Bus Bays and Pads

[lepidopteran]

Is anyone familiar with these transit concepts:  bus pads, and bus bays?  They are associated with city and local buses.

A bus pad is pretty much just a "pad" of concrete in the right lane of the roadway while the rest of the road at that point is asphalt.  They are typically a little more than the length of a typical transit bus (longer in areas with articulated models?) and are located in front of bus stops and/or traffic signals.  I think the purpose of bus pads is to prevent the heavy buses from wearing ruts in the asphalt by starting and stopping all the time on the same right-most lane.

A bus bay is also a kind of bus pad, but rather than being in the roadway, it is off to the side, in a trapezoidal pull-off area.  This allows the bus to load and unload passengers without blocking traffic on the main road.  Have you ever been in a situation where, on an older 4-lane arterial with no turn lanes, you're constantly caught behind vehicles waiting to make left-hand turns in the left lane, and buses stopping in the right?  Bus bays can help avoid that, well at least the latter part.  But while Toledo, OH's TARTA system had some of these, bus bays don't seem to be all that common.  I read once that one reason is they sort of work "too well"; overall traffic flow speeds up to the point that the bus drivers have a difficult time getting back into the main road, or no one will "let them in".  I wonder if a right-lane-only traffic signal, somehow tripped by the driver once loading is complete, might help?  Another reason might be environmental resistance to that much more pavement.  Or that most roads have already been widened to the point that there's simply no room for bus bays.

[Bruce]

The terminology is a bit different here on the West Coast. At least in the Seattle area, bus bays refer to stops within a bus station (or transit center) while we call a short loading area at a bus stop a "bus pullout" (as seen in the picture below).


Smokey Point TC curb stop by SounderBruce, on Flickr

[briantroutman]

The terminology is a bit different here on the West Coast. At least in the Seattle area...

That may be a Seattle thing or a Pacific NW thing, because at least Golden Gate Transit in the Bay Area refers to them as "bus pads"  and even names the stops as such: Seminary Drive Bus Pad, Spencer Ave. Bus Pad, and so on.

[thenetwork]

I read once that one reason is they sort of work "too well"; overall traffic flow speeds up to the point that the bus drivers have a difficult time getting back into the main road, or no one will "let them in".  I wonder if a right-lane-only traffic signal, somehow tripped by the driver once loading is complete, might help? 

I remember as far back as at least the late 80's that in Windsor, ON, drivers were required to yield to buses re-entering the travel lanes from the pullouts, or "bus bays".  Not sure if that is a law in Ontario in general, but the exterior back of the buses had some sort of reminder sign about the yield law as well.

In my neck of the woods, we have the pullouts, which are increasing in numbers along the main arteries wherever possible.  Not so much on the secondaries, though..

[Bruce]

I wonder if a right-lane-only traffic signal, somehow tripped by the driver once loading is complete, might help?

They exist and they're called a queue jump. There's plenty of bus-only signals in Seattle, but my county only has a single one, located on our bus rapid transit line:

[sipes23]

Chicago has been putting these in here and there in my neck of the woods. In the Jefferson Park area, there was one bus stop for multiple lines on a major road that had a massive hole until they put in a bus pad. We're talking a divot you could hide a basketball in. The buses really do beat up the road.

[jeffandnicole]

Or that most roads have already been widened to the point that there's simply no room for bus bays.

This is generally why more of them aren't built.

I wonder if a right-lane-only traffic signal, somehow tripped by the driver once loading is complete, might help?  Another reason might be environmental resistance to that much more pavement.

Such a traffic light, over and over again, is a very expensive solution.  It would disrupt traffic flow.  If only over one lane, you would have people jumping to the other lane, possibly increasing accidents.  Depending on the speed limit, triggering the light would take about 3  - 5 seconds for the light to cycle from green to yellow to red.  And then the light would remain red for a period of time after the bus has pulled away, causing traffic to just sit there for no reason.

Overall, environmentalists want more buses.  I don't recall them having an issue with these pullouts.

[roadfro]

The terminology is a bit different here on the West Coast. At least in the Seattle area...

That may be a Seattle thing or a Pacific NW thing, because at least Golden Gate Transit in the Bay Area refers to them as "bus pads"  and even names the stops as such: Seminary Drive Bus Pad, Spencer Ave. Bus Pad, and so on.

It's not a northwest term. They are usually referred to as bus pullouts in Nevada as well.

[mrsman]

Is anyone familiar with these transit concepts:  bus pads, and bus bays?  They are associated with city and local buses.

A bus pad is pretty much just a "pad" of concrete in the right lane of the roadway while the rest of the road at that point is asphalt.  They are typically a little more than the length of a typical transit bus (longer in areas with articulated models?) and are located in front of bus stops and/or traffic signals.  I think the purpose of bus pads is to prevent the heavy buses from wearing ruts in the asphalt by starting and stopping all the time on the same right-most lane.

A bus bay is also a kind of bus pad, but rather than being in the roadway, it is off to the side, in a trapezoidal pull-off area.  This allows the bus to load and unload passengers without blocking traffic on the main road.  Have you ever been in a situation where, on an older 4-lane arterial with no turn lanes, you're constantly caught behind vehicles waiting to make left-hand turns in the left lane, and buses stopping in the right?  Bus bays can help avoid that, well at least the latter part.  But while Toledo, OH's TARTA system had some of these, bus bays don't seem to be all that common.  I read once that one reason is they sort of work "too well"; overall traffic flow speeds up to the point that the bus drivers have a difficult time getting back into the main road, or no one will "let them in".  I wonder if a right-lane-only traffic signal, somehow tripped by the driver once loading is complete, might help?  Another reason might be environmental resistance to that much more pavement.  Or that most roads have already been widened to the point that there's simply no room for bus bays.

Bus pads, I certainly see them in certain places, but generally speaking they just are there to handle the weight of the buses.

Bus pullouts are definitely a product of old-school traffic engineering.  Buses pull out of the way so that cars can continue unimpeded.  On many streets with full-time parking, the parking lane effectively acts as a bus pullout - it serves the same function, even though it is not specifically designed as such. 

But the more urbanist way of designing streets will actually encourage the opposite effect: bus bumpouts, so that the bus does not have to pull out of the traffic lane.  As mentioned above, since drivers don't let buses come back in to the stream of traffic, the bumpouts keep the buses in the main lane and traffic behind the bus simply has to wait.  So in a street with a parking lane, the bumpout will cover the parking lane in front of the bus stop.

[vdeane]

That is true about bus bays being too effective.  Drivers often don't yield and the bus can become trapped.

[mgk920]

WisDOT installed transit bus bays on both sides of WI 47 at its recently rebuilt US 10/WI 441 interchange in Appleton and Menasha, WI.  They are on the 'trailing' side of the interchange in both directions.

Mike

[Rothman]

That is true about bus bays being too effective.  Drivers often don't yield and the bus can become trapped.

I'm all for them.  Why they didn't put them in for the "Village" stop for CDTA's BusPlus on Central Avenue is beyond me.

[roadfro]

Bus pullouts are definitely a product of old-school traffic engineering.  Buses pull out of the way so that cars can continue unimpeded.  On many streets with full-time parking, the parking lane effectively acts as a bus pullout - it serves the same function, even though it is not specifically designed as such. 

But the more urbanist way of designing streets will actually encourage the opposite effect: bus bumpouts, so that the bus does not have to pull out of the traffic lane.  As mentioned above, since drivers don't let buses come back in to the stream of traffic, the bumpouts keep the buses in the main lane and traffic behind the bus simply has to wait.  So in a street with a parking lane, the bumpout will cover the parking lane in front of the bus stop.

I wouldn't say that bus pullouts are a thing of the past. It definitely depends on the application.

In the Las Vegas area, pullouts are still frequently required in new construction. Since many of these stops are located on major arterial roads just past the signal, having the bus block at a stop can cause backups in the right through lane, which can be detrimental to intersection operation. If the adjacent property owner is zoned for commercial or is another major traffic generator, and on a known or planned transit route, the pilot will be required--it will often also double as a right turn bay into the property.

In other cases though, especially on smaller streets or in other special areas, they purposefully do not install the pullouts because of the less intensive traffic demand and misses on the street.

[mgk920]

Bus pullouts are definitely a product of old-school traffic engineering.  Buses pull out of the way so that cars can continue unimpeded.  On many streets with full-time parking, the parking lane effectively acts as a bus pullout - it serves the same function, even though it is not specifically designed as such. 

But the more urbanist way of designing streets will actually encourage the opposite effect: bus bumpouts, so that the bus does not have to pull out of the traffic lane.  As mentioned above, since drivers don't let buses come back in to the stream of traffic, the bumpouts keep the buses in the main lane and traffic behind the bus simply has to wait.  So in a street with a parking lane, the bumpout will cover the parking lane in front of the bus stop.

You latter example is the real 'old school' thing - think 'trams'.

Mike