Bus rapid transit

Effective public transit is central to development. For the vast majority of developing city residents, public transit is the only practical means to access employment, education, and public services, especially when such services are beyond the viable distance of walking or cycling. Unfortunately, the current state of public transit services in developing cities often does little to serve the actual mobility needs of the population. Bus services are too often unreliable, inconvenient and dangerous. In response, transport planners and public officials have sometimes turned to extremely costly mass transit alternatives such as rail-based metros. Due to the high costs of rail infrastructure, cities can only construct such systems over a few kilometres in a few limited corridors. The result is a system that does not meet the broader transport needs of the population. Nevertheless, the municipality ends up with a long-term debt that can affect investment in more pressing areas such as health, education, water, and sanitation. However, there is an alternative between poor public transit service and high municipal debt. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can provide high-quality, metro-like transit service at a fraction of the cost of other options. This document provides municipal officials, non-governmental organizations, consultants, and others with an introduction to the concept of BRT as well as a step-by-step process for successfully planning a BRT system

17-11 Evaluation of Transit Priority Treatments in Tennessee

Many big cities are progressively implementing transit friendly corridors especially in urban areas where traffic may be increasing at an alarming rate. Over the years, Transit Signal Priority (TSP) has proven to be very effective in creating transit friendly corridors with its ability to improve transit vehicle travel time, serviceability and reliability. TSP as part of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is associated with great benefits to community liveability including less environmental impacts, reduced traffic congestions, fewer vehicular accidents and shorter travel times among others.This research have therefore analysed the impact of TSP on bus travel times, late bus recovery at bus stop level, delay (on mainline and side street) and Level of Service (LOS) at intersection level on selected corridors and intersections in Nashville Tennessee; to solve the problem of transit vehicle delay as a result of high traffic congestion in Nashville metropolitan areas. This study also developed a flow-delay model to predict delay per vehicle for a lane group under interrupted flow conditions and compared some measure of effectiveness (MOE) before and after TSP. Unconditional green extension and red truncation active priority strategies were developed via Vehicle Actuated Programming (VAP) language which was tied to VISSIM signal controller to execute priority for transit vehicles approaching the traffic signal at 75m away from the stop line. The findings from this study indicated that TSP will recover bus lateness at bus stops 25.21% to 43.1% on the average, improve bus travel time by 5.1% to 10%, increase side street delay by 15.9%, and favour other vehicles using the priority approach by 5.8% and 11.6% in travel time and delay reduction respectively. Findings also indicated that TSP may not affect LOS under low to medium traffic condition but LOS may increase under high traffic condition

What’s Behind Recent Transit Ridership Trends in the Bay Area? Volume I: Overview and Analysis of Underlying Factors

Public transit ridership has been falling nationally and in California since 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area, with the state’s highest rates of transit use, had until recently resisted those trends, especially compared to Greater Los Angeles. However, in 2017 and 2018 the region lost over five percent (>27 million) of its annual riders, despite a booming economy and service increases. This report examines Bay Area transit ridership to understand the dimensions of changing transit use, its possible causes, and potential solutions. We find that: 1) the steepest ridership losses have come on buses, at off-peak times, on weekends, in non-commute directions, on outlying lines, and on operators that do not serve the region’s core employment clusters; 2) transit trips in the region are increasingly commute-focused, particularly into and out of downtown San Francisco; 3) transit commuters are increasingly non-traditional transit users, such as those with higher incomes and automobile access; 4) the growing job-housing imbalance in the Bay Area is related to rising housing costs and likely depressing transit ridership as more residents live less transit-friendly parts of the region; and 5) ridehail is substituting for some transit trips, particularly in the off-peak. Arresting falling transit use will likely require action both by transit operators (to address peak capacity constraints; improve off-peak service; ease fare payments; adopt fare structures that attract off-peak riders; and better integrate transit with new mobility options) and public policymakers in other realms (to better meter and manage private vehicle use and to increase the supply and affordability of housing near job centers)

Does public transit improvement affect commuting behavior in Beijing, China? : A spatial multilevel approach

Developing countries like China have experienced substantial city transformations over the past decade. City transformations are characterized by transportation innovations that allow individuals to access to speedy commuting modes for work activities and offer potential influences on commuting behavior. This paper examines the potential effects of subway system expansion in Beijing on commuting behavior. Our methodological design controls for spatial effects by employing Bayesian multilevel binary logistic models with spatial random effects. Using cross-sectional individual surveys in Beijing, the results suggest that there is a significant rise in subway commuting trips while non-motorized and bus commuting trips are reduced with the new subway expansion. Model comparison results show evidence about the presence of spatial effects in influencing the role of built environment characteristics to play in the commuting behavior analysis

Development of Bus-Stop Time Models in Dense Urban Areas: A Case Study in Washington DC

Bus transit reliability depends on several factors including the route of travel, traffic conditions, time of day, and conditions at the bus stops along the route. The number of passengers alighting or boarding, fare payment method, dwell time (DT), and the location of the bus stop also affect the overall reliability of bus transit service. This study defines a new variable, Total Bus Stop Time (TBST) which includes DT and the time it takes a bus to safely maneuver into a bus stop and the re-entering the main traffic stream. It is thought that, if the TBST is minimized at bus stops, the overall reliability of bus transit along routes could be improved. This study focused on developing a TBST model for bus stops located near intersections and at mid-blocks using ordinary least squares method based on data collection at 60 bus stops, 30 of which were near intersections while the remaining were at mid-blocks in Washington DC. The field data collection was conducted during the morning, mid-day, and evening peak hours. The following variables were observed at each bus stop: bus stop type, number of passengers alighting or boarding, DT, TBST, number of lanes on approach to the bus stop, presence of parking, and bus pad length. The data was analyzed and all statistical inferences were conducted based on 95% confidence interval. The results show that the TBST could be used to aid in improving planning and scheduling of transit bus systems in an urban area

