Implementing Bus Rapid Transit Research Articles

Collaborative challenges and barriers when planning and implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Lessons from Swedish BRT projects

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to improve the knowledge of collaborative challenges when planning and implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Collaborative challenges are here understood as the barriers that may arise in BRT planning and implementation as a consequence of several formally independent actors, occasionally with different interests, participating in the planning. The results are based on an analysis of actor interactions in Swedish BRT projects. These projects are analysed in relation to the state of the art in the research field of collaborative approaches. The results show two main and interrelated collaborative challenges. The first category of challenges concerns difficulties for actors in creating a common understanding of what a BRT system is, the second category concerns details of bus priority measures, e.g. busways, priority at intersections, and how to handle and deal with conflicting interests when removing speed bumps or pedestrian and cycle crossings. In terms of policy is in the early stages of the planning processes. This can be generated by working practices and tools that facilitate agreements on how to handle different interests and trade-offs. BRT guidelines adapted to national transport policy, legal and organisational conditions could function as tools in assisting actor dialogue.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Urban Freight—Competition for Space in Densely Populated Cities

This paper assesses the effects on urban freight transportation of implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. BRT systems have been widely implemented in Latin American cities in recent decades, with positive results driven by their high capacity and relatively low cost. Implementing BRT strategic corridors has led to changes in land use, and has required some restrictions on other urban traffic, particularly freight. These restrictions have significantly affected the supply of goods to establishments along those corridors, restricting freight operations and urban freight traffic in general. This paper studies the overall effects of BRT system implementation on urban freight using Cali (Colombia) as a representative case study to understand the origin and size of these impacts. Six key criteria were analyzed to assess the impacts of implementing a BRT system: 1. Mobility patterns; 2. environmental impacts; 3. infrastructure; 4. land-use; 5. legislation; and 6. geographic distribution. Observations and semi-structured interviews were used to complement hard data. The results from Cali show that the areas surrounding BRT corridors generate more than 62% of urban freight traffic. This concentration of freight activity has exacerbated the negative effects of restrictions that have accompanied BRT implementation and altered freight mobility and land-use patterns, not only locally but within the city centre, as well as suburban areas. In summary, the results show that post implementation, a significant share of freight-related externalities were amplified and transferred from BRT corridors to other parts of the city and to inter-regional corridors as well.

Model of Implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Mass Public Transport Policy in DKI Jakarta Province, Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to find a model for implementing policies on the development of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) based on mass public transportation in DKI Jakarta Province, Indonesia. This research uses qualitative methods with data collection techniques such as observation, in-depth interviews and literature study. Policy choices for developing mass public transportation based on BRT seem to remain a rational choice for overcoming traffic congestion in Jakarta. The ideal model of policy implementation to be developed in the future is an integrated BRT-based mass transit public transport policy model, not only paying attention to its sustainability but also being just.

Leveraging Integrated Bike-Sharing with Existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to Reduce Motor Vehicle in Central Jakarta Municipal

Jakarta is one of the most congested cities in the world due to a plethora of motor vehicles used in the city. One of the government actions to address the issue is by implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as an alternative public transportation mode. However, according to the convenience walking distance standard, the BRT coverage the inhabitant to choose motor vehicle rather than walking. This paper purposes Bike-Sharing as the smart transportation mode to overcome such issue and predict the three potential places to establish sharing-bike stations according to the convenience walking distance standard. In this paper the walking distance is classified into 100 mater range (300 meter, 400 meter and 500 meter) projected using the euclidean distance principle. As the result for 300 meter standard, there are 809 potential bike-sharing stations consist of 164 main stations and 645 feeder stations, while the 400 meter standard needs 541 potential stations with 140 stations serve the BRT station directly and 401 stations as the feeder. Furthemore, with 500 meter standard, 359 stations consist of 131 main stations and 228 feeder stations is needed.

