The transport systems known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was launched in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974 as a means of offering efficient and effective bus travel within the fast expanding city. This experience, together with other big examples like in Ottawa (since 1983) or in Quito (since 1994), have proven to be an efficient and effective solution to mass transport.

Throughout Europe similar experiences have started to be developed, but responding to a different concept of quality of service.

Bus systems such as the “trunk network”, in Sweden, the Metrobus, in Germany, or the BHNS (Bus à Haut Niveau de Service), broach the quality of service from a wider perspective than the BRT, as it considers aspects such as image, confort...,apart from speed, frequency or reliability. 

These new systems - BHLS (Buses with a High Quality of Service) - allow to combine quality of service of tramways with the lower costs and higher flexibility of bus systems, and offers very interesting solutions in terms of accessibility, a wide range of service levels, that allows the system to be adapted to the different urban contexts (size, population, density…)

In the economic situation we are now living, the lack of funds provides BHLS an important role in public transport. Less costs with the same quality of service seems to be a very attractive option.

The aim of this article is to compare the different European experiences of tramways and BHLS, specially from the economic point of view, considering the costs, benefits and advantages of each of them

López Lambas, María Eugenia

Valdés Serrano, Cristina

Archivo Digital UPM

Squaring the circle: The BHLS concept

Servicio de Coordinación de Bibliotecas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

SQUARING THE CIRCLE: THE BHLS CONCEPT 
 
María Eugenia López Lambas 
Associated Professor of Transport  
ETSI Caminos, Canales y Puertos –Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 
Spain 
Cristina Valdés 
PhD Researcher 
Transyt-UPM, Spain 
 
ABSTRACT 
The transport system known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was launched in 
Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974 as a means of offering efficient and effective bus travel 
within the fast expanding city. This experience, together with other such Ottawa 
(since 1983) or Quito (since 1994), has proven to be an efficient and effective 
solution to mass transport. 
Throughout Europe similar experiences have started to be developed, but 
addressing a different concept in terms of quality of service. 
Indeed, bus systems such as the “trunk network”, in Sweden, the Metrobus, in 
Germany, or the BHNS (Bus à Haut Niveau de Service in France), approach the 
quality of service from a wider perspective than the BRT, as it considers 
aspects such as image and comfort, apart from speed, frequency or reliability.  
These new systems - BHLS (Buses with a High Quality of Service) - allow to 
combine quality of service of tramways with the lower costs and higher flexibility 
of bus systems, offering very interesting solutions in terms of accessibility, as 
well as a wide range of service levels, that allows the system to be adapted to 
the different urban contexts (size, population, density , etc) 
The economic situation we are facing has beard a lack of funds that, at the end, 
means an opportunity for BHLS, called to play an important role in public 
transport: less costs with the same quality of service seems to be a very 
attractive option. 
The aim of this article is to compare the different European experiences of 
tramways and BHLS, especially from the economic point of view, considering 
their respective costs, benefits and advantages. 
 1. INTRODUCTION 
“Trains are sexy; buses are not”: to break this statement and help to improve 
the image of buses, the COST ACTION TU603 Buses with a High Level of 
Service (BHLS), was launched in December 2006.In fact, this ACTION is based 
on a strong belief in the potential of buses as a real alternative not only to 
private car, but to train systems in their particular circumstances.  
Starting from the French concept of BHLS –which considers the American BRT 
(Bus Rapid Transit) model-, this ACTION aims to increase the public transport 
use by a better understanding of the model, improving, in this way, urban 
mobility throughout Europe.  
This COST Action is split into 4 Work Packages (WP) and 4 Working Groups 
(WG) represented in the chart below: 
 
 COST Action TU-603 structure. Source: www.bhls.eu 
As stated by the COST ACTION, “it is important from the outset to understand 
that BHLS, such as the BRT approach, stays as a concept or a method for 
designing routes, which structure and finally improve the bus network, and 
hence the whole mobility network” (COST ACTION TU0603 Technical Annex, 
www.cost.esf.org). In fact, this approach allows each city to choose the most 
appropriated way according to its own needs and characteristics.  
Actually there are many cities within Europe developing BRT strategies but in 
the framework of a low level of capacity: France, Sweden, United Kingdom, 
Spain, etc. have developed its own BHLS concept under different labels: 
Triskel, TEOR, BUS-VAO, Quality Bus Corridor, etc.  
Implementation conditions and socio-economic assessment of BHLS systems 
are the key issues to be addressed by the different working groups merged from 
the COST ACTION; and, following the same scheme, this paper explores 
similar topics of different European approaches, through a benchmarking 
exercise that will help to analyze the main elements of efficiency, starting from 
the state of the art regarding differences and objectives, through indicators such 
as patronage, travel time, cost, etc.     
So,  paraphrasing the famous André Malraux’ quotation1, we could also say that 
“mobility in XXI century will be sustainable or will not be at all” and the challenge 
must encourage public transport sector to play a leadership role beyond fashion 
and opportunism, reinventing old recipes that have proved their efficiency under 
their specific circumstances. 
2. FASHION IN TRANSPORT 
As Umberto Eco’s stated seems that we move forward by going back (Umberto 
Eco, “A passo di gambero”). 
In 1879, came into service, in the city of Berlin, the first electric tramway. 
Successively, during the next decades, this means of transport starts to be 
implemented in many European cities. 
 
