By George Wynne
APTA Director-International Affairs
Is Bus Rapid Transit merely the "flavor of the month"?
With this provocative question, Samuel Zimmerman of DMJM+Harris began a lively
discussion at the APTA/Federal Transit Administration Workshop on Intelligent
Transportation Systems Applications held last month in Ventura County, Calif.
Evidently not, judging by the success of BRT projects from home and abroad presented by
panelists from four continents for more than a hundred fellow professionals. The workshop,
the fifth in a continuing series, was hosted by Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the
Ventura County Transportation Commission.
BRT is not your same old bus service. The qualifying feature is roadway priority for
buses over cars. The result is an increase in the throughput of people on the street
network.
The old highway engineering approach was to maximize the number of vehicles, regardless
of how many people were actually riding in them. There was agreement that BRT service must
also project a new image with specially identified vehicles and stops.
In the examples from the international panel, bus-only lanes were depicted as an
essential element of BRT. In Oberhausen, Germany, BRT shares a right-of-way with the new
light rail line and played a major part in the transformation of a brownfield site in the
center of the former coal and steel community into a vibrant new commercial and cultural
center.
Gilberto Monteiro Lehfeld from Sao Paolo. Brazil presented bus corridors in South
America's mega-city. As a developing country, Brazil can afford to supply only a small
portion of urban travel demand with rail systems, and must rely largely on buses. Lehfeld
informed workshop participants that Brazil represents the largest bus market in the world.
From Auckland, New Zealand, John Collyns illustrated the North Shore Busway that links
downtown with a string of suburbs. A freeway shoulder was restriped for buses to get the
project off the ground, while bus lanes in the right-of-way are under final design and
construction. Downtown segments use former on-street parking locations. Apparently,
businesses have not suffered ill effects.
Attendees were surprised to learn from Paul Casey of Santa Monica's Big Blue Blues, who
has made a study of busways in Dublin, that Ireland's capital has the largest BRT system
in the world. As of March, 62 miles of exclusive bus lanes had been put in place, and 257
miles will be in use by 2005. Called Quality Bus Corridors, the system serves a
metropolitan area of only 1.6 million inhabitants.
Two factors compelled Dublin to make this choice, according to Casey. First, Ire-land
has had the highest economic growth rate of any country in the western world over the last
decade. With its new affluence, Dublin has suffered an increase in the number of car trips
that other European capital Cities had half a century to accommodate. Secondly, Dubliners
decided that no freeway would ever be built through the city and no streets would be
widened anywhere.
A high-capacity transit system that appealed to car drivers had to organized quickly.
Time did not exist to wait for a metro to materialize. QBCs have been created essentially
by restriping the roadways, taking over traffic lane in each direction for the buses. The
bus fleet was increased to over 2,000 vehicles. A collection of high-tech enhancements
will follow over time.
Vigorous opposition evaporated after the opening of the third QBC passing through the
most affluent part of town. In half a year, bus passengers increased 222 percent, and
two-thirds of the increase was from former car drivers. New low floor double-decker buses
with 84 seats run at one-minute headways during rush hour. There is standing room only.
In this country, an incremental approach to BRT implementation seems to be the norm,
with projects such as RapidBus in Los Angeles taking advantage of bus priority
signalization while vehicles travel in mixed flow lanes.
Frances T. Banerice, general manager of the City of Los Angeles DOT, described its
partnership with the operator, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority,
in implementing Rapid Bus. L.A. DOT has created new traffic signal software for the
loop-based automated traffic control. This gives rapid bus vehicles more green time at
intersections.
Bureau Chief James Okazaki shared with workshop participants the striking new L.A. DOT
philosophy that funding for intersection improvements goes first to projects that enhance
public transit movements.
Ron Boenau of FTA discussed federal guidelines for the support of ITS projects that
call for coordinated mobility plans and emphasizes cooperation among regional partners.
The next ITS Best Practice, Workshop, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 29 and 30 in
Austin, Texas, will compare international experience in real-time electronic travel
information systems. As details are firmed up, information will be made available on
APTA's web site, www.apta.com.
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