Designing the Modern Multimodal Urban Arterial

AASHTO's functional classification system specifies that arterials should be designed to provide high mobility and low access; however, this narrow view does not fully represent the vitality of many urban streets, which need to maintain high access and high mobility across a variety of modes. Webster Avenue (US-1) in the Bronx, New York City, was an arterial that was focused on providing vehicular mobility but did not support the mobility and accessibility goals of public transit users and pedestrians. This paper describes results of the multimodal redesign of Webster Avenue by the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Transit Authority's New York City Transit (NYCT) as part of implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) in the corridor. The new arterial street design improves the organization of traffic: buses, which make frequent stops, now travel exclusively in the right travel lane, while general traffic is able to use the left travel lane. Key project results include a 19% to 23% improvement in bus speeds for the new BRT–select bus service route (compared with the former limited-stop route), 11% to 16% improvement in local bus speeds, maintenance of traffic speeds and volumes, and significant pedestrian safety improvements along the corridor. These results were achieved through extensive outreach and coordination with community stakeholders, careful use of different priority treatments on different parts of the corridor, and the strong working partnership between the New York City DOT and NYCT.

Implementing bus rapid transit: A tale of two Indian cities

The ongoing debate within the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) community over the relative importance of 'appropriate' design standards, the 'right' institutional setup and the need for 'political will' to the success of projects obscures the larger importance of the planning process to outcome effectiveness. Political leadership, institutions and design are important conditions that must be considered in the context of one another, but they are also conditions that will change and be influenced by the planning process. Drawing on case studies of Janmarg BRT in Ahmedabad, and the Delhi BRT in India's capital, we demonstrate the role of the planning process in influencing BRT project outcomes. The planning process is too often viewed as a sequence of steps in which design, institutions and leadership provide an unchanging framework in which planning proceeds. This ‘one-dimensional’ view needs be re-framed in ‘three-dimensions.’ It must explicitly also consider approach (i.e. strategy and tactics) and timing (i.e. both moment of action and duration). These in turn reshape design, institutions and leadership. Findings suggest that such a 'three-dimensional' planning process, when well timed, incremental and pragmatic may help to overcome institutional and design weaknesses, and to solidify political support. This improves viability and long-term system sustainability.

Barriers to planning and implementing Bus Rapid Transit systems

Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, is now operating in many cities of emerging and developed economies around the world. It provides affordable connectivity, and fast and reliable services for a range of requirements. This paper presents barriers to introducing BRT based on the authors' experience in planning, implementing and improving these systems in cities of emerging countries. We conclude that most issues are related to institutional, financial, legal and political sectors. In particular, BRT planning faces: (i) institutional complexities and lack of technical capacity; (ii) lack of alignment among stakeholders; (iii) strong promotion of competing modes; (iv) perception of BRT as a lower quality mode; (v) traditional bias towards vehicle capacity expansions; (vi) opposition from existing bus operators; and (vii) lack of community participation. BRT implementation barriers include: (i) underestimating the implementation effort, i.e. optimism bias; (ii) discontinuities due to political cycles; (iii) lack of national policies supporting BRT development; (iv) insufficient funding for adequate implementation; and (v) rushed inauguration. By addressing and documenting common issues of many real world experiences, we expect to help cities enhance their ability to advance BRT as part of their portfolio of sustainable mobility improvements.

Challenges of Implementing à la Mode Transport Projects

Politicians, consultants, and researchers often look at successful transport and urban transformation projects in cities in developing countries and assume that these may be an appropriate solution for similar cities. In reality, customizing such projects for a city-specific context is a difficult challenge that does not always end well, for example, because of poor technical and financial capacity of transport institutions, scarce information on travel demand behavior during the planning stage, private companies operating routes with a certain degree of informality, and poor political commitment. The authors reviewed the experience of implementing bus rapid transit systems in five cities in Colombia that followed the steps of the successful Transmilenio in Bogotá. Most projects had cost overruns and lower demand and therefore performed worse than expected in ex-post assessments. Competition from traditional and private transport and institutional capacity at the local level were key problems to be addressed. The authors also reviewed the experience of cable cars, the new à la mode project, which was promoted in a number of developing cities such as Cali and Soacha after the success of the Metrocable in Medellín. Cable cars could contribute to equity in cities, but these contributions would be extremely limited if the project did not inject the urban environment with complementary investments. Transferring successful transportation projects to new areas or to other cities is an important, difficult challenge. Key success factors must be considered to implement transport solutions successfully in different contexts.

Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit Lanes on Traffic and Commuter Mobility

Implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) raises many challenging issues of technical, operational, and institutional nature. The present study sets the groundwork for a methodology that can be used to selectively target corridor for BRT modeling in India. Traffic quality parameters, such as traffic flow, speed, travel time, delay time, stop time, and fuel consumption, were modeled to investigate the impact of BRT as compared to present day mixed traffic on traffic and commuter mobility. A microsimulation traffic model was developed for BRT and mixed traffic systems. A developed microscopic model was validated with field measured data using statistical methods and was found good against measured data. A dedicated lane-based public transport system shows the promising results and has to play a significant role in developing sustainable transport systems. These findings can be used to form the basis for developing public transport corridor in present Indian traffic conditions.

