver to choose between slamming on the brakes, and running a yellow/red.

Using the technology like this makes sense. There are also cameras at intersections that help determine when lights should change and how long left arrows should flash.

Traffic engineers are smarter than you think. Some are even smarter than Castanet posters.

There's really no reason to get casterical over this.

You should head over to the "Costco" thread and the "Cops at Orchard" thread and... nah, never mind... sorry I even brought it up..

[MAPearce]

In your example MAPearce it strikes me as more of a scheduling issue, than something which will be magically fixed, by buses being endowed with more power.

What happens if two buses arrive at the same light, one going east/west, while the other is moving north/south?

Do they duel it out and the losers passengers simply don't make their connections?

I hear that loud and clear ... Giving transit buses control of traffic lights will only make things worse for them AND every one else . Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ... In short , giving one non emergency entity control of traffic flow is going to FAIL ... Miserably . Traffic will be a mess, just wait ..

Scheduling is the problem because those who do it seem to think the formula they use is free from "variables" like traffic during peak times , accidents that block traffic and random emergency service vehicles clearing the way ..

Also lets not forget that as transit has become more accessible , those who load their bikes on the front racks of the bus require extra time to do that as well as the the person in the wheelchair who needs to use the ramp to get on and off the bus as well as be strapped in by the operator .. It all adds up and you can't get that time back .


You get two chairs and a bike on the bus on the way to work and you're guaranteed to miss the next connection .... The Mensa flunkies that make schedules don't think about that....

[Tack]

I'm at awe of the opposition to this! Have any of you actually left Kelowna and took transit in a real city. This isn't new technology this is something buses do in all major cities and it improves the bus timing and doesn't cause some horrible negative affect on cars.

The entitlement of the car addicts is insane! The transit in Kelowna is already pretty poor and anything to improve it should be welcomed. I drive and take the bus, we need buses on time or people miss their bus or connection. This is important and yes, more important than the vehicles with a single person in them. The comments that the buses are mostly empty only apply to certain buses at certain times of day. Usage goes up as the system improves!

Don't worry you'll still make it to your appointment on time if you drive..

[bigtimeoperations]

I can't see this being in effect at every single light on every bus route. Obviously it would be along Harvey/97 and probably Springfield, Gordon and Pandosy. As long as this is a system that skews the green light timing knowing in advance the bus is coming. With the fire trucks, I've sometimes seen the light turn green for only 3 seconds and then go yellow, red cause it senses the siren. Fire trucks are more of an abrupt thing, but the approaching bus should be sensed an intersection or 2 in advance. Other cities are using this technology already.

Problem with transit in Kelowna is the attitude, and the fact it is a vehicle centric city. People thinking its the "loser cruiser". That attitude is friggin sad! On a bus you have students going to and from school, elderly folks going shopping, parents who don't drive taking their kids on outings, people going to work who never ever had a drivers license license, people taking a safe ride home instead of drinking and driving. Are these people all losers? Sure there are undesirable skids who take it, but those types are everywhere in life. Kelowna is a growing city that needs to embrace transit more!

[kelownman]

Get in behind the bus who has the ability to have the lights turn green.... it is all good

[OKkayak]

so now the three people on the bus are far more important than the hundreds stuck at lights

"Hundreds" stuck at lights? Really?

Since no one has given any good reason why non emergency vehicles should be able alter traffic lights & disrupt what little traffic flow is happening (again for an non emergency).

You haven't given a good reason why only emergency vehicles should have the ability.

If transit riders are getting to work late, very simple fix. Take an earlier bus, problem solved without disrupting all other commuters.

Many do.

So disrupt what little traffic flow is in Kelowna, for those half full transit buses. Love it, sounds like well thought out plan. lol

Here's the irony, improve the transit system and that half full bus now becomes a full bus. Pretty cool huh?

Very simple, by changing/altering a lights (set timing)

The lights in Kelowna aren't timed in any systematic manner.

Currently if one travels at speed limit posted at beginning of a green light i.e Springfield, I rarely have to stop for red (in light to moderate traffic)

Oh baloney! My recommendation to you is the next time that happens, but yourself a lotto ticket cuz you got a horseshoe up your hinee

yes allowing busses to mess with the flow of traffic to move the three or four people on the bus

Wow, you're really on a roll with your over-exaggerations

The better question is why do the buses need to be able to mess with light timing, when large metropolitan areas such as Toronto managed to operate a huge transit system quite adequately without such an ability?

Not sure about Toronto, but many large metropolitans have similar systems. Besides that, large metropolitans such as Toronto have the luxury of utilizing thousands of buses with peak time service minutes apart.

What happens if two buses arrive at the same light, one going east/west, while the other is moving north/south?

Do they duel it out and the losers passengers simply don't make their connections?

Pistols at dawn

Buses have their own lane all through town

Where?

All the traffic signal controlling ability on earth won't make up for what in some cases is simply poorly planned routes and timing.

I'll bite. Give us an example of a properly planned route and timing.

[oneh2obabe]

The better question is why do the buses need to be able to mess with light timing, when large metropolitan areas such as Toronto managed to operate a huge transit system quite adequately without such an ability?

Not sure about Toronto, but many large metropolitans have similar systems. Besides that, large metropolitans such as Toronto have the luxury of utilizing thousands of buses with peak time service minutes apart.

Toronto has 350 TSP intersections with plans in the works for an additional 1,150 (page 41 of 2013 report).
http://www.ttc.ca/PDF/About_the_TTC/Tra ... s_Plan.pdf

As far as drivers controlling the system - they don't.

For TSP to work, transit vehicles must be able to reach a signal, either with a dedicated lane or transitway, or by making use of an otherwise clear lane.

Corridors with relatively long signal cycles, or relatively long distances between signals, are good candidates for active TSP.

https://nacto.org/publication/transit-s ... -priority/

[Ken7]

Just stay behind a bus and you're golden

Like following a ambulance...make time!!

It will be interesting to see just how this works. The way some of these drivers follow rules of the road, it maybe is a good thing they can spring a green light for safer travel.

The first day I put my dash cam in I had a bus driver run a sold red on Bernard, so this might be ok.

[dirtybiker]

I have zero issue with the buses having this system.

As poorly engineered, set up, sensor activated, mish mash of the next best
cure all systems implemented over the last 20 yrs. or so to be the bane
to any semblance of traffic flow.
This will not make one lick of difference in the day to day lives of
any road users.

[alanjh595]

I have zero issue with the buses having this system.

As poorly engineered, set up, sensor activated, mish mash of the next best
cure all systems implemented over the last 20 yrs. or so to be the bane
to any semblance of traffic flow.
This will not make one lick of difference in the day to day lives of
any road users.

I am good with that.

[Urban Cowboy]

Just stay behind a bus and you're golden

Like following a ambulance...make time!!

It will be interesting to see just how this works. The way some of these drivers follow rules of the road, it maybe is a good thing they can spring a green light for safer travel.

The first day I put my dash cam in I had a bus driver run a sold red on Bernard, so this might be ok.

There are certainly a number of transit drivers in the mix, who judging by their actions, seem to think the laws don't apply to them. It's as though piloting a bus gives them some sort of a superiority complex.

[Ken7]

There are certainly a number of transit drivers in the mix, who judging by their actions, seem to think the laws don't apply to them. It's as though piloting a bus gives them some sort of a superiority complex.

Simple solution is a camera on board, then the ones that think they can will change!