Overheard in the elevator this morning:

“I had to take the bus this morning. They unloaded our train at East Falls Church. I haven’t done that since college.”

The middle-aged woman responsible for the quote was speaking in reference to Metro’s problems on the Orange line this morning. Apparently, she had to get off her train part way through her commute and find alternate transportation the rest of the way. This woman, probably a choice rider of rail transit for many years, had until today’s emergency situation never ridden a bus in her entire adult life.

Why ride the train every day but never even consider a bus? Maybe because all other things being equal, buses are less comfortable to ride than trains. They’re dirtier and bumpier. The simple fact is, there is a noticeable difference between gliding smoothly along a steel rail and rumbling over rough pavement. BRT, great as it is on its own terms as an improvement to surface buses (and it is great on those terms), cannot solve that basic problem, and therefore cannot ever fully replicate rail service.