An evaluation of a lane support system for bus rapid transit on narrow shoulders and the relation to bus driver mental workload

The use of dedicated bus shoulders is a key method for implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) in areas that do not have the space for additional infrastructure. However, the narrow width of the bus shoulder and the need to anticipate traffic hazards in the adjacent lane can both be significant stressors for bus drivers. Bus driver mental workload and stress in response to these conditions should be a significant concern both for operational safety and driver health. This pilot study evaluated the potential stressors of traffic density and shoulder width in the context of an express BRT service in a large US metropolitan area. In addition, the study considered the potential role of a prototype lane support system (LSS) to support vehicle control within the narrow shoulder boundaries. Ten experienced bus drivers drove an actual route with an instrumented bus equipped with and without LSS. Self-reported effort was recorded along with performance measures of speed and position control relevant to mobility and safety objectives. Bus drivers did note stressors in the BRT environment and the prototype LSS. However, the use of the shoulder during high-density traffic conditions did improve mobility. Moreover, the LSS did enhance safety on the shoulder when there was high-density traffic in the adjacent lane. However, there was no evidence that the LSS reduced bus driver workload while operating in the narrow shoulder. Future research should consider the impact of BRT operations and support systems on bus driver mental workload and stress, and support the deployment of such devices for bus operations on shoulders during high traffic volumes.

Bus Rapid Transit in New York City: Corridor Evaluation and Screening

Selecting corridors for implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in most communities is relatively straightforward; however, in cities such as New York, this is far more complicated because of the large numbers of corridors with many characteristics compatible with BRT provision. This paper describes the framework developed to evaluate and screen corridors in New York City for five demonstration BRT projects. A mechanism was identified to reduce the number of candidate corridors from 80 to 36 at an early stage. An evaluation framework building on the previous work and detailed field observations further refined the list from 36 corridors to 15. The evaluation included two key considerations: the potential benefits of BRT implementation in a given corridor and the potential ease of implementation of BRT in that corridor. The study team defined a series of measures to reflect these key considerations (four measures for each). The relative ranking of the 36 corridors showed how each corridor performed w...

Bus Rapid Transit in New York City

Selecting corridors for implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in most communities is relatively straightforward; however, in cities such as New York, this is far more complicated because of the large numbers of corridors with many characteristics compatible with BRT provision. This paper describes the framework developed to evaluate and screen corridors in New York City for five demonstration BRT projects. A mechanism was identified to reduce the number of candidate corridors from 80 to 36 at an early stage. An evaluation framework building on the previous work and detailed field observations further refined the list from 36 corridors to 15. The evaluation included two key considerations: the potential benefits of BRT implementation in a given corridor and the potential ease of implementation of BRT in that corridor. The study team defined a series of measures to reflect these key considerations (four measures for each). The relative ranking of the 36 corridors showed how each corridor performed with respect to these measures. The results of the evaluation yielded the 15 corridors that moved to the conceptual development phase of the study. This paper describes the steps taken in reducing the universe of candidate corridors for BRT implementation and provides a sequential, transparent, and cost-effective approach to the issue of corridor identification that can be applied in any urban area.

Light Rail Lite or Cost-Effective Improvements to Bus Service?: Evaluating Costs of Implementing Bus Rapid Transit

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing rapidly in popularity because it is viewed widely as an efficient and effective means to improve both transit service and patronage. This paper argues that two distinct views of BRT are emerging: (a) BRT as a new form of high-speed, rubber-tired, rail-like rapid transit and (b) BRT as a cost-effective way to upgrade both the quality and image of traditional fixed-route bus service. These two views carry different price tags because the cost of planning, constructing, and operating BRT depends on the complexity of new service features and on rises for BRT that offer service characteristics approaching those of light rail. This study fills a gap in the literature on the costs of BRT by examining in detail component costs-actual costs for recently implemented services and projected costs for planned new services-for a sample of BRT systems in North American cities. The study examined BRT costs of 14 planned and recently opened BRT systems to determine how the wide range of ...