Is transit really more efficient than automobiles?

[jebr]

Saw this blog post about the efficiency of transit services and how it really isn't that much better than automobiles:

http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/11/07/can-mass-transit-save-the-environment-right-wing-or-left-wing-heres-a-post-everybody-can-hate/

And a rebuttal by Jarrett Walker:

http://www.humantransit.org/2012/11/eric-morris-on-the-freakonomics-blog-has-fallen-into-the-familiar-trap-to-put-my-remarks-in-context-ive-been-a-trans.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HumanTransit+%28Human+Transit%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Thoughts?

 

[TimePeace]

Yeah, beginning with the title to the first article:

No, transit cannot save the environment. People can, but barely, and only if they get started in much greater numbers.

 

[Anderson]

The answer to the title question is that it depends on the load factor you can get on the route(s) you're looking at. A full bus is more efficient, per passenger mile, than 50 cars with one person in them. I strongly suspect it is still far more efficient than even 12.5 full carpool cars with four commuters apiece. The flipside is that:

A) You end up with a lot of near-empty buses running; and

B) Even with a good, well-used system, you need to run at least some of those buses far less than full to get people onto the buses, period, since folks will be disinclined to take an infrequent transit option.