{SA} VIA's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Plans Unveiled

[alexjon]

Basically, BRT offers no real capacity benefits over making it more expensive per passenger than rail when taking all the overruns and operating costs involved.

In other news, it seems the anti-rail rhetoric has been stepped up on the viabrt page since I e-mailed to complain.

[STLtoSA]

Originally Posted by M1EK

The problem with BRT isn't that people are bad for not wanting to ride buses - it's that people are smart to not want to ride buses - because for the most part, buses suck, if you already have a car and don't have to pay a lot of money to park.

If your only answer to this is that you work with people who don't mind riding the bus, then this is a complete waste of time - any investment of this magnitude that is incapable of attracting new riders who previous drove is incredibly foolhardy.

I don't understand where you are coming from.

More people are riding buses now because of the price of gas. A lot of the increased ridership comes from the express routes to downtown, that don't take any longer than driving, and will save the average rider at least 25 miles round-trip per day/125 miles per week. People don't ride because they don't mind the bus, they ride because it is cheaper to ride the bus.

There is nothing wrong with buses. The point of LRT in a city such as San Antonio is to better serve high volume corridors. I don't think that we need anymore bus routes (have you seen VIA's bus route map), and this includes BRT.

The city needs to focus on developing Commuter Rail and some form of LRT within the 410 loop. If by 2020 we can have at least the SA-A Commuter line, two LRT lines, and some trolley lines we will be sitting pretty.

[alexjon]

Via TOW: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/ma...00&oref=slogin

“That competition is very hard,” says Paulo Schmidt, the president of URBS, the rapid-bus system. During peak hours, buses on the main routes are already arriving at almost 30-second intervals; any more buses, and they would back up. While acknowledging his iconoclasm in questioning the sufficiency of Curitiba’s trademark bus network, Schmidt nevertheless says a light-rail system is needed to complement it.

[sakyle04]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Vot...pid_buses.html

This wasn't ever discussed here that I know of... VIA board voted to study light rail and potential tie-ins to that before going further with BRT. Could be very good news, indeed...

Of course, gas prices have fallen below $2 again so who knows how fickle San Antonio would feel about LRT now...

the article from 10/30/08:

VIA Metropolitan Transit's planned route of fast and flashy buses on Fredericksburg Road has hit a road block after a rare split vote by the board.

The board voted 6-4 late Tuesday to stall the $100 million project for three months, giving a blue-ribbon task force time to rethink how bus rapid transit would conflict or complement a newer idea to put passenger trains on an old freight line a couple of miles to the east.

“It's not a matter of this versus that,” said board member James Lifshutz, who led the effort to slow the rapid buses down. “It's a matter of doing the right thing and figuring out what maximizes value.”

Other board members worry that the rapid-bus plan, promised to voters in a 2004 sales-tax election, could get banished to a shelf and its money cannibalized for the rail initiative.

“Are we going to reduce, eliminate, forget about BRT?” Linda Chavez-Thompson asked. “I'm 1,000 percent there for light rail. It's how we get there and what's going to fund it that I'm concerned about.”

VIA opted to build an eight-mile rapid-bus route from downtown to the Medical Center as a cheap way to offer some of the glitz and speed of light rail. Scheduled to start in 2012, the service would include longer buses, a dedicated lane part of the way and traffic-signal controls to speed up travel.

But last month, County Judge Nelson Wolff proposed starting a passenger rail on an 18-mile line from Southtown to The Rim that Union Pacific says will be vacated in a few years. He and others believe shuttle buses or track extensions could link to busy centers along Fredericksburg Road.

The VIA board agreed unanimously Tuesday to do a $164,122 study to look at track conditions, types of trains to run, potential stations and connections to Fredericksburg Road.
Due in December, the study will also consider the differing roles of rail and rapid buses.

“Are they mutually exclusive? I don't think so, but maybe they are,” Lifshutz said. “If not mutually exclusive, how does one add value to the other and vice versa?”

The blue-ribbon committee, appointed last summer by Wolff and Mayor Phil Hardberger, will use the VIA report to help forge the city's transportation vision, and will suggest ways to pay for projects. Lifshutz and Chavez-Thompson are among the dozen members.

[alexjon]

Well, now that we passed a nearly 18 billion dollar transit plan up here, you could easily make the argument in San Antonio by saying "at least it's way cheaper than Seattle!"

Unless they point out all the hills, wet soils and density that jack up the price.

[adtobias]

we need to start thinking long term. gas prices will rise again and soon