One-way transit streets provide an opportunity to move large volumes of people in all modes with relatively simple intersections and few conflicts among modes and movements. Many existing one-way streets are overbuilt and disorganized, with more traffic capacity than needed. These streets present a potential site for transit lanes and transitways on the right side of the street, with private vehicles in the center and bikeways on the left.
One-way couplets with transit service are part of many downtown and corridor networks. Historically, one-way conversions were detrimental to transit, achieving high transit operating speeds at the expense of ridership. One-way streets increase walking distances to transit at one end of a trip or the other, since each stop is split between two streets. For spontaneous trips, split routes make it more difficult to find the opposing-direction service. Larger one-way streets can easily become uninviting for pedestrians and cyclists and must be designed carefully to prevent speeding and motor vehicle dominance of the street.
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