BRT: Bus Rapid Transit
March 1, 2009 – 11:30 pmA recent Twitter posting from Andrew Weissman pointed me towards Bus Rapid Transport (BRT).
BRT is an somewhat hybrid approach to mass transit: it uses buses and a mixture of dedicated right of way and common use roads to move people around efficiently. BRT may sound like an odd concept to most Americans due to very few US Cities having modern and effective BRT systems. Let’s describe how a BRT system might work:
Passengers would board buses roadside and at dedicated bus stations, similar to common metro bus systems. Typically in a metro system, buses use the same roads as cars do and deal with the same traffic as well. In a BRT system, buses would have some dedicated lanes/roads open for buses only and would also use the same roads as cars do. In heavily congested areas, dedicated right of ways for buses would drastically reduce transit times and make bus transport more appealing to riders. These dedicated right of ways could be high occupancy lanes on highways or just one lane on a road in downtown areas of cities. During off peak traffic hours, the dedicated lanes could be opened up for all traffic.
Unlike light rail and subways, which require expensive additional infrastructure, BRT systems could utilize existing roads and buses to reduce capital investment required. In cities where immediate relief is needed for traffic congestion, BRT networks can be used as a rapid temporary fix until subways or light rail is constructed. Additionally, smaller and medium sized cities which are not large enough to support subways or light rail, can offer BRT networks as an attractive mass transit option.
My initial reaction to BRT networks was rather negative; I saw them as inferior to light rail and subways. However the world of mass transit is complicated and diverse. Different mass transit solutions (BRT, subways, light rail, high speed rail) are most effective in different areas. BRT systems can be used to effectively reduce the energy requirements to transport people.