BRT Standard


The BRT Standard is an evaluation tool for bus rapid transit corridors around the world, based on international best practices. The Standard establishes a common definition for BRT and identifies BRT best practices, as well as functioning as a scoring system to allow BRT corridors to be evaluated and recognized for their superior design and management aspects.
The Standard was conceived by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in 2012 to ensure that BRT corridors worldwide meet a minimum quality standard and deliver consistent passenger, economic, and environmental benefits. This is of particular relevance in countries where "BRTs qualify for special funding from national or provincial governments. In addition to serving as an overview of BRT design elements, the Standard can be used to evaluate existing BRT corridors and certify them as a Basic, Bronze, Silver, or Gold rated corridors. Corridors which fail to meet minimum standards for Basic ratings are not considered to be BRT. The latest edition of the Standard was published in 2024.
BRT systems which do not meet the BRT standard, but is marketed as BRT, meet the phenomenon known as "BRT creep".

History and purpose

First released in 2012, the BRT Standard was created “to establish a common definition of bus rapid transit and ensure that BRT corridors more uniformly deliver world-class passenger experiences, significant economic benefits, and positive environmental impact”. The Standard was developed in response to a lack of consensus among planners and engineers as to what constitutes a true BRT corridor. Without a clear definition, the term BRT was used for corridors that provided only minor improvements in bus service and lacked the elements of BRT that make it competitive with light rail or metro alternatives. This caused a backlash against the BRT "brand", and confusion as to its benefits.
File:Bundaran Senayan Transjakarta stop.jpg|alt=Transjakarta BRT bus and station|thumb|A Transjakarta bus on a dedicated bus lane, an exclusive right-of-way separated from heavy traffic.
The 2014 edition made some improvements to the methodology, including adjustments to the corridor definition, infrequent-service penalties, and increased emphasis on basics. In order to allow BRT corridors in downtown areas to qualify as BRT, the definition of a BRT corridor has been reduced to a minimum of in length. The peak and off-peak frequency design metrics have been removed, and penalties for low peak and off-peak frequencies have been added. An additional point was added to each of the BRT basic elements, to put greater emphasis on the basic elements of a BRT corridor.
The 2016 edition proposed six major changes, including greater focus on safety and system operations, separation of the design score and the full score, improved dedicated right-of-way definition, new types of busway alignments, and partial points for onboard fare validation.
The latest BRT Standard, 2024 edition, is the product of feedback from BRT practitioners around the world. Suggestions were formulated into concrete proposals and evaluated by the BRT Standard Technical Committee, a group of leading BRT engineers, designers, and planners. The Standard has been refreshed by adding, combining, and revising elements based on expert feedback and increasing deductions for operations. The most significant changes include an expanded focus on gender, safety, and access; more attention to climate, greening, and resiliency; an improved passenger and customer experience; and a new focus on business operations.

Technical Committee and Institutional Endorsers

The Technical Committee of The BRT Standard comprises experts on BRT. This committee serves as a source of technical advice with respect to BRT and is the basis for establishing the credibility of The BRT Standard. The Technical Committee certifies corridors and recommends revisions to The Standard as needed.
The Institutional Endorsers are an integrated group of institutions in the fields of city building, public transport systems, and climate change with decision-making abilities over the BRT Standard certification process. The endorsers establish the strategic direction of the BRT Standard, ensure that BRT projects ranked by the scoring system uphold the goals of the BRT Standard, and promote the BRT Standard as a quality check for BRT projects.

Definition of BRT

BRT is a high-capacity bus-based transit system that delivers fast, reliable, high quality, safe, and cost-effective services at relatively low cost, metro-level capacities. It achieves that through dedicated bus lanes that are median aligned, off-board fare collection, level boarding, bus priority at intersections, and fast and frequent operations. Because BRT contains features similar to a light rail or metro system, it is much more reliable, convenient and faster than regular bus services. The three main delays facing public transport are 1) boarding and alighting, 2) intersections, and 3) traffic congestion. BRT solves for all three. With the right features, BRT is able to avoid the causes of delay that typically slow regular bus services, while also improving service quality, safety and security, and passenger experience.

