What Does Complexity Mean?

 A very good article from Freewheeling on how complexity is not actually the problem with UK train fares, and it raises a distinction that I think is important for transit in the US (which has other problems than complexity, but also accusations of complexity). That is: it's not really about complexity, it's about cognitive load, jeopardy, and arbitrariness.

In other words, it's about

a) how much do I have to think?

b) how much risk is there to me if I do it wrong?

and 

c) can I detect the base logic of how it works (not necessarily the details, but the principles on which those details are built).

I want to suggest that these are also the main issues of people (not) using transit in the US rather than the actual complexity of transit.

1. Cognitive Load

US systems tend to make it surprisingly difficult to figure out how you're actually going to get from point A to point B, and back. You have to think about it pretty heavily, rather than being able to show up, go, and come back.

How often does this come? Where does it go? When does it stop running? How much does it cost? 

I don't know. And often I won't know. 

Yes, there are cities that try to improve that but their app use is not always helpful and their wayfinding likewise.

Plus, US transit (especially in cities like the Quad Cities) can often emphasize coverage over both frequency and directness, meaning that navigating the map is also quite difficult for a novice.

2. Jeopardy

Related to that: if I can't trust that I'll actually get back, or that I'll make it to where I need to go in time, I'm not going to use that form of transit.

And if I think it's actually dangerous, I also won't (though that's massively overstated when you consider the most dangerous part of traveling on the street is the car crashes and transit largely avoids those). 

Well, US transit kind of fails on both of those, especially the first, with the obvious exceptions:

Hello, NYC. Please ignore the following, except when there are transit works.

But largely in the US, it's common to have buses that stop running early, or take odd routes, or take forever to get there. All of which make there a genuine sense of jeopardy that you'll actually be able to do what you need to do, and that you'll be punished by being stranded otherwise.

3. Arbitrariness

Well, all of the choices that contribute to the above two elements feel very, very arbitrary.

Just like sidewalks, transit sometimes just...ends oddly. Or, in the case of  the rail lines that inspired "Waiting for the Interurban," ceases to exist altogether.

Artistic license aside, while we can ultimately look at things like "coverage was the idea here" to figure out some of the odder elements in US transit, a lot of networks could use a real redesign to actually go where people might want to take it. At the moment, they often feel like arbitrary lines on a map, with arbitrary costs, arbitrary hours, arbitrary frequency, etc.

Give people a clear reason why their bus runs when it runs, where it runs, etc., and it might make sense, but that kind of messaging is rare.

As a result, I think it's not just fare structures in the US that fall afoul of Freewheeling's ersatz complexity; it's whole transit agencies.

Shut up, NYC, I wasn't talking to you.

Though perhaps we could discuss some things about tourists and express trains...