^Call it whatever you like….. a line that has two end termini that lie some distance from the “fork in the road” will have different operational issues than one where vehicles simply reverse direction at some midpoint.
The traditional “short turn” is eminently flexible because the reversing vehicle can enter service immediately, or lay over, as the controller’s needs it. A short-turning outbound vehicle usually only forces through riders to wait for one or two vehicles.
Whereas - with a bifurcated route, a disruption or delay on one of the “branches” means service becomes unpredictable in the inbound direction and throughput on the “trunk” portion of the route falls…. a much bigger knot to untangle.
Things might be better today than with 1960’s control technology, but the 1966 experiment would be disastrous today, with any disruption on one line leading to service gaps on the other, and then bunched-up interchanging trains blocking one line while awaiting a slot to enter the other line.
- Paul