More buses, not bigger buses

Re “MTA to super-size its bus service on Orange Line,” Aug. 25

Larger buses? These will travel full a few times a day at best, and the rest of the day they will run nearly empty. What a waste. The problem of increased demand for the Orange Line has an obvious solution: Schedule more buses during rush-hour. That addresses the greatest irritant in mass transit: waiting times.

The rejoinder that more buses increase congestion is just daft. Mass-transit vehicles reduce congestion, they don’t increase it -- provided that mass transit is actually being utilized. In the case of the Orange Line, the question of utilization has been answered. Making the Orange Line attractive to more potential users is very much a function of waiting times. To favor larger buses over more frequent buses is to abandon good sense and set logic on its head.

Siegfried Othmer

Woodland Hills