Bus routes and a better America

Depending on where you live, you deal with bus routes. 

Now, buses are great things--I think efficient public transportation could do wonders for congestion in big cities and even middle-sized areas like the Quad Cities, Des Moines--fill in your favorite community of 200-300,000 here.  Indeed, most cities of that size, as well as most towns with large colleges have bus routes.  Most large cities or urban areas also feature great train service or subways (Washington DC is the model for a great subway system...in that, DC is competent).

But they could be better.  Once again this morning I was trapped behind a Champaign-Urbana bus on a one-lane road (so that there was really no way to get past it for me or the 50 cars behind me).  It kept stopping every block to allow people to get on and people to step off.  Why?

Why do we permit buses to stop every block or at points that are not designated bus stops?  Is there really a difference whether that person is let off at the door of his destination?  Are people no longer capable of walking even a couple blocks?

Wouldn't the solution be to limit bus stops to point every half-mile?  Or if you are in a really congested traffic city like New York or Chicago, in your downtown area, you define it by blocks--perhaps every two blocks?  There are three great advantages to this.

1 - Traffic is going to be more efficient.  Because when I've got a dozen cars behind me, they are sticking into the previous intersection in all likelihood and that means cross-traffic won't go anywhere either, thus backing up those streets and causing a chain reaction of stopped or slowed traffic.

2 - The media keeps whining about America being obese.  It is.  But every solution you see is based on changing diet or 'great workout plans for killer abs', and very little that offers practical value.  Well, if a bus only dropped off every half-mile, that means riders would have to do a little walking.  Nothing horrible, but a half-mile walk from the bus to work and then work to the bus--and suddenly you've got a mile of exercise.  No, not a great amount, but that could be enough to help quite a few people.

3 - Fewer start-stops means less wear on engines and better mileage for buses.  In an era of  tight budgets for municipalities--even savings of $4000-5000 can be significant.

Of course, the problem is convenience.  Lazy people don't want to walk whether it is a block or a half-mile.  The logic is that they paid for the bus ride, so by God, drop me off exactly where I want.

I think my solution would be easy to implement and after a short adjustment period, no one would complain.  Sadly, I know none of this will happen--it's not a subject that's going to generate "WOW" for a politician, nor are bus riders the ones donating to political campaigns.

Am I nuts for this?  Are there other little ways you can find that could help communities?  I'm going to forward this suggestion to the bus services in C-U and over in Springfield.  I don't expect anything to come from it--but you never know, right?