Transit planners are rediscovering a simple but powerful tool: bus stop balancing. By increasing the distance between stops from 700-800 feet to about 1,300 feet, cities can dramatically improve bus speeds and reliability without building new infrastructure. This approach costs little but delivers big results.

American cities typically place stops far closer together than European counterparts - around 313 meters versus 300-450 meters in Europe. This frequent stopping pattern slows buses to just eight miles per hour in cities like New York and San Francisco, making them uncompetitive with driving. Buses spend about 20 percent of their time stopping and starting again, with each stop adding 12-24 seconds to travel times.

Cities that have implemented stop balancing have seen impressive results. San Francisco increased travel speeds by 4.4-14 percent by reducing stops from six per mile to two and a half. Vancouver saved passengers five minutes on average, while Los Angeles saw operating speeds increase by 29 percent on its Metro Rapid corridor. These improvements make transit networks more useful by expanding the number of destinations reachable within a given timeframe.