Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit, also referred to as a busway or transitway, is a trolleybus, electric bus, or bus service system designed to have higher capacity, reliability, and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes roadways that are dedicated to buses, and gives priority to buses at intersections where buses may interact with other traffic; alongside design features to reduce delays caused by passengers boarding or leaving buses, or paying fares. BRT aims to combine the capacity and speed of a light rail transit or mass rapid transit system with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus system.
Although some cities, such as Lima, and Runcorn, pioneered segregated busway systems with some BRT features, the first city to fully integrate every BRT feature into a single system was Curitiba with the Rede Integrada de Transporte in 1974., a total of 166 cities in six continents have implemented BRT systems, accounting for of BRT lanes and about 32.2 million passengers every day. The majority of these are in Latin America, where about 19.6 million passengers ride daily, and which has the most cities with BRT systems, with 54, led by Brazil with 21 cities. The Latin American countries with the most daily ridership are Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In the other regions, China and Iran stand out. Currently, Transjakarta is the largest BRT network in the world, with about of corridors connecting the Indonesian capital city.
Terminology
Bus rapid transit is a mode of mass rapid transit and describes a high-capacity urban public-transit system with its own right of way, vehicles at short headways, platform-level boarding, and preticketing.The expression "BRT" is mainly used in the Americas and China; in India, it is called "BRTS" ; in Europe it is often called a "busway" or a "BHLS". The term transitway was originated in 1981 with the opening of the OC Transpo transitway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Critics have charged that the term "bus rapid transit" has sometimes been misapplied to systems that lack most or all the essential features which differentiate it from conventional bus services. The term "bus rapid transit creep" has been used to describe severely degraded levels of bus service which fall far short of the BRT Standard promoted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and other organizations.
Reasons for use
Compared to other common transit modes such as light rail transit, bus rapid transit service is attractive to transit authorities because it does not cost as much to establish and operate: no track needs to be laid, bus drivers typically require less training and less pay than rail operators, and bus maintenance is less complex than rail maintenance.Moreover, buses are more flexible than rail vehicles, because a bus route can be altered, either temporarily or permanently, to meet changing demand or contend with adverse road conditions with comparatively little investment of resources.
History
Background
The first use of a protected busway was the East Side Trolley Tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island. It was converted from trolley to bus use in 1948. Another early bus system having some rapid transit features is the Runcorn Busway in Runcorn, England. First conceived in the Runcorn New Town Masterplan in 1966, it opened for services in October 1971 and all were operational by 1980. The central station is at Runcorn Shopping City where buses arrive on dedicated raised busways to two enclosed stations. Arthur Ling, Runcorn Development Corporation's Master Planner, said that he had invented the concept while sketching on the back of an envelope. The town was designed around the transport system, with most residents no more than five minutes' walking distance, or, from the Busway.Brazil
The first BRT system in the world was the Rede Integrada de Transporte, implemented in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974. The Rede Integrada de Transporte was inspired by the previous transport system of the National Urban Transport Company of Peru, which only had quick access to Lima downtown, but it would not be considered BRT itself. Many of the elements that have become associated with BRT were innovations first suggested by Carlos Ceneviva, within the team of Curitiba Mayor Jaime Lerner. Initially just dedicated bus lanes in the center of major arterial roads, in 1980 the Curitiba system added a feeder bus network and inter-zone connections, and in 1992 introduced off-board fare collection, enclosed stations, and platform-level boarding. Other systems made further innovations, including platooning in Porto Alegre, and passing lanes and express service in São Paulo.Other early examples
In the United States, an early prototype of BRT was the El Monte Busway, which opened in 1973. The long project occupied unused railroad right-of-way in the middle of the San Bernardino Freeway to add an exclusive bus lane which saved commuters 20-30 minutes in each direction, although the bus lane was opened to high occupancy vehicles in 1976. The El Monte Station terminal was called the "first bus rapid transit station in the world." Another pioneer in BRT was the Pittsburgh South Busway, operating on of exclusive lanes. Its success led to the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway in 1983, a fuller BRT deployment including a dedicated busway of, traffic signal preemption, and peak service headway as low as two minutes. After the opening of the West Busway, in length in 2000, Pittsburgh's Busway system is today over 18.5 miles long.The OC Transpo BRT system in Ottawa, Canada, was introduced in 1983. The first element of its BRT system was dedicated bus lanes through the city centre, with platformed stops. The introduction of exclusive separate busways occurred in 1983. By 1996, all of the originally envisioned 31 km Transitway system was in operation; further expansions were opened in 2009, 2011, and 2014. As of 2019, the central part of the Transitway has been converted to light rail transit, due to the downtown section being operated beyond its designed capacity.
