Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)                                              Printer-friendly version

What is it?

Bus rapid transit integrates intelligent transportation systems technology, signal priority for buses, cleaner and quieter vehicles, electronic fare collection, and integration with land use policy to improve mobility in urban environments. BRT operating on exclusive transitways, HOV lanes, expressways, and ordinary streets. It combines the reliability associated with rail with the convenience and flexiblity of buses. For instance, buses that operate on an exclusive right-of-way provide a service similar to that of a metro rail line. Likewise, buses that operate using bus lanes or median reservations provide a service similar to that of light rail.

Key Results

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) exists in large urban centers around the world and is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative for transit riders. Ridership has generally increased on BRT systems because it provides a bus service that closely adheres to its schedule and offers reliable (and often real time) traveler information. BRT is also regarded as a cost-effective means of increasing mobility, an advantage not associated with traditional and more expensive rail systems.

A typical BRT system relies on the following technologies:

Signal Priority
Signal priority allows buses to maintain a swift service and to better adhere to their schedules. Since transit vehicles can hold many people, giving priority to transit can also potentially increase the person throughput of an intersection.

• A passive priority strategy favors roads with significant transit use in the area-wide traffic signal timing scheme. Timing coordinated signals at the average bus speed instead of the average vehicle speed can also favor transit vehicles.
• An active priority strategy involves detecting the presence of a transit vehicle and, depending on the system logic and the traffic situation then existing, giving the transit vehicle special treatment. The system can give an early green signal or hold a green signal that is already displaying. An active system must be able to both detect the presence of a bus and predict its arrival time at the intersection.

Signal priority is one of the main features of the LADOT and Los Angeles County MTA's Metro Rapid Program. This bus signal priority system is based on communications between antenna embedded in the street pavement, radio transmitters mounted underneath the bus, and the LADOT’s Transit Priority Manager (TPM) computer. The computer determines the need for traffic signal priority once a bus identification and location are received by the TPM. If the bus is on or behind schedule, it gets priority at a signal. If it is ahead of schedule, it does not get priority. Previously, buses could get priority if they were less than 50% ahead of the schedule and they did not receive priority if they were more than 50% behind schedule. This caused some ahead of schedule buses to get even further ahead and didn't help buses that were really late. MTA’s Bus Operations Control Center monitors the real-time progress of buses and helps manage bus "bunching" and "gaps" as they progress along the corridor.

Exclusive Bus Lanes
These lanes may be separated from general traffic lanes by barriers, or simply signage and road markings. On city streets, there are several ways these can be implemented. A two-way street might have one exclusive bus lane in each direction, while a one-way street might have one dedicated lane. The bus lanes might be the outside lanes of a two-way street, or, as in Curitiba, the two center lanes.

On highways, exclusive bus lanes can be installed in each direction, and separated from other traffic by barriers or signage. Often these lanes will fit into median strips, rather than decrease the number of lanes available for automobiles. Where space is constrained, one exclusive bus lane could change direction to coincide with the rush hour traffic flow.

Buses can also use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, which are typically open to all vehicles with a minimum of either two or three occupants. HOV lanes can be two-directional, or they can be single-direction, reversible facilities, in corridors with imbalances between directions of flow. Some reversible HOV lanes are used as a contraflow lane, such as the Lincoln Tunnel XBL. Contraflow lanes typically have a physical divider, such as stantions or cones, to separate permitted users from other direction traffic. HOV lanes can be physically separated from other lanes, or they can be separated only with paint and signage. Concurrent flow lanes can either be on the left or on the shoulder.

Electronic Fare Payment
Many transit agencies offer prepaid fare media, such as a season pass, stored value card, or ticket. Fare cards with a microchip, or smart cards, can allow transit agencies to offer a more sophisticated fare policy. Contactless smart cards need only be waved at a marked spot, and therefore can reduce payment time. The Octopus smartcard in Hong Kong is an example of an existing pre-paid transit card; created in 1994, it can now be used on trains, buses, minibuses, the trans-harbor boat, and even in commercial shops. Another instance of smartcard technology applications to transit is the recently implemented Oyster card in London. This card bears a microchip that maintains the rider's account balance, and it can be used on trains, trams, and buses throughout London.

Loading Platforms
In addition to smart cards, the fare collection process from the vehicle can be eliminated by creating passenger loading platforms. The bus tubes in Curitiba, Brazil allow passengers to enter the loading area by paying a fare in a turnstile. The tubes not only serve a fare collection function but also provide platforms for level boarding.

Source: from the Federal Transit Administration's BRT website.

Terminals
Terminals, such as those used in Toronto, provide barrier-free transfers between bus and rail. Passengers arriving by subway wait inside the station for their bus. The bus route number is illuminated at the appropriate berth when a bus arrives. Boarding and alighting passengers are separated by a divider on the platform. All alighting passengers exit from the rear door, and all boarding passengers use the front door.

Barrier-free bus to bus transfers are also possible using BRT terminals, as is the case in Curitiba, Brazil. Transfer terminals have been constructed at the end of each of the main radial routes, where passengers can wait in pre-paid area for their bus transfer. Neighborhood and circumferential routes converge on these terminals. Using a timed-transfer system, buses are scheduled to arrive at the same time, facilitating transfers from one route to another.

Traveler Information
Sufficient traveler information is an important part of bus rapid transit. Ideally, stops should provide, a stop name, route names and destinations for all routes serving the stop, span of service and frequency of service, service schedule for low-frequency routes, and a system map.

