Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve

What really makes bus transport less efficient are having bus stops at each or every other corner and no pre-paid fares. In other words, if you had limited number of stops like lightrail or commuter rail with real bus stops with wide protective shelters, people would ride more because the bus would move much faster than bicycle speed.

What I like so much about lightrail is the prepaid fare where everyone pays before entering the train. Therefore, you don't have to wait 5 minutes while a line of people are trying to put in crumpled dollar bills into the fare box! Everyone boards all at once from the front and back doors! They are experimenting this prepaid fare option for buses in the Bronx with very good results. It does require to have fare officers to board the bus from time to time and check people who didn't pay but this is a slight penalty for increased speed.