I was watching a YouTube video in which a transit planner (or something of the sort) was discussing a system of addressing bus bunching in Santiago, Chile. Not to get into specifics the system basically involved identifying buses that are on track to be or are already bunched and holding said bus at a major stop. The durations ranged anywhere between 30-90 seconds. The logic is that the hold would work to provide some needed spacing between the held bus and it's leader. It would also lessen the crowds that have to wait in between bunched buses and the next bus. At busy stops these crowds can be exceptionally large.
I would personally want this to be tried out on our buses (doesn't hurt to see if it works). Besides it's not like the MTA has a herd of ideas to work with. They have the technology to see where the buses are at (BusTime anyone) so what would be the trouble. Besides there's another issue with buses that no one likes to point out (although it is highly tied to bunching itself) that holding at busy stops could solve. That is the distribution of riders between buses. It's almost ubiquitous with buses for buses that are nearly empty (or have plenty of space available) to be tailing behind sardine packed buses. If said load were spread evenly between the 2 buses running together both would carry healthy loads so it makes sense to run both. But when said conditions gets surveyed by traffic checkers the latter just goes down as an empty bus and if there's empty buses running on a particular line the MTA will want to reduce service.
If you hold buses at major stops they can pick up some riders that would otherwise have to cram onto the next bus in line. That allows the bus being held to avoid being empty because it's tailing a bus and doesn't have unique crowds to pick up and reduces the stress on the bus behind that would have to pick up more passengers.
I ask why not give it a try. What would be the consequences ultimately?
I would personally want this to be tried out on our buses (doesn't hurt to see if it works). Besides it's not like the MTA has a herd of ideas to work with. They have the technology to see where the buses are at (BusTime anyone) so what would be the trouble. Besides there's another issue with buses that no one likes to point out (although it is highly tied to bunching itself) that holding at busy stops could solve. That is the distribution of riders between buses. It's almost ubiquitous with buses for buses that are nearly empty (or have plenty of space available) to be tailing behind sardine packed buses. If said load were spread evenly between the 2 buses running together both would carry healthy loads so it makes sense to run both. But when said conditions gets surveyed by traffic checkers the latter just goes down as an empty bus and if there's empty buses running on a particular line the MTA will want to reduce service.
If you hold buses at major stops they can pick up some riders that would otherwise have to cram onto the next bus in line. That allows the bus being held to avoid being empty because it's tailing a bus and doesn't have unique crowds to pick up and reduces the stress on the bus behind that would have to pick up more passengers.
I ask why not give it a try. What would be the consequences ultimately?