1 registered statement
Chris West inside City Boundary
July 24, 2021, 7:38 PM
I recently noticed that the UVX Bus Rapid Transit system stops at traffic lights. This makes sense, but I wondered why the buses are not prioritized at lights.
A bus, can move people significantly more effectively than cars in any of the other lanes, having a much lower impact per capita. One would hope that drivers might chose on occasion to take the bus instead of driving their car as this would personally save them money and reduce traffic, noise and pollution in the community. However, I recently took the bus and became quickly apparent why so few chose to take UVX if they own a car. As the system is currently set up, UVX is much slower than a car (except for during exceptionally heavy traffic) as UVX buses must stop at both lights and bus stops. It therefore seems strange to me that buses are not given priority at traffic lights. Allowing buses to pass through traffic lights without stopping would benefit both riders and drivers as the increased speed of UVX increases ridership thereby removing cars from the road (especially during peak hours) and reducing traffic. (This is an example of the Down-Thomson Paradox more information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downs%E2%80%93Thomson_paradox) If these concerns were already debated and the current traffic light behavior of not prioritizing buses was purposeful, what is the reasoning? If not, I ask the Provo city council to discuss if changing traffic light behavior to prioritize UVX buses would benefit (and discuss making similar changes with the Orem city council).
Open City Hall is not a certified voting system or ballot box. As with any public comment process, participation in Open City Hall is voluntary. The statements in this record are not necessarily representative of the whole population, nor do they reflect the opinions of any government agency or elected officials.
Translate
I recently noticed that the UVX Bus Rapid Transit system stops at traffic lights. This makes sense, but I wondered why the buses are not prioritized at lights.
A bus, can move people significantly more effectively than cars in any of the other lanes, having a much lower impact per capita. One would hope that drivers might chose on occasion to take the bus instead of driving their car as this would personally save them money and reduce traffic, noise and pollution in the community. However, I recently took the bus and became quickly apparent why so few chose to take UVX if they own a car. As the system is currently set up, UVX is much slower than a car (except for during exceptionally heavy traffic) as UVX buses must stop at both lights and bus stops. It therefore seems strange to me that buses are not given priority at traffic lights. Allowing buses to pass through traffic lights without stopping would benefit both riders and drivers as the increased speed of UVX increases ridership thereby removing cars from the road (especially during peak hours) and reducing traffic. (This is an example of the Down-Thomson Paradox more information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downs%E2%80%93Thomson_paradox) If these concerns were already debated and the current traffic light behavior of not prioritizing buses was purposeful, what is the reasoning? If not, I ask the Provo city council to discuss if changing traffic light behavior to prioritize UVX buses would benefit (and discuss making similar changes with the Orem city council).