N
Nathanael
Guest
Also, if you're looking at full costs, buses beat up the roadways. Busways have to be repaired and replaced more frequently and more expensively than railroad tracks. Often the bus system doesn't have to pay for this (it's "someone else's problem") but when they do pay for it, it becomes obvious.Mainly because buses need to be replaced much more frequently than LRT cars, by a factor of two or more, and because the incremental operating cost of an LRT service is lower than that for buses on a per seat/capacity basis.
Buses are cheaper than rail if you have low volumes (few trips per day, few passengers per trip), and much more expensive than rail if you have high volumes (many trips per day, many passengers per trip.) Rail is a high-volume solution which scales upwards cheaply. Buses are a low-volume solution which scales downwards cheaply. Look at your situation and decide which is appropriate -- usually if your city is big enough to seriously consider a large bus system, rail is appropriate.