In 1995, Quito, Ecuador, opened MetrobusQ its first BRT trolleybuses in Quito, using articulated trolleybuses.
The TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia, opening in 2000, was the first BRT system to combine the best elements of Curitiba's BRT with other BRT advances, and achieved the highest capacity and highest speed BRT system in the world.
In January 2004 the first BRT in Southeast Asia, Transjakarta, opened in Jakarta, Indonesia., at, it is the longest BRT system in the world.
File:Scania K280UB O-Bahn Bus.jpg|thumb|A Scania K280UB travelling on the O-Bahn in Adelaide, Australia
Africa's first BRT system was opened in Lagos, Nigeria, in March 2008 but is considered a light BRT system by many people. Johannesburg, South Africa, BRT Rea Vaya, was the first true BRT in Africa, in August 2009, carrying 16,000 daily passengers. Rea Vaya and MIO were the first two systems to combine full BRT with some services that also operated in mixed traffic, then joined the BRT trunk infrastructure.
In 2017 Marrakesh, Morocco, opened its first BRT Marrakesh trolleybus system trolleybuses Corridors of 8 km, of which 3 km of overhead wiring for operation as trolleybus.
Main features
BRT systems normally include most of the following features:Dedicated lanes and alignment
Bus-only lanes make for faster travel and ensure that buses are not delayed by mixed traffic congestion. A median alignment bus-only keeps buses away from busy curb-side side conflicts, where cars and trucks are parking, standing and turning. Separate rights of way may be used such as the completely elevated Xiamen BRT. Transit malls or 'bus streets' may also be created in city centers.Off-board fare collection
Fare prepayment at the station, instead of on board the bus, eliminates the delay caused by passengers paying on board. Fare machines at stations also allow riders to purchase multi-ride stored-value cards and have multiple payment options. Prepayment also allows riders to board at all doors, further speeding up stops.Bus priority, turning and standing restrictions
Prohibiting turns for traffic across the bus lane significantly reduces delays to the buses. Bus priority will often be provided at signalized intersections to reduce delays by extending the green phase or reducing the red phase in the required direction compared to the normal sequence. Prohibiting turns may be the most important measure for moving buses through intersections.Platform-level boarding
The station platforms for BRT systems should be level with the bus floor for quick and easy boarding, making it fully accessible for wheelchairs, disabled passengers and baby strollers, with minimal delays.High-level platforms for high-floored buses makes it difficult to have stops outside dedicated platforms, or to have conventional buses stop at high-level platforms, so these BRT stops are distinct from street-level bus stops. Similar to rail vehicles, there is a risk of a dangerous gap between bus and platform, and is even greater due to the nature of bus operations. Kassel curbs or other methods may be used to ease quick and safe alignment of the BRT vehicle with a platform.
A popular compromise is low-floor buses with a low step at the door, which can allow easy boarding at low-platform stops compatible with other buses. This intermediate design may be used with some low- or medium-capacity BRT systems.
The MIO system in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, pioneered in 2009 the use of dual buses, with doors on the left side of the bus that are located at the height of high-level platforms, and doors on the right side that are located at curb height. These buses can use the main line with its exclusive lanes and high level platforms, located on the center of the street and thus, boarding and leaving passengers on the left side. These buses can exit the main line and use normal lanes that share with other vehicles and stop at regular stations located on sidewalks on the right side of the street.