Basic characteristics

There are five essential characteristics of a BRT corridor.
  • Dedicated right-of-way: Bus-only lanes make for faster travel and ensure that buses are never delayed due to mixed traffic congestion.
  • Busway 'Alignment: Center of roadway or bus-only corridor keeps buses away from the busy curbside where cars are parking, standing, and turning.
  • Off-board fare collection: Fare payment at the station, instead of on the bus, eliminates the delay caused by passengers waiting to pay on board.
  • Intersection Treatments: Prohibiting turns for traffic across the bus lane reduces delays caused to buses by turning traffic. Prohibiting such turns is the most important measure for moving buses through intersections – more important even than signal priority.
  • Platform-level boarding': The station should be at level with the bus for quick and easy boarding. This also makes it fully accessible for wheelchairs, disabled passengers, strollers and carts with minimal delays.

    Standard scoring

The BRT Standard has defined 5 main categories for design with 32 metrics totaling 100 points and an operational deductions category that has 13 metrics totaling 77 points. Together, these form the total score for the corridor. Both design and operations are critical to creating a high quality BRT corridor. Design decisions are often locked in planning and construction. We often see corridors score well here, getting a bronze or above in design, but then do poorly in operations, dropping their overall score.
While operational deductions may bring the overall score down, these are aspects that can be easily improved in order to improve the score. From there, the updated scoring details can be found in the 2024 BRT Standard with detailed guidance on how to score. The Standard only evaluates a corridor and not a whole system, since different corridors can vary widely in design and quality. Certifying a BRT corridor as Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Basic sets an internationally recognized standard for the current best practices for BRT and can only be done with the full score six months after opening to allow usage and operations to be more representative of longer-term patterns. The combination of the design evaluation and operational evaluation gives the final score from the BRT Standard.
Below is a list of all BRT corridors that have been scored and verified by The BRT Standard technical committee, listed by year scored and country.
BRT Standard versionContinentCountryCitySystem-corridorCorridor length Year scoredDesign scoreTotal scoreRank
2014South AmericaArgentinaBuenos AiresMetrobus - 9 de Julio3.520147070
2013South AmericaArgentinaBuenos AiresMetrobus - Juan B Justo12.520136261
2013OceaniaAustraliaBrisbane - South East Busway16.520138077
2024South AmericaBrazilNiteróiTransOceânica9.020245536BRT certified
2014South AmericaBrazilBelo HorizonteMOVE - MOVE - Antônio Carlos16.020159179
2014South AmericaBrazilBelo HorizonteMOVE - MOVE - Cristiano Machado7.120148986
2014South AmericaBrazilBrasíliaExpresso DF - Expresso DF Sul36.220157159
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Linha Verde7.020139292
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Leste12.420138282
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Oeste10.420138282
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Norte8.920138282
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Sul10.620138282
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Boqueirão10.320138282
2013South AmericaBrazilCuritibaRede Integrada de Transporte - Circular Sul14.520138282
2014South AmericaBrazilGoiânia - Eixo Anhanguera13.520156856
2016South AmericaBrazilRecifeVia Livre - Via Livre Leste/Oeste8.220176852BRT certified
2016South AmericaBrazilRecifeVia Livre - Via Livre Norte/Sul22.820177664
2014South AmericaBrazilRio de JaneiroBRT Rio - TransOeste52.020148977
2014South AmericaBrazilRio de JaneiroBRT Rio - TransCarioca39.020148986
2013South AmericaBrazilRio de JaneiroBRT Rio - TransOeste52.020139088
2016South AmericaBrazilRio de JaneiroBRT Rio - TransOlimpica23.020178875
