The Case for Bus Transfers

Earlier this week we tracked a designer's frustrating efforts to simplify Dublin's "confusing and nonsensical" bus system. Today we look at how a city might actually implement such a significant change. The metropolitan area of Auckland, in New Zealand*, has a similarly flawed bus network — lots of disconnected local routes that run directly into the downtown — but has proposed a redesign plan [PDF] that cuts waste and expands services. The plan is now open for public comment.

Jarrett Walker, author of the Human Transit blog and a recent book by the same name, played a leading role in the planning. The key change is the efficient use of connections, Walker wrote at his blog a few weeks back. With this shift the new plan dramatically increases the network of high-frequency buses — those running at least every 15 minutes all day — and covers far more of the city than just the downtown. Instead of this: