NYC’s newer bus lane approaches and congestion pricing findings counter this.

Also, you’re measuring pub transit by its economic sustainability. Pub sector services are not judged by this, nor should they be. See my OP.

The model works in Europe. Why double down on the thing that makes everything in the US suck (unless you're rich) and privatize more?

Where privatization has been done in Europe service has largely worsened. Shouldn't be surprising since these services are fundamentally a natural monopoly.

> The alternative for these riders isn’t the bus. It’s private Ubers and cars.

Why? If they're taking a fixed-route shuttle, why is their only alternative a different sub-service of Uber?

Ha! Everyone fails to make bus rapid transit comfortable and sustainable. That is the point - it’s publicly subsidized discomfort that gets you there. Along with everyone else more or less on time. In an urban environment.

Along. With. Everyone. Else.

It’s a public good. I’ve lived in both the EU and the U.S. extensively using buses and the argument that “American cities have failed” is just such a load of crap. I found buses just as tolerable in both including places like suburban Cupertino. They’re not supposed to be “sustainable” because they’re a vital service same as the water in pipes. And they’re not supposed to be “comfortable” if the frame of reference used are AC/sleek private vehicles.

The problem and the solutions have not changed. The only thing that has are the GPS enabled pocket computers we started carrying around. The GPS bit allowed for a real optimization. But the pocket computers also started feeding us with doubts about shit that works just fine.

> Why? Charge a use fee.

Who is paying for the maintenance of the extra bus lanes (or creating them in the first place), or the extra maintenance on the other lanes which get heavier use since some have been set aside as dedicated lanes.

Taxpayers.

So yeah, taxpayers funding Uber.

I'd rather fund public transport.

> American cities have largely failed at making bus rapid transit economically sustainable and comfortable for the broader population

I don't know that's true at all. Buses generally work well wherever I take them, and they are widely used in cities around the country. In many cities I can just walk to the nearest corner, or maybe another block, and catch a bus whichever way I'm going. I often don't even need to know the routes.

IME a certain socioeconomic class is unfamiliar with using them, with how to use them (a barrier to adoption), and with sharing public transit with others (I don't know about you). Didn't some SV billionaire (Zuckerberg? Musk?) once say something about people should be afraid of psychopaths on public transit? Many disparage any public service, automatically assuming they are incompetent or substandard.

> Privately-operated buses on city bus lanes seems fine?

Public transit needs a network effect: When more people use it, there are more buses and trains and they come more often.

> If cities won’t permit something like this, it warrants asking if public resources are better used turning those bus lanes into standard ones.)

Undoing the only solution to a healthier city and it's citizens because it was not an immediate success is not the answer. If you don't fix the problems, cities will get more and more congested. An additional lane will not solve that problem, just postpone the inevitable. There only one way out of that problem and that is getting people to use public transport and their feet.