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M II A II R II K
Apr 4, 2012, 7:48 PM
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bus Rapid Transit


Apr 02, 2012

By Emily Badger

http://brtdata.org/assets/embarq/images/landing-brt.png

Read More: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/04/how-build-better-brt-system/1647/

Global BRT Website: http://brtdata.org/


.....

Since 2008, Phoenix, Kansas City, New York, and Cleveland have all implemented BRT systems. Chicago is mulling one now. Worldwide, the concept is taking off, too. 134 cities – half of them in Latin America – now have such corridors, spanning more than 3,000 kilometers of urban bus routes from Zaozhuang, China to Guadalajara, Mexico. All of them, though, are trying slightly different riffs on the idea. BRT implies some kind of hybrid bus-train service, but there’s no single blueprint for how to make one work. Buses move faster when riders pay their fare curbside instead of making change on-board (with the driver, of all people!). They move faster when they’re given dedicated lanes on a busy street. And they really move faster when they have the ability to communicate with approaching intersections.

- Researchers and transit advocates would love to know which types of BRT systems move the most people, which ones operate with the best fuel efficiency, which ones actually come the closest to rail-like speed. As it turns out, the answer to this last question is Adelaide, Australia, where the BRT system moves on average at 80 kilometers an hour (including dwell time in stations). This number comes out of a new web database EMBARQ is unveiling today, alongside the International Energy Agency and the Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence. The site has information from all 134 international cities, on 95 individual metrics ranging from the length of BRT corridors to the mode of buses used on them, and even the fuel type in their gas tanks. “The objective of the data set isn’t to say that BRT is a superior mode to other public transit modes,” Carrigan says. “But we do think that the 134 cities in the data set have found a reason for BRT in their particular city, and I think some of the data can help people thinking about implementing a BRT to understand what role it could play in the public transit services in that particular city.”

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http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2012/04/02/Screen_Shot_2012-04-02_at_8.21.43_AM/largest.png

SHiRO
Apr 4, 2012, 10:09 PM
This can't be right...

miketoronto
Apr 4, 2012, 10:53 PM
Funny thing is the American cities mentioned at the beginning really don't have full BRT. Those are more fancy limited stop services.

Ottawa the true BRT king is not mentioned.

M II A II R II K
Apr 4, 2012, 10:59 PM
It is mentioned in the Canada section.

AaronPGH
Apr 4, 2012, 11:02 PM
Pittsburgh was also left out, strangely.

M II A II R II K
Apr 4, 2012, 11:15 PM
Pittsburgh: http://brtdata.org/#/city/Northern%20America/United%20States/Pittsburgh

Ottawa: http://brtdata.org/#/city/Northern%20America/Canada/Ottawa

Minato Ku
Apr 5, 2012, 12:04 AM
They mention 65,000 for the BRT in Paris but the ridership of the TVM line (one of the BRT line) according the site is at 66,000. :shrug:
TVM: 66,000
393: 17,500
TZen 1: 6,000

That's 89,500.

AaronPGH
Apr 5, 2012, 12:26 AM
Whoops. I'm an idiot. Somehow missed the full site!

Jonboy1983
Apr 5, 2012, 1:07 AM
Man, take away New York City, and Pittsburgh is king of the Lower 48 when it comes to passengers per day (51,700).

ssiguy
Apr 5, 2012, 7:00 PM
I'm having trouble with the BRT website. I can get to it but nothing about individual cities themselves..............anybody else having this problem?

M II A II R II K
Apr 5, 2012, 9:48 PM
It goes from continent, then country, and then city. At the bottom right of the screen has listings of cities within the selected territory. The site is only a few days old so some things may not have been entered yet like population.

Roadcruiser1
Apr 6, 2012, 12:53 AM
If the BRT system proposed for Detroit is a pure BRT system and not some fancy express bus then Detroit would have the largest BRT system in North America.

tayser
Apr 6, 2012, 2:02 AM
Melbourne with 200km of routes? bwahahah.

The smartbus network is just normal road running with limited bus lanes that form orbital routes through the middle and outer rings of suburbia.

Brisbane and Adelaide's system is the proper BRT - dedicated roadways for buses.

The data is a load of cock!

jtk1519
Apr 6, 2012, 2:02 AM
San Antonio opens a roughly 32 km line later this year. I'm interested to see the kind of ridership numbers it delivers. It should be good since it will serve downtown, the South Texas Medical Center and the UT-San Antonio campus.

ssiguy
Apr 6, 2012, 5:17 AM
Even tried those Pittdburgh and Ottawa links provided and still didn't get anything except the main page..........can't get anything past that.

northbay
Apr 6, 2012, 3:16 PM
According to the site, Phoenix's ridership is 2,372 (0.8%) and has a 128km (36.2%) network. (% of total USA)

That can't be right.

http://brtdata.org/#/city/Northern%20America/United%20States/Phoenix

bunt_q
Apr 6, 2012, 4:14 PM
I was debating this picture with myself last night. It's the Silver Line ("BRT") in Boston. Just dumb luck that the a-hole parked on the bus lane was in a Mercedes... but it fits.

The debate I was having was whether this is an advantage or disadvantage of BRT.

Disadvantage: (compared to grade separated transit) - one a-hole screws up your BRT.
Advantage: (compared to, say, streetcar) - the bus can go around the a-hole. Rail couldn't.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/bbutzin/TheproblemwithBRTtheadvantageofBRToverstreetcar.jpg

electricron
Apr 6, 2012, 5:04 PM
I was debating this picture with myself last night. It's the Silver Line ("BRT") in Boston. Just dumb luck that the a-hole parked on the bus lane was in a Mercedes... but it fits.

The debate I was having was whether this is an advantage or disadvantage of BRT.

Disadvantage: (compared to grade separated transit) - one a-hole screws up your BRT.
Advantage: (compared to, say, streetcar) - the bus can go around the a-hole. Rail couldn't.

True. But shouldn't there be far more traffic on that street to warrant BRT or streetcars? If there were much more traffic, the bus couldn't swerve around the parked car either. Tracks in the lane may have deterred the driver from parking there too.