2013South AmericaBrazilSão Paulo - Expresso Tiradentes 12.020138080
2013South AmericaBrazilSão PauloCorredor Metropolitano ABD - ABD Diadema33.020136060
2014South AmericaBrazilSão PauloCorredor Metropolitano ABD - ABD Extensão Morumbi10.820155247BRT certified
2016South AmericaBrazilUberabaVETOR - VETOR Leste-Oeste5.120168272
2014South AmericaBrazilUberlândia - Corredor Estrutural Sudeste 7.520157070
2013North AmericaCanadaOttawaTransitway - 30.020136464
2016North AmericaCanadaYorkViva - Highway 7 Corridor10.320197164
2014South AmericaChileSantiagoTransantiago - Avenida Grecia10.020145656
2014South AmericaChileSantiagoTransantiago - Avenidas Las Industrias - Seirra Bella/Carmen9.220145757
2014South AmericaChileSantiagoTransantiago - Pedro Aguirre Cerda - Exposicion/Bascunan Guerrero11.520145757
2014South AmericaChileSantiagoTransantiago - Santa Rosa Norte7.220145757
2014South AmericaChileSantiagoTransantiago - Santa Rosa Sur8.520145757
2013AsiaChinaBeijingBeijing BRT - Entire Network59.020135757
2014AsiaChinaChangdeChangde BRT - Changde Dadao18.920145853BRT certified
2014AsiaChinaChengduChengdu BRT - Erhuan Lu28.820147272
2013AsiaChinaChangzhouChangzhou BRT - Entire Network51.920136868
2014AsiaChinaDalianDalian BRT - Zhangqian Lu - Songjiang Lu - Huabei Lu - Xi'an Lu9.020145151BRT certified
2013AsiaChinaGuangzhouGuangzhou BRT - Zhongshan Avenue22.520139191
2014AsiaChinaHefeiHefei BRT - Hefei Line 1 7.220145752BRT certified
2014AsiaChinaJinanJinan BRT - B7 corridor Xierhuan7.120146560
2013AsiaChinaJinanJinan BRT - Beiyuan dajie15.020136767
2013AsiaChinaJinanJinan BRT - Lishan Lu4.820136767
2013AsiaChinaJinanJinan BRT - Erhuandonglu8.020136767
2013AsiaChinaJinanJinan BRT - Gongyebeilu-Aotizonglu Line 66.620136767
2013AsiaChinaLanzhouLanzhou BRT - Anning Lu8.620138484
2014AsiaChinaLianyungangLianyungang BRT - Xingfu-Hailian-Xingangcheng-Gangcheng32.020146461
2014AsiaChinaUrumuqiUrumuqi BRT - Corridor 1 15.520147060
2014AsiaChinaXiamenXiamen BRT - 051.020147774
2014AsiaChinaYanchengYancheng BRT - Kaifang Dadao - Jiefang Nanlu16.020145855
2014AsiaChinaYichangYichang BRT - Yixing Ave-Dongshan Ave-Jucheng Rd23.020158585
2014AsiaChinaYinchuanYinchuan BRT - Huanghe East-Nanxun-Qinghe17.020146256
2014AsiaChinaZaozhuangZaozhuang BRT - B133.520146057
2014AsiaChinaZaozhuangZaozhuang BRT - B332.220145749BRT certified
2014AsiaChinaZaozhuangZaozhuang BRT - B518.520145850BRT certified
2014AsiaChinaZhengzhouZhengzhou BRT - 030.520146559
2014AsiaChinaZhongshanZhongshan BRT - Zhongshan 2nd-5th Rd - Jiangling Rd13.020146762
2013South AmericaColombiaBarranquillaTransmetro - 13.220138277
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - Autonorte11.620138683
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - Suba9.620139289
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - Caracas7.320138683
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - Calle 807.520138986
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - Americas12.720139188
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - NQS8.620139289
2013South AmericaColombiaBogotáTransMilenio - El Dorado10.820138986
2016South AmericaColombiaBucaramangaMetrolinea - Lagos - Quebradaseca7.520188475
2013South AmericaColombiaCaliMIO - 1st phase 39.020138682
2016South AmericaColombiaCartegena0 - Transcaribe10.520178781
2013South AmericaColombiaMedellínMetroplús - 12.520138585
2013South AmericaColombiaPereiraMegabús - 19.220137777
2013South AmericaEcuadorGuayaquilMetrovia - Troncal 3: Bastion-Centro16.520137467
2013South AmericaEcuadorGuayaquilMetrovia - Troncal 1: Guasmo-Río Daule13.920137568
2014South AmericaEcuadorQuitoMetrobus - Corredor sur occidental13.420146762
2013South AmericaEcuadorQuitoMetrobus-Q - Trolebus, Central-Norte and Ecovia65.420137874
2014South AmericaEcuadorQuitoMetrobus - Corredor sur oriental11.120147366
2014EuropeFranceÎle-de-France Trans-Val-de-Marne - TVM - 13.020137473
2014North AmericaGuatemalaGuatemala CityTransmetro - Eje Sur13.020148585
2014North AmericaGuatemalaGuatemala CityTransmetro - Eje Central11.720147373