Many BRT stops are offering real-time bus arrival information at bus stops (frequently referred to as "next bus" signs). These signs use an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system; in this system, a GPS unit onboard the bus communicates its ID# and location information to an information center. Taking into account the actual position of the bus, its intended stop, and the typical traffic patterns of its route, this center estimates arrival information and sends this information to an electronic display at the bus stop. See our GPS-based AVL Telecommunications Diagram for more information.

Bus stops along the B-line in Vancouver feature digital countdown signs that provide customers with the arrival times of the next two buses. The signs are located inside the shelter and provide customers with accurate information on the arrival time of the next two buses. Similar "next bus" signs are featured along the Los Angeles Metro Rapid Program; real-time passenger information regarding the arrival times of approaching buses is provided at each station.

A Next Bus sign in Los Angeles (Metro Rapid Program)
Source: FTA website

Next bus signs are also available in San Francisco (at major stations along the entire J, K, L, M, and N lines), the California East Bay Area (AC Transit lines 72,72L and 73 routes along the San Pablo corridor), in Fairfax (Virginia), Oaklahoma City, Delware, and Santa Barbara (California).

Benefits

• Reduction in passenger travel time
• Faster service
• Improved traveler information
• Better marketing to improve transit's image
• BRT can be a practical alternative to highway reconstruction; BRT can help in the effort to promote transit-oriented land development.
• Because buses travel on urban roadways, infrastructure investments needed to support bus service can be substantially lower than the capital costs required for rail systems. As a result, bus service can be implemented cost-effectively on routes where ridership may not be sufficient or where the capital investment may not be available to implement rail systems.

Costs

Facility development costs reflect the time, type, and complexity of construction. Estimated costs can include:

• $272 million per mile for bus tunnels
• $7.5 million per mile for busways
• $6.6 million per mile for arterial median busways
• $4.7 million per mile for guided bus operations
• $1 million per mile for mixed traffic or curb bus lanes

Operating costs for BRT service are influenced by wage rates and work rules, fuel and electricity costs, operating speeds and ridership.

Source: Herbert S. Levinson, Samuel Zimmerman, Jennifer Clinger, BUS RAPID TRANSIT: Synthesis of Case Studies, Prepared for 2003 Annual Meeting, Washington D.C.

Implementation Challenges

• BRT must overcome the widely-held perception that buses are primarily for second-class citizens.
• Some critics attest that newer light rail trains, not buses, will ultimately increase ridership. Compared to rail systems, the advantageous flexibility and decentralization of bus operations might also result in a lack of system visibility and permanence that contributes to public perceptions of unreliability and disorganization.

Where is it Implemented?

BRT Projects Currently Deployed:

Los Angeles, California
Initiated in 1999, the Los Angeles Metro Rapid Program runs along the Wilshire/Whittier and Ventura Corridors. It features frequent service, bus signal priority, headway-based schedules, simple route layouts, less frequent stops, integration with local bus service, level boarding and alighting, and color-coded buses and stations. Since its inception, ridership has increased between 26 and 33% and passenger travel times were reduced between 23 and 29%. Based on its successes from phase I, plans for expansion of the Metro Rapid Program are underway. More information on the Metro Rapid Program.

Oahu, Hawaii
In 2002, a bus rapid transit system was implemented in Oahu, Hawaii in response to the mobility contraints of its main transportation corridor, which extends from the Kapolei in the Ewa District to the University of Hawaii–Manoa (UH-Manoa). Oahu's BRT system integrates new low-floor vehicles for easy boarding, priority lanes, signal priority, transit centers, and park-and-ride facilities. It consists of an In-town BRT and a Regional BRT. This BRT system also plans to use ecologically friendly gas-electric hybrid buses that can move people around town in less than half the time it takes on regular buses. More information on BRT in Hawaii.

Curitiba, Brazil
The bus rapid transit system currently at work in Curitiba has evolved over many decades. It now features integrated planning, exclusive bus lanes, signal priority for buses, pre-boarding fare collection, level bus boarding from raised platforms in tube stations, free transfers between lines (single entry), large capacity articulated and bi-articulated wide-door buses, and overlapping system of bus services. The system comprises arteries, each of which is made up of a "trinary" road system that includes three parallel routes, a block apart. An "Express Bus" runs down dedicated high-capacity express busways in the center two lanes, offering frequent stop service using standard, articulated and bi-articulated buses carrying up to 270 passengers apiece. Buses running in the dedicated and exclusive lanes stop at tube stations (see Loading Plaforms above)

Boston
In 2002, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority initiated its Silver Line, which currenlty provides service between Dudley Station and Downtown Boston (phase I) and will provide service from South Station to Logan Airport in 2003 (phase II). Smart kiosks and next bus signs at Silver Line stops inform travelers of real-time bus schedule and location information. More information on the Boston Silver Line.

Bus Rapid Transit exists around the globe:

BRT Projects Currently in Development:

Santa Clara, California
A bus rapid transit line runs along line 22 of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus network. This line provides service along the east-west length of Santa Clara County between the transit center at Eastridge Shopping Center in San Jose to the Caltrain station in Menlo Park. Line 22 is supplemented by Line 300, a limited stop express service along generally the same corridor. Lines 22/300 connect with regional rail services as well as 55 VTA bus lines. A major connection occurs in downtown San Jose, where Line 22 intersects the north-south Guadalupe Light Rail Line. VTA's vision for Line 22 is that it operate as a “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor." More information on BRT in Santa Clara.

Other Bus Rapid Transit Projects in the U.S.

Author: Lauren Smith
Last Updated: 07/18/03