I don’t know how it is in other places/countries but in Paris (inside and in the ≈ 15km area) , clearly, there is always at least 10 passenger in the same bus, I would say 25 average and at the peak hour an easy 50.
So I think buses are still an energy efficient transport, at least in some places.
Which is really just a bad choice. We could have proper town planning if we wanted, and in fact we used to have it. But then we knocked down neighborhoods to make room for highways and that was that. We can work our way back to good towns of any size, if we wanted.
I don’t know how it is in other places/countries but in Paris (inside and in the ≈ 15km area) , clearly, there is always at least 10 passenger in the same bus, I would say 25 average and at the peak hour an easy 50. So I think buses are still an energy efficient transport, at least in some places.
Moscow, usually all seats are taken(25 people), maybe only during night passanger count is single-digit.
I think most people recognize buses are effective for major cities. It gets murkier for less populated locations. America doesn’t really build dense.
Which is really just a bad choice. We could have proper town planning if we wanted, and in fact we used to have it. But then we knocked down neighborhoods to make room for highways and that was that. We can work our way back to good towns of any size, if we wanted.
Public transit doesn’t require density. Example: Old Oskol tram.