BRT = Rights-of-Way, Faster Boarding
On the road, buses escape automobile traffic and move quickly
through congested areas by running on dedicated rights-of-way.
These include bus-only highways (“busways”) and bus-only lanes
on general purpose roads; these must be physically separated
from general traffic or vigorously enforced if they are to succeed.
In many situations buses can also share high-occupancy vehicle
or high-occupancy toll lanes (HOV lanes that single-occupancy
vehicles can pay a toll to enter).
"Virtual rights-of-way" can supplement dedicated rights-of-way, or replace them in a lower-end BRT system. One "virtual right-of-way" is traffic signal priority, when buses use transponders to “hold” green
lights open or cause red lights to change early so that buses can
clear intersections without stopping or with shorter than usual
waits.
At heavily trafficked stations, efforts to speed up boarding can dramatically
reduce delays. Off-vehicle fare payment can be implemented
in different ways. In Curitiba, Brazil, riders pay upon entering
a bus station, then walk through a turnstile and to their bus.
In Los Angeles, tickets are purchased at station vending machines
and randomly checked by inspection personnel on board buses.
Because riders no longer need to pay on the bus, they can board
faster and at multiple doors.
Better bus design also speeds boarding. Low-floored buses with
wide doors eliminate the need for passengers to walk up stairs to
get to their seats. These buses can be driven so that their floors
align with station platform and curb edges, allowing for level boarding,
a particular benefit to mobility-impaired riders.
Any of these elements can be used individually to improve bus service, but it is the combination of bus, station, and right-of-way elements (as well as effective routing and service plans) that make a high-capacity BRT system. The BRT in Ottawa, Canada carries 10,000 passengers per direction per hour (p/d/h). Curitiba's main BRT lines carry 15,000 p/d/h. Compare these to typical ridership of 11,000 p/d/h for light rail and 50,000 p/d/h for metro rail, which is suitable only for very dense cities. (Ridership estimates from R. Cervero's The Transit Metropolis.)
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