Dirty, unpunctual, slow ?: Buses solve almost all traffic problems

Buses don't have the best image. But you can also do it differently, we just have to give you the opportunity to do so. Then they might be the future of the modern city and the next German export hit.

Car sharing, e-scooters, hyperloop tunnels: with these and other more or less wild concepts, we are looking for the congestion-free, green, clean and quiet city of tomorrow. The solution to our problem is so close at hand, it's much simpler, older and cheaper than expected: It's the good old bus. He can say little about his bad image Christian Hochfeld, Director of the Agora Verkehrswende think tank, in the ntv podcast "Another thing learned": "The fact that it comes late is because we do not give the bus the necessary priority in road traffic, even though it transports so many people. It is the victim the transport system, which relies heavily on private cars. "

The US traffic researcher Steven Higashide makes the same argument in his new book "Better Buses Better Cities": Better buses, better cities. Buses should be the cornerstone of our urban mobility and public transport. Because more and more people are sharing a limited public space: Around 3.7 million people currently live in Berlin, and in ten years it should be four million. The development in Paris, London and New York is similar. So that we don't have to spend hours in traffic jams on the way to and from work in 2030, pollute the air and poke our minds, we need alternatives to the car that get us to our destination just as quickly, reliably and comfortably.

It can of course be a subway, but it is expensive and not built overnight: In Berlin-Mitte, it took ten years to close the gap between Alexanderplatz and the Brandenburg Gate. The project was finished almost on time this year and has hardly got any more expensive. Three new train stations and 2.2 kilometers of tunnel still cost more than half a billion euros. For what? This means that around 3,000 drivers change to the train every day on the Unter den Linden boulevard.

Up to 25,000 passengers per hour

Christian Hochfeld has been managing director of Agora Verkehrswende since 2016.

(Photo: Agora Verkehrswende)

The same would also be possible with buses if the concept was thought through to the end and not "systematically undervalued", as Christian Hochfeld says. He refers to other metropolises in which so-called "Bus Rapid Transit" systems are used. There buses have their own, comparatively inexpensive infrastructure, run at high speeds and as XXL versions on their own lanes – and come close to the capacity of rail-bound public transport. "We don't think outside the box in Germany," criticizes the traffic expert.

*Data protection

His US colleague Steven Higashide underpins the statement with figures: In a typical large city, around 1000 to 2000 people per hour are on the classic street lane. If you give a bus its own lane, it can turn into 4,000 to 8,000 people per hour. With ideas like the "Bus Rapid Transit" systems, it can be up to 25,000 people, says Higashide.

What happens when buses are preferred can be seen in London: there, the typical red double-deckers are often the fastest way to get from A to B. They are also the cleanest motorized means of transport: Even with average occupancy, buses are only half as dirty as cars. They are also significantly cheaper: those who travel by bus and train can save many thousands of euros a year compared to driving a car.

Half the city area for cars only

Christian Hochfeld calls for time to change something: "Cars stand around 23 hours a day. We cannot afford to privilege and reserve so much public space. We have to have more public space for the bus in the coming months and years." , for public transport systems, pedestrian and bicycle traffic. "

Motorists will not like to hear that, because since the end of the Second World War, urban planning has focused on their needs. But what did that lead to? In Munich, almost half of the city area is now reserved for parked and moving cars.

This status quo may now be nearing its end: In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo dreams of declaring the city center a car-free zone and converting the historic center of the French capital into a pedestrian area. In New York, the city banned all private cars, but also taxis and taxi services such as Uber, from the busy 14th Street a year ago in order to strengthen the otherwise slow and unpunctual bus traffic. Successful, now the buses are fast and on time. The neighborhood is quiet, the traffic jams are gone and the air is better. The shops are also satisfied, because delivery vans and parcel carriers are still allowed and no longer stand in the way of anyone unloading. It's a trend.

Higashide, S: Better Buses, Better Cities: How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit

*Data protection

"Currently similar projects are popping up in many European metropolises, but also worldwide," says Christian Hochfeld. As an example, he cites the Chinese city of Shenzhen with more than twelve million inhabitants in the Pearl River Delta. The traffic expert explains that the entire bus fleet there has a size of around 17,000 city buses. "That is about half the number of buses that run all over Germany. Fully electrified, a very modern and high-quality bus system for the city."

German buses for foreign countries

Politicians have understood that most city dwellers are dissatisfied with the current traffic situation – especially at the municipal level, believes Christian Hochfeld. But the ideas are still rather big and expensive: The designated Berlin SPD top, for example, would like to extend five underground lines in the capital to relieve the streets. Cost: At least 1.6 billion euros and the hope that the federal government will take over three quarters of it. These plans are to be implemented within ten years. Is this realistic? Wouldn't efficient bus routes be the much cheaper and, above all, easier and quicker to implement alternative that could even bring in Germany money?

As a former world export champion, why not develop the bus of the future and then sell it abroad for good money? There are enough ideas, modern bus systems are being expanded significantly worldwide, says Christian Hochfeld. The traffic expert is not thinking of the classic 40-seater or double-decker, but dreams of completely new, automated systems. From buses that are coupled on busy routes like a tram, but could then split up again in different directions.

The bus is one of the oldest modes of transport in the world, but in some ways it is also the future of the modern city. And maybe soon the new German export hit.

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. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Local traffic (t) Bus trip (t) U-Bahn (t) S-Bahn Berlin (t) Road traffic (t) Traffic jam (t) Mobility concepts (t) City of the future (t) Air pollution (t ) Air pollution