Bus Rapid Transit
Basics
11 Simple Ways to Speed Up Your City’s Buses
All across America, city buses are waiting. Waiting at stoplights, waiting behind long lines of cars, waiting to pull back into traffic, waiting at stops for growing crowds of passengers. And no, it's not just your imagination: Buses are doing more waiting, and less moving, than they used to. A recent survey of 11 urban transit systems conducted by Daniel Boyle for the Transportation Research Board found that increased traffic congestion is steadily eroding travel speeds: The average city bus route gets 0.45 percent slower every single year. That's especially discouraging given how slowly buses already move, with a typical bus averaging only 13.5 mph.
April 18, 2014
Long Arm of the Koch Brothers Extends to Nashville to Slap Down Transit
On Tuesday, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced that he might do away with dedicated transit lanes on two stretches of the Amp, the proposed seven-mile bus rapid transit line that could set an important precedent for the car-centric city. Dean is the main political backer of the project, so the fact that he's buckling says something about the mounting pressure to water down or kill the Amp. And that pressure isn't going to let up any time soon, because Dean and other supporters of effective transit in Nashville are up against opponents with very deep pockets.
April 3, 2014
Talking Headways Podcast: Play the Gray Away
Jeff and I had a great time this week, getting all outraged at the short-sighted move by the Tennessee Senate to ban dedicated lanes for transit, and high and mighty about cities that devote too much space to surface parking at the expense of just about everything else. And then we treat ourselves to a fun conversation about the origin of the American playground -- and whether the entire city should be the playground.
April 2, 2014
Tennessee Senate Tries to Cripple Nashville BRT
UPDATE: Though none of the coverage we saw mentioned it, the final law includes an amendment to ban all dedicated transit lanes -- not just in the center -- "on any state highway or state highway right-of-way unless the project to do so is approved by the legislative body of the metropolitan government and by the commissioner of transportation."
March 28, 2014
In Obama Budget, a Glimpse of What Beefed-Up Transit Funding Could Do
The budget proposal released by President Obama yesterday fleshes out the transportation ideas put out by the White House last week and includes specific grants for transit upgrades and expansions in 2015, but many of them won't be part of this budget unless Congress agrees to increase funding for transportation.
March 5, 2014
Fresno City Council Slams the Brakes on BRT
Sprawl and big money prevailed over progress last night in Fresno. The City Council dealt a major blow to local plans for smart planning and bus rapid transit, but stopped short of killing the project completely.
January 31, 2014
No, Nashville BRT Will Not Work Better Without Transit Lanes
Nashville, Tennessee, is trying to take its transit to the next level.
January 27, 2014
ITDP Study: “A Coming Out for Bus-Based Transit-Oriented Development”
In a new report making the rounds this week, “More Development For Your Transit Dollar: An Analysis of 21 North American Transit Corridors,” the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy does two things.
September 26, 2013
Taking the Guesswork Out of Rating BRT: An Interview With Walter Hook
There’s a new global benchmark for rating bus rapid transit projects. Yesterday the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released the BRT Standard 2013, which lays out the requirements for bus routes to qualify as BRT and scores 50 systems in 35 cities around the world as basic, bronze, silver, or gold based on various criteria. The idea, which ITDP has been refining since a beta release in 2011, is to provide a concrete definition of what BRT is, and a reference for politicians, planners, and advocates who are interested in creating new BRT routes, as well as to rate the quality of existing systems.
March 13, 2013
Meet the Rural Region That Opted for VelociBuses Over Highway Expansion
The four sparsely populated mountain counties make up the Roaring Fork Valley extend over roughly 50 miles on Colorado's Western Slope. About 32,000 people are interspersed throughout the valley in small towns like Basalt, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs, but the local economy revolves around the nearby resort town of Aspen.
February 14, 2013