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Do Your Buses Get Stuck in Traffic? (The Downs-Thomson Paradox)

Not Just Bikes4 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2021–2023
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explainer · general · evergreen · 2021–2023 on HN

Not Just Bikes explains the Downs-Thomson paradox using Amsterdam and Toronto: road widening doesn't fix congestion, and buses stuck in traffic make transit slow. It argues for giving transit its own priority infrastructure.

HN points to it as a clear introduction to why widening roads fails and why transit-only lanes matter.

Transit, cities & urban planning#downs-thomsonparadox#publictransit#urbanplanning#trafficcongestion

6 comments from Hacker News

@rglullis2022-05 · in “An autonomous car in SF blocked a fire truck responding to an emergency”

Please, please watch the videos I linked. Especially the Not Just Bikes channel. For example, this one ▶ this video can quickly explain why a transport system flooded with autonomous cars and poor public transit would make the overall system worse for everyone . There is also another video that talks about microcars for people with disability and reduced mobility: link No rational person can watch those videos and conclude that the best course of action to solve urban transportation requires self-driving cars. Getting FSD cars is just a rich nerd fetish which will not solve anything and likely contribute to make suburban sprawl worse.

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@ViewTrick10022023-11 · in “Jevons Paradox”

To reduce congestion you need to speed up and expand the slowest alternative, public transport. That is the only proven method to reduce congestion. The peak demand for car travel is way beyond the infrastructure which is possible to construct and maintain. More info: ▶ this video

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@animal_spirits2022-01 · in “Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night”

Correct, The Downs-Thomson paradox [1] is a known issue in urban planning stating basically unless you improve public transportation car congestion will continue to get worse. > the equilibrium speed of car traffic on a road network is determined by the average door-to-door speed of equivalent journeys taken by public transport. NotJustBikes has a good introduction to it [2] [1] link [2] ▶ this video

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@animal_spirits2022-01 · in “Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night”

The less you invest in public transportation, the more people will drive. The more people that drive, the slower traffic gets. If you just widen the road, all you do is increase the amount of cars that drive. If people can't get to where they are going via public transportation, then they are going to drive instead, increasing congestion. Would recommend watching this video on it: ▶ this video

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@quadrangle2021-09 · in “Amtrak might add more routes, but they won't be faster than a car”

Train fans will always still take the train, and for good reason (they are a better experience in some ways), but the fundamental issue of whether we can address car traffic and congestion is about whether other forms of transit can be faster. ▶ this video and link are great overviews

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