US cities pay too much for buses

> still paying for custom paint schemes or colors

Because you need to be able to recognize from a distance, hey that's a city bus. Not a charter bus. Not a school bus. Not a long distance bus.

And buses aren't usually wrapped with advertising. It's usually just a banner on the sides below the windows.

Some ad campaigns pay much more money to extend it over the windows with that mesh material. But that's generally a small minority. But even then the colors on front and top and often borders still clearly identify it. E.g. these are still very clearly public transit if you live there, which is what's important:

https://contravisionoutlook.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads...

https://contravisionoutlook.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads...

School buses are a distinctive bright yellow, there's no mistaking them for anything else. Charter and long distance buses don't stop at the city bus stops. City buses will still have a sign/screen displaying the route number/name.

There’s a difference between spotting a bus at the stop and distance away and the actions you will take accordingly.

You want the bus to be identifiable as possible.

Yeah but the point is you want to look down the street and see if there's a city bus a few blocks away or not. If so, hurry up and walk the block to the bus stop. If not, quickly grab a coffee or decide to grab a Citibike or whatever else that depends on that information.

Spotting buses a few blocks away is a crucial skill in cities.

>Because you need to be able to recognize from a distance, hey that's a city bus.

Sure, but fix here seems to be that DOT Regulations state that transit buses are painted "Lime Green" (example) and other companies should not use said color. People would quickly learn that Lime Green = transit bus in same way School Bus Yellow means school bus.

People already recognize their city bus colors just fine.

I don't see any reason why it would need to be standardized to the same color in every city nationwide.

School buses are the only ones that do that because it's a safety issue as opposed to a convenience isuse.

Buses typically have lit signage indicating their route number or next stop, it’s kind of a dead giveaway and paint job can be ignored

It really isn't when many cities have apps that give you real-time information as to when to expect the next bus.

So you're telling me I shouldn't bother to take a split-second to glance down the street, but instead...

...grab my phone, unlock it, navigate to the app, wait for it to load, wait for it to figure out my location, wait for it to make an API call, try to figure out which of the two "34th and 7th" stops is the one going in the direction I want (since it's a two-way street with bus stops on both side of the intersection), click on one randomly, confirm from the first bus destination listed that I did click on the correct direction, otherwise go back and click on the other one, and then look at its ETA?

Sometimes it really is just better to use your eyes, to figure out that the bus is going to reach the bus stop in about 30 seconds, and that it'll take you 30 seconds of brisk walking to reach it in time, so you'd better start making a beeline now.

When they're further away you can't read the signage, and long-distance buses have signage too.

The paint job really is important because it's vastly more visible. It also often does things like distinguish between local buses and commuter buses, depending on your city.

I really don’t understand why long distance visibility/visual identification is such an important feature. Care to elaborate?

You see a city bus 4 blocks away, and the bus stop is 1 block away, and if you walk fast you can make it to the bus stop in time to catch it. If you didn't look and just walked at normal speed you'd end up having to wait 20 more minutes for the next bus.

I half expected that answer and I personally feel it’s not the responsibility of the buses to invest in custom paint to afford you this convenience. Obviously it would be nice if buses ran on time and I could just tell you to rush if you knew you were running late, but even without that, I feel haste is your responsibility if you’re concerned with making the next bus and not having to wait by just missing it

Huh?

Why not have identifying paint? I can't even imagine what would give you this idea. Like, they've got to be some color or set of colors.

Do you think police officers should just wear street clothes rather than us paying for their uniforms?

Should taxis that you hail from the street be indistinguishable from regular cars because you think the little illuminated sign on top is enough?

We color things and make them distinctive because it helps us tell them apart. If you don't understand this, I don't know how to help you.

I didn’t ask for your help other than accepting other opinions exist. In some cases the distinction is of high value. In some cases it’s at low cost. I’m of opinion this is low value and high cost, thus the cost benefit analysis fails. You’re free to disagree.

Cop uniforms are low cost and serve a significantly higher purpose. Taxis being a distinct color is unnecessary too. If I can identify a Dominos delivery vehicle from a distance, than they just need to try harder with their lit signs. A simple redesign could render vehicle paint job obsolete. Just because it’s been that way doesn’t mean it is the best or only solution and it certainly doesn’t mean it has to remain that way.

> I didn’t ask for your help other than accepting other opinions exist.

Perhaps you don't understand how HN works. When you give an opinion, other people can disagree.

If you don't like what they say, don't complain that you "didn't ask for their help". If that's your attitude, perhaps internet forums are not the place for you.

If you read the article, one of the reasons the cost has gone up is supporting all the different bus colors because they have to keep 20 of same panel in different colors for different governments. If they had single color, then they could unlock better economies of scale.

Telling someone "If you don't understand this, I don't know how to help you." is unnecessary snide that I was addressing. It is an passive aggressive attempt to assert your opinion as the only valid opinion.

> Perhaps you don't understand how HN works.

You continue with unnecessary attempts at belittling, while thinking you're in the 'right'. Perhaps take your own advice regarding internet forum usage.

> When you give an opinion, other people can disagree.

Yes, I'm disagreeing politely. You're the one having trouble accepting it.