All-four
Encyclopedia
All-four is an urban
public transport
scheme first enunciated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation
(BMT—New York City
) in the 1930s in which different transportation technologies
are chosen and implemented in an integrated system.
All of these are electrically driven
from a remote power source, except the last, driven by on-board petrol engines, with the power transmitted to the driving wheels mechanically or by electric generation.
s, looking to skim the franchise
d companies' fares and profits. These vehicles, sometimes no more than an automobile
following streetcar routes, were called jitney
s, a reference to the nickel (US five cents) fare charged – see dollar van
and share taxis in the US.
for a streetcar line, the Avenue C/Cortelyou Road line in Brooklyn. As the system was taken over by the City of New York
in 1940, the BMT management never had the opportunity to bring the concept to full fruition.
The scheme is in use today, though not widely practiced. This was originally caused by the contraction of trolleybus and tram routes in North America and to a lesser extent in the rest of the world, but more recently by the continued contraction of market for trolleybuses, even as the market for tramways in the form of light rail
and pre-Metros, conventional rapid transit, and even petrol buses in the form of bus rapid transit
have gained.
Still, a few impressive systems exist. San Francisco, California
, especially, has seen some of the best implementation of the hierarchy, with trolleybuses replacing diesel on some routes, and expansion of light rail lines and the BART rapid transit system. San Francisco has, upon occasion, been referred to as possessing an all-five system, if one accepts the San Francisco cable car system
as having transit value beyond tourism. In Boston, Massachusetts, while all four types do exist to this day, the trolleybus was never used in the all-four sense, and instead was seen as a step towards downgrading what were once streetcar lines to cheaper bus lines. All-four also exists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, and Mexico City
as well as a number of cities outside the Americas, including Moscow
and Saint Petersburg
in Russia
and Athens
in Greece
.
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
scheme first enunciated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation
Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation
The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940 and today, together with the IND subway system, form the B Division of the New York City Subway...
(BMT—New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) in the 1930s in which different transportation technologies
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
are chosen and implemented in an integrated system.
Modes
The four modes of transport included in the scheme are:- rapid transitRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
(also known as metroRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
s, subways, elevateds) - tramTramA tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s (also known as streetcars, trolleys, and light railLight railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
transit) - trolleybusTrolleybusA trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es (also known as trackless trolleys, trolley coaches, trolley buses, electric buses) - omnibuses (also known as busBusA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es, motor coaches)
All of these are electrically driven
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
from a remote power source, except the last, driven by on-board petrol engines, with the power transmitted to the driving wheels mechanically or by electric generation.
Concept
The concept was intended to cast each of the four modes as complementary, rather than competitive, in a unified transit system. Prior to promotion of this concept, the modes were often seen as separate entities, with interested parties promoting one or the other as "best," a competition that still exists today. With petrol buses especially, routes were sometimes set up in competition with street railway companies by often-illegal entrepreneurEntrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
s, looking to skim the franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
d companies' fares and profits. These vehicles, sometimes no more than an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
following streetcar routes, were called jitney
Jitney
Jitney may refer to:* Jitney , written by August Wilson* Atlantic City Jitney Association, an association of operators of minibus service in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA* an archaic name for a nickel...
s, a reference to the nickel (US five cents) fare charged – see dollar van
Dollar Van
A dollar van is a privately owned type of bus service used to carry passengers in the United States of America. Dollar vans typically operate in neighborhoods within urban areas that are under-served by public mass transit or taxis. Some of the dollar vans are licensed and regulated, while others...
and share taxis in the US.
Hierarchy of usage
Running from the bottom of the list (petrol buses) to the top (rapid transit) all-four represents increasing capital-construction and infrastructure-maintenance costs balanced by increasing system capacity, speed of operation, operating efficiency and vehicle durability in terms of maintenance and useful life. These latter advantages result in lower capital costs going forward through longer amortization periods, lower operating costs due to efficiencies of electric and rail operation, and significantly lower labor costs due to larger vehicles and the ability to link rail vehicles into trains consisting of as many as eleven cars. Customer satisfaction also tends to increase as transport modes move up the hierarchy due to improved speed and ride comfort.All-four as a planning tool
The BMT's concept was that each mode had a niche to fill, depending upon market demand. Petrol buses were a "starter" system, to provide service to areas of light traffic and new subdivisions. When and if demand outpaced the buses' economic usage, a new trolleybus or tram line would substitute for all or part of the petrol buses' route. If the choice was to be a trolleybus, most of that route's electrical infrastructure could be used for an upgrading to a full tramway. The heaviest tram routes in turn could plot the route of heavy rapid transit lines.All-four today
The BMT pioneered introducing petrol buses on a large number of marginal routes through its subsidiary Brooklyn Bus Corporation, and substituted a single trolleybusTrolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
for a streetcar line, the Avenue C/Cortelyou Road line in Brooklyn. As the system was taken over by the City of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1940, the BMT management never had the opportunity to bring the concept to full fruition.
The scheme is in use today, though not widely practiced. This was originally caused by the contraction of trolleybus and tram routes in North America and to a lesser extent in the rest of the world, but more recently by the continued contraction of market for trolleybuses, even as the market for tramways in the form of light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
and pre-Metros, conventional rapid transit, and even petrol buses in the form of bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
have gained.
Still, a few impressive systems exist. San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, especially, has seen some of the best implementation of the hierarchy, with trolleybuses replacing diesel on some routes, and expansion of light rail lines and the BART rapid transit system. San Francisco has, upon occasion, been referred to as possessing an all-five system, if one accepts the San Francisco cable car system
San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
as having transit value beyond tourism. In Boston, Massachusetts, while all four types do exist to this day, the trolleybus was never used in the all-four sense, and instead was seen as a step towards downgrading what were once streetcar lines to cheaper bus lines. All-four also exists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
as well as a number of cities outside the Americas, including Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.