Bustitution
Encyclopedia
Bus
A 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...
service either on a temporary or permanent basis. The word is a portmanteau of the words "bus" and "substitution". The train service that is replaced may be of any type such as 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...
, tram
Tram
A 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...
, streetcar, commuter rail, regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
or heavy rail intercity
Inter-city rail
Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains.There is no precise definition of inter-city rail. Its meaning may vary from country to country...
passenger service.
Usage
The term "bustitution" been used to describe the dismantling of the street railway systems of many cities in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in the mid-20th century. In more recent North American usage, the expression often refers to the temporary substitution of buses for trains such as may be done with Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
's Thruway Motorcoach service or similar bus replacement by Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
in Canada. When used to refer to the permanent replacement of trains with buses it may connote a somewhat derogatory appraisal of the service change.
The term is used in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to describe the replacement of full-sized train service by buses. In such cases the replacement may be temporary and due to maintenance work or train failure. It is also used to describe the permanent closing of lightly used services and replacement by a bus service. During the Beeching
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
era in the 1960s, bus substitution was an official policy for replacing train services on closed lines. This policy was largely unsuccessful however, as the bus services were usually far slower than the train services they replaced, causing many passengers to give up on public transport altogether.
The term may be used in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to refer to permanent or temporary service change.
A similar concept in some ways is motorization, though that term more broadly refers to the rise of the 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...
as well as bus transportation.
See also
- AbandonmentAbandonmentThe term abandonment has a multitude of uses, legal and extra-legal. This "signpost article" provides a guide to the various legal and quasi-legal uses of the word and includes links to articles that deal with each of the distinct concepts at greater length...
- Beeching AxeBeeching AxeThe Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
- Bus rapid transitBus rapid transitBus 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...
- Effects of the automobile on societiesEffects of the automobile on societiesOver the course of the 20th century, the automobile rapidly developed from an expensive toy for the rich into the de facto standard for passenger transport in most developed countries. In developing countries, the effects of the automobile have lagged, but are emulating the impacts of developed...
- FTR (bus) a British Bus rapid transit proposal
- Great American streetcar scandal
- Oh, Doctor Beeching!Oh, Doctor Beeching!Oh, Doctor Beeching! is a British television sitcom written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, which, after a broadcast pilot on 14 August 1995, ran for two series from 8 July 1996, with the last episode being broadcast on 28 September 1997...
a 1990s television situation comedy series set in the 1960s - RailcarRailcarA railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
- Rail trailRail trailA rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
- SELRAP - Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action PartnershipSELRAP - Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action PartnershipThe mission of the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership is to campaign for reinstatement of the strategic trans-Pennine route linking Colne with Skipton as part of the national rail network and to ensure that the trackbed and its structures are protected until that aim is attained.-...
a British rail transit advocacy group trying to undo bustitution - "Slow TrainSlow Train"Slow Train" is a song by the British duo Flanders and Swann, written in 1963.It laments the loss of British stations and railway lines in that era, due to the Beeching cuts, and also the passing of a way of life, with the advent of motorways etc....
" a song about railway station closures in Britain the 1960s - Thruway Motorcoach
- Transport economicsTransport economicsTransport economics is a branch of economics that deals with the allocation of resources within the transport sector and has strong linkages with civil engineering. Transport economics differs from some other branches of economics in that the assumption of a spaceless, instantaneous economy does...
- Via Rail: Fourth round of cuts a 2003 Canadian political conflict of interest controversy