2013AsiaIndiaAhmedabadJanmarg - RTO-Maninagar21.520137468
2013AsiaIndiaAhmedabadJanmarg - Narol-Naroda13.220137872
2014AsiaIndiaAhmedabadJanmarg - Sola-AEC3.120147465
2013AsiaIndiaDelhiDelhi BRTS - Moolchand-Ambedkar Nagar 5.820134230BRT certified
2016AsiaIndiaIndoreiBus - iBus Trunk Corridor11.520177168
2016AsiaIndiaPimpri-ChinchwadRainbow BRTS - Corridor 214.520175543BRT certified
2014AsiaIndiaSuratSitilink - Udhna - Sachin GIDC10.020146658
2013AsiaIndonesiaJakartaTransjakarta - Corridor 112.920137161
2014AsiaIndonesiaJakartaTransjakarta - Corridor 112.920147471
2024North AmericaMexicoMexico CityInsurgentes - Line 127.920248885
2024North AmericaMexicoMexico CityTrolebús Elevado - Line 10 7.920248373
2024North AmericaMexicoMéridaIE-Tram Plancha Kanasín27.020247668
2024North AmericaMexicoGuadalajaraMiMacro Periférico41.520248476
2013North AmericaMexicoGuadalajaraMacrobus - Línea 116.020139393
2013North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMetrobus - Line 127.420137673
2013North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMetrobus - Line 220.020137575
2013North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMetrobus - Line 317.020137878
2013North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMetrobus - Line 428.020136155
2013North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMexibus - Line 116.020138383
2014North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMetrobus - L5 Río de los Remedios - San Lazaro10.020148282
2014North AmericaMexicoMexico CityMexibus - L3 Pantitlán-Chimalhuacan14.520147872
2014North AmericaMexicoMonterreyEcovia - Lincoln-Ruiz Cortines30.020147575
2014North AmericaMexicoPueblaRUTA - Linea 1: Chachapa -Tlaxcalancingo18.520147369
2014AsiaPakistanIslamabad-PindiMetro Bus - Twin Cities22.520156764
2014AsiaPakistanLahoreMetro Bus - Green Line27.020155652BRT certified
2016AsiaPakistanPeshawarZu Peshawar - Chamkani-Hayatabad27.020219797
2013South AmericaPeruLimaEl Metropolitano - 26.620138988
2013AfricaSouth AfricaCape TownMyCiTi - Phase 1A17.020136363
2013AfricaSouth AfricaJohannesburgRea Vaya - Phase IA25.520138175
2014AfricaSouth AfricaJohannesburgRea Vaya - Phase IB16.720147461
2016AsiaSouth KoreaSejongSejong Express Intercity - Express Intercity23.420227675
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Yeouidaebang-ro/Siheung-daero9.520145751BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Gyeongin-ro5.620145549BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Gangnam-Daero4.720145751BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Dongsomun-ro/Dobong-ro14.320145751BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Susack BRT20.020145953BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Cheonho-Daero - West5.420145751BRT certified
2014AsiaSouth KoreaSeoul0 - Cheonho-Daero - East9.220145953BRT certified
2014AsiaThailandBangkokBangkok BRT - Sathorn Station to Rama III Station11.520145959
2014Europe/AsiaTurkeyIstanbulMetrobüs - Avcılar - Söğütlüçeşme52.020157870
2013EuropeUnited KingdomCambridgeCambridgeshire Busway - Route A26.020126666
2013North AmericaUnited StatesCleveland, OH - Healthline6.920137676
2013North AmericaUnited StatesEugene, OREmerald Express - Green Line12.520135855
2016North AmericaUnited StatesHartford, CTCTfastrak - Hartford-New Britain Busway15.020168479
2013North AmericaUnited StatesLas Vegas, NV - Strip & Downtown Express 2.020135754BRT certified
2013North AmericaUnited StatesLos Angeles, CA - Orange line22.920136565
2013North AmericaUnited StatesPittsburgh, PA - Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway15.020135656
2013North AmericaUnited StatesPittsburgh, PA - West Busway8.120135151BRT certified
2013North AmericaUnited StatesPittsburgh, PA - South Busway7.020135050BRT certified
2016North AmericaUnited StatesRichmond, VAGRTC - Pulse4.220197057
2014North AmericaUnited StatesSan Bernardino, CAsbX - E Street8.320146663
2024North AmericaUnited StatesRichmond, VAPulse4.220247763
2024North AmericaUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAVan Ness3.220247573
2014South AmericaVenezuelaCaracasBusCaracas - Línea 75.220147572