Radial route

A radial route is a public transport route linking a central point in a city or town, usually in the central business district (CBD), with a suburb (or satellite) of that city or town. Such a route can be operated by various forms of public transport, including commuter rail, rapid transit, trams (streetcars), trolleybuses, or motor buses.

Typically, a pair of radial routes will be combined, solely for operational reasons, into a single cross-city route, between one suburb and another suburb. A cross-city route of that type is sometimes called a through route. A public transport operator may combine radial routes into a through route because terminating a route in a city or town centre has certain disadvantages: On the other hand, there are certain advantages in terminating a route in a city or town centre:
 * Vehicles can cause congestion while standing between journeys and when turning.
 * Valuable land is often occupied with route terminal facilities.
 * Time is wasted by vehicles turning round or reversing (reducing vehicle utilization and increasing costs).
 * Passengers wishing to travel across the city or town centre will have to change vehicles or walk for part of their journeys.
 * Schedules are less likely to be disrupted by congestion (since there can be provision for recovery time in the city center).
 * Convenient interchange between routes may be provided at a common terminal.
 * Fare structures are less complex.

In most cases, the advantages of operating routes across a city or town centre outweigh the disadvantages, but each case must be assessed on its own merits.