Urbanophile Looks At Mega Bus

Someone said life is what happens when you are thinking about other things--the same is true for many transformative economic trends. Six years ago-or even less, only a small number of energy geeks had heard of hydraulic fracking or imagined it's possible potential or drawbacks. Mega Bus and similar competitors are a similar trend few saw having such a large impact on inter city travel.

While not perfect, I have used Mega Bus about 5 times to NYC and found the cost vs. benefit to be a much better option than Amtrak to NYC. From the crowds, many feel the same way.

Urbanophile has a good post up about the trend--and it's possible impact on High Speed Rail.

So why the complaints? They can speak for themselves, but I suspect a couple of items. Firstly, some people just don’t like private sector solutions. That’s a view I can respect, but not agree with. But more importantly, I think that there’s fear that successful private sector intercity bus service undermines the case for high speed rail that is near and dear to the urbanist heart

Indeed, it is true that in many cases Megabus frankly does undermine the case, particularly for the “Amtrak on steroids” style HSR proposals on the table in places like the Midwest. Megabus already delivers basically the end to end journey times of the proposed Midwest “high speed rail” system with similar amenities but without the need for billions in government expenditures. Even on the east coast, NYC to Providence has a journey time not that much worse than the Acela – and at 20% of the ticket price. Congestion might be a real concern, but if so, customers would notice. But give Megabus some credit – they build this into their schedules. Generally the journey times are as advertised.

One huge factor is that a true mass rail market must be price competitive-although he does mention the huge embeded subsidy coming from the "free" government highway system.

Anyway, a pretty good post-what are your thoughts?

Ohio's Geographic Advantages: A Discussion on Urbanophile

There's a great free form talk going on Urbanophile about what should be one of the more self evident attributes of Ohio. Of course one could say the same for several bordering states, but not as much. Talk quickly turned to rail.

"One of them is that Ohio is on the trade routes. Many major transcontinental interstates pass through the place, along with tons of rails lines. This is a big contrast to Michigan, which is a peninsula. Other than Detroit and the trade links through Canada and its air hub, Michigan is almost always going to require a special trip. I noticed this when I drove to Grand Rapids for the first time. It’s a detour. You’re not going to pass through it unless you’re going somewhere else in Michigan. Whereas in Ohio, massive amounts of people and freight are simply passing through. All it has to do is convince some of it to stop. Furthermore, Ohio is a state of many large cities. In addition to the “3C”s of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, there’s also Dayton, Toledo, Akron, Youngstown etc... "

Columbus to Pittsburgh 167 miles
Columbus to Indianapolis 175 miles
Columbus to Chicago 354 miles
Columbus to Cincinnati 102 miles
Columbus to Louisville 209 miles
Columbus to Nashville 333 miles
Columbus to D.C. 409 miles
Columbus to New York 535 miles
Columbus to Charlotte 427 miles

I can't help feeling that with the region's rich array of smaller cities, perhaps high speed rail is less an answer than good commuter lines and trains running at average to(say 70-90 avg MPH) fast speeds. I do find it hard to give up a high speed, Chicago--Indianapolis--Columbus--Pittsburgh route and a fast link connecting Cleveland and Columbus. Between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, I see more value in a train that stops in Youngstown and Akron.

Another huge issue is price. I see a lot more value in options that are affordable to a broad range of people.

99 comments so far, comparing cities, regions, land use, density, transit oriented design and all kinds of side topics.