Effects of Transit Signal Priority on Traffic Safety: Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Portland, Oregon, Implementations

Transit signal priority (TSP) has been implemented to transit systems in many cities of the United States. In evaluating TSP systems, more attention has been given to its operational effects than to its safety effects. Existing studies assessing safety effects of TSP reported mixed results, indicating that the safety effects of TSP vary in different contexts. In this study, TSP implementations in Portland, Oregon, were assessed using interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) on month-to-month changes in number of crashes from January 1995 to December 2010. Single-group and controlled ITSA were conducted for all crashes, property-damage-only crashes, fatal and injury crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and bike-involved crashes. Evaluation of the post-intervention period (2003 to 2010) showed a reduction in all crashes on street sections with TSP (-4.5 percent), comparing with the counterfactual estimations based on the control group data. The reduction in property-damage-only crashes (-10.0 percent) contributed the most to the overall reduction. Fatal and injury crashes leveled out after TSP implementation but did not change significantly comparing with the control group. Pedestrian and bike-involved crashes were found to increase in the post-intervention period with TSP, comparing with the control group. Potential reasons to these TSP effects on traffic safety were discussed.Comment: Published in Accident Analysis & Preventio

Economic Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit in Southeast Michigan

In recent years, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has generated great interest across the United States. There are more than 20 BRT systems in existence, and more are in the planning stage (including in Detroit). Within the next few years, BRT will be planned and implemented phase by phase in various parts of Southeast Michigan. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to identify probable economic impacts of BRT in Southeast Michigan. Taxable real estate values, injury and fatal crash data, and selected demographics of BRT users, including employment sector, age group, median income, and daily vehicle miles traveled were reviewed to identify Southeast Michigan’s current and future trends. The project team also performed shift-share analysis using Cleveland and Kansas City data to determine the BRT-advantaged age group. The authors recommended a number of action items to attract choice riders and gratify riders who must rely on BRT, such as tax incentives, branding, guaranteed levels of service, etc. Based on the literature review and analysis of existing BRT-related data by the project team, BRT-advantaged job sectors and age groups within the Southeast Michigan region were identified. BRT will be implemented in phases. This will affect the amount, type, and timing of investments in BRT. Considering this uncertainty, the potential economic impacts as a function of type and amount of investment were discussed. It is to be noted that in order to achieve the projected results, the BRT system must be planned, designed, and implemented based on the unique attributes of the Southeast Michigan region rather than by copying a system that has achieved success in another region

Urban Transportation Policy: A Guide and Road Map

The main transportation issues facing cities today fall into familiar categories--congestion and public transit. For congestion, there is now a far richer menu of options that are understood, technically feasible, and perhaps politically feasible. One can now contemplate offering roads of different qualities and prices. Many selected road segments are now operated by the private sector. Road pricing is routinely considered in planning exercises, and field experiments have made it more familiar to urban voters. Concerns about environmental effects of urban trucking have resulted in serious interest in tolled truck-only express highways. As for public transit, there is a need for political mechanisms to allow each type of transit to specialize where it is strongest. The spread of “bus rapid transit†has opened new possibilities for providing the advantages of rail transit at lower cost. The prospect of pricing and privatizing highway facilities could reduce the amount of subsidy needed to maintain a healthy transit system. Privately operated public transit is making a comeback in other parts of the world. The single most positive step toward better urban transportation would be to encourage the spread of road pricing. A second step, more speculative because it has not been researched, would be to use more environmentally-friendly road designs that provide needed capacity but at modest speeds, and that would not necessarily serve all vehicles.Transportation policy; Road pricing; Privatization; Product differentiation

Carbon Free Boston: Transportation Technical Report

Part of a series of reports that includes: Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report; Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report; Carbon Free Boston: Technical Summary; Carbon Free Boston: Buildings Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Waste Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Energy Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Offsets Technical ReportOVERVIEW: Transportation connects Boston’s workers, residents and tourists to their livelihoods, health care, education, recreation, culture, and other aspects of life quality. In cities, transit access is a critical factor determining upward mobility. Yet many urban transportation systems, including Boston’s, underserve some populations along one or more of those dimensions. Boston has the opportunity and means to expand mobility access to all residents, and at the same time reduce GHG emissions from transportation. This requires the transformation of the automobile-centric system that is fueled predominantly by gasoline and diesel fuel. The near elimination of fossil fuels—combined with more transit, walking, and biking—will curtail air pollution and crashes, and dramatically reduce the public health impact of transportation. The City embarks on this transition from a position of strength. Boston is consistently ranked as one of the most walkable and bikeable cities in the nation, and one in three commuters already take public transportation. There are three general strategies to reaching a carbon-neutral transportation system: • Shift trips out of automobiles to transit, biking, and walking;1 • Reduce automobile trips via land use planning that encourages denser development and affordable housing in transit-rich neighborhoods; • Shift most automobiles, trucks, buses, and trains to zero-GHG electricity. Even with Boston’s strong transit foundation, a carbon-neutral transportation system requires a wholesale change in Boston’s transportation culture. Success depends on the intelligent adoption of new technologies, influencing behavior with strong, equitable, and clearly articulated planning and investment, and effective collaboration with state and regional partners.Published versio