#Bus Stops

[odinsblog]

“All this happening at once is really startling,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who researches intercity bus travel and directs the university’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. “You’re taking mobility away from disproportionately low-income and mobility-challenged citizens who don’t have other options.”

Roughly three-quarters of intercity bus riders have annual incomes of less than $40,000. More than a quarter would not make their trip if bus service was not available, according to surveys by Midwestern governments reviewed by DePaul University.

Intercity bus riders are also disproportionately minorities, people with disabilities, and unemployed travelers.

A spokesperson for Greyhound, which is now owned by German company FlixMobility, said it strives to offer customers the most options for connections, but has “encountered challenges in some instances.” The spokesperson also said they “actively engage with local stakeholders to emphasize the importance of supporting affordable and equitable intercity bus travel.”

The terminal closures have been accelerating as Greyhound, the largest carrier, sells its valuable terminals to investors, including investment firm Alden Global Capital.

Last year, Alden subsidiary Twenty Lake Holdings purchased 33 Greyhound stations for $140 million. Alden is best known for buying up local newspapers like The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and The Baltimore Sun, cutting staff, and selling some of the iconic downtown buildings.

Alden has started to sell the Greyhound depots to real estate developers, speeding up the timetable for closures.

“I don’t know the specific details of each building, but it is clear what is happening here: an important piece of transit infrastructure is being sacrificed in the name of higher profits,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School.

“The public sector has turned a cold shoulder to buses,” DePaul’s Schwieterman said. “We subsidize public transit abundantly, but we don’t see this as an extension of our transit system. Few governments view it as their mandate.”

Bus terminals are costly for companies to operate, maintain and pay property taxes on. Many have deteriorated over the years, becoming blighted properties struggling with homelessness, crime and other issues.

But terminal closures cause a ripple effect of problems.

Travelers can’t use the bathroom, stay out of the harsh weather or get something to eat while they wait. People transferring late at night or early in the morning, sometimes with long layovers, have no place to safely wait or sleep. It’s worse in the cold, rain, snow or extreme heat.

Bus carriers often try to switch to curbside service when a terminal closes, but curbside bus service can clog up city streets with passengers and their luggage, snarl traffic, increase pollution, and frustrate local business owners. In Philadelphia, a Greyhound terminal closure and switch to curbside service after its lease ended turned into a “humanitarian disaster” and “municipal disgrace” with people waiting on street corners.

(continue reading)

[secondsofpleasure]

waiting / 4.2024

[aneverydaything]

Day 1944, 19 October 2023

[jefkphotography]

A digital display board at a bus stop.

[redfield-by]

Піраміды сучаснай архітэктуры

[atlurbanist]

A bus stop in Doraville, GA shows how we’re failing to support transit riders

We need DOTs, cities, and business owners to all get on the same page and support bus ridership with great pedestrian experiences.

Industrial Way in Doraville, GA was recently resurfaced (this is outside the Super H Mart and Brandsmart). But there's no pavement or sidewalk for pedestrians at the MARTA bus stop, and no legal crossing here for bus riders. And that’s unacceptable. This, despite the 2021 Doraville mobility plan mentioning a need for pedestrian safety here. These plans need to mean something, and bus ridership needs to be invested in. If the intention is for bus riders to walk way the heck down to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard just to legally cross Motors Industrial Way and get to their jobs and shops on the other side, then yes a sidewalk is needed. In this image of the aerial view of this place, you can see the bus stops in the top, right.

But that's an insane thing to do to a pedestrian, making them walk that far to cross a road, and preferably a crossing will get put here.

You're probably thinking: "a bus stop inside the shopping center would be better for pedestrians." And I agree. But I assume that's not MARTA's call -- they'd likely need permission from the property owner to put a bus stop on the private road that runs alongside H Mart. Essentially, we need GDOT and Doraville and business owners to all get on the same page when it comes to supporting bus ridership, by providing excellent pedestrian experiences. Kudos to Doraville Councilman Andy Yeoman, who tells me that he'll look into this. (Also, apologies for the goofy double negative in my graphic -- "no 🚷 allowed sign" makes no sense, but hopefully the point comes across.)

[kazifatagar]

Pedestrians NOT Considered When Building BUS STOPS 

A viral photo on X shows a bus stop without a connecting pedestrian sidewalk. It humorously suggests that bus riders might be Sims characters, magically appearing at odd times. Sadly, that’s not the case here. Pedestrians not considered when building bus stops  walk on the grass the way we have always done for the past 80 years?— Avtar Singh (@avtarborneo) October 31, 2024 Netizens recommend…

[zegalba]

Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops (1990) Location: Nagasaki, Japan

[indigo6f00ff]

need to share an experience i had 30 minutes ago

(edit: thanks to @walks-the-ages for providing and reminding me to put alt text, sorry it slips my mind alot lol)

[cryptablog]

I hate sitting in this fuck ass mcdonalds but its POURING outside and they removed the bus covering. I HATE HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE

[secondsofpleasure]

nature vs nurture / 9.2024

[insidecroydon]

'Complete drivel': officials confused by botched bus changes

Transport correspondent JEREMY CLACKSON reports on the continuing confusion at TfL HQ over where they’ve placed their own bus stops in Croydon town centre Not so OK KK: new bus stop arrangements have confused TfL staff as well as passengers Almost a month since Transport for London shuffled its bus stops in Croydon town centre, and there remains confusion and some chaos over which routes stop…

[jefkphotography]

A bus stop.

I took this photo in Holland.

[redfield-by]

Прыпынкавыя павільёны Магілёва.

[redysetdare]

The response to "ace people are just virgins who can't get laid!" Shouldn't be "ace people can still have sex!" but instead " being a virgin isn't a bad thing."

The response to "aro people are just heartless freaks!" Shouldn't be "aro people can still feel love!" And instead be "not feeling love or other emotions doesn't make you a bad person."

Instead of pushing the idea that aspec people can be "normal like allos" we should instead be trying to normalize aspec experiences. Yes aspec people can be normal because aspec identities are normal. Some aros fall in love. some aces have sex. but they should not be the only valid aspec experiences. We should not use these experiences to make the aspec identity more palatable to amatonormativity and allos.

[thedistraughtdreadnaut]

Stupid interdimensonal bus stop, always there we you need it never there when you want it