Nevertheless, around the mid XXth century, this trend changes, and almost all 
the tramways were replaced by  a new rising transport means: the bus. 
                                            
1
 According to the phrase attributed to the French author André Malraux : "The 21st century will 
either be spiritual or will not be”, probably apocrypha. 
 During the second half of the XXth century, traffic in big cities increased, making 
congestion one of the main problems that cities have to deal with. This new 
situation brings back the interest in trams, and European cities, such as 
Bordeaux, Nice, Strasbourg, Rome, Barcelona, Valencia, among others, start a 
new process of implementing tramway lines. 
 
 
Strasbourg’s tramway (1994) 
 
Valencia’s tramway (1996) 
 
So, the tram reemerges as a new and modern transport system, whilst buses 
suffer a loss of image, as they are considered a slow system, providing little 
comfort and low reliability since they have to deal with congestion. 
Bordeaux is a good example of this revival of trams: in the last century the city 
had already a tram network, into service until 1958, when the mayor decided to 
remove it, to be, again, reintroduced it in 2003. The city currently has 3 tramway 
lines. 
 
 Bordeaux’s tramway (2003) 
The total length of the tramway 
network is 43.9 km. It runs with an 
average speed of 18.2 km/h, and it 
moves around 165.000 passengers 
(end of 2007).daily. 
The cost of this new infrastructure 
amounts to 29 M€/km 
 
 
Madrid is another interesting case. The city has recently included the tramway 
into its transport network, with three new lines inaugurated in 2007. The first two 
– ML1 and ML2 – known as Metro Oeste2, connect the municipalities of 
Pozuelo de Alarcón (79.826 inhabitants) and Boadilla del Monte 
(39.791inhabitants), located in the west metropolitan area of Madrid. 
 
                                            
2
 In fact, the term used for the tram system is Light Rail Train, probably in an attempt to avoid 
the reference to which is considered– according to the dominant opinion- an old fashion system.  
 Metro Oeste (Madrid, 2003)
 
The total length of Metro Oeste is 
22.4 km, with an average speed of 
24-25 km/h. The cost of the new 
infrastructure was 24.5 M€/km. The 
capacity of vehicles used, CITADIS, 
is 186 passengers/ veh. Currently, 
Metro Oeste moves around 30.000 
passengers. 
 
 
 
And while this happens in Europe, in America arises the concept of BRT – Bus 
Rapid Transit - , a solution which allows providing an efficient and effective 
service at a lower cost than rail systems. 
Until the end of the 90’s, BRT systems were defined as “a fast transport system 
that allows combining the quality of rail transport systems with the flexibility of 
buses” (Levinson et al, 2002). 
The spread of experiences, as well as the development of the concept, brought 
about a scale of the BRT systems, from the BRT-Lite to the full -BRT (Gray et 
al, 2006). This last one has the same characteristics as Metro lines: segregated 
platform, ticket sale previous to boarding, frequency, speed, modern and clean 
vehicles, marketing, etc. 
This system has been implemented in Curitiba, (Brasil,1974), Ottawa (Canada 
1983), Quito(Ecuador 1994) o Bogotá (Colombia 2000). 
 
 
Curitiba’s BRT (1974) Bogotá’s BRT (2000) 
 At the beginning of this century, the bus reemerges in Europe, as a transport 
system of quality, being France the pioneer regaining the bus as a modern 
transport system and, despite the fact that Buses with a High Level of Service – 
and BRT share some similarities, the BHLS appears adapted to the European 
context. So, on one hand, European cities have an urban structure totally 
different from American cities: whilst the first ones have high urban density, 
employment and residential places assembled, the second scheme is a more 
disperse city, with a CBD where most of employments are located. The 
travelling structure is, hence, different, and, as a consequence, the transport 
system also has to be. 
As a result, in the European context, this new system, BHLS differs from BRT in 
terms of capacity, as BRT is conceived as a massive transport system, a 
characteristic that is not present in the BHLS, but it takes, instead, from the BRT 
the idea of including on buses qualities that in Europe have always been 
associated to modern trams, such as dedicated platform, crossing priority 
systems, ITS, modern design and so on. 
In this sense, the Busway of Nantes, a French city located in the northwest of 
France, can be considered the paradigm of the BHLS system. 
The urban area of Nantes has a population of more than 570.000 inhabitants. 
The city, which had already three tramway lines, decided in 2006 to open a 
BHLS line. 
 
 The BUSWAY of Nantes (2006) 
 
This line – called BUSWAY – has a length of 6.9 km, 87% in segregated platform. 
The operating vehicles are articulated buses, natural gas, and 100% low floor. It 
has an average speed of 21 km/h, and it moves 25.000 passengers daily. 
The average cost of this new infrastructure is 7.5 M€/km, 460.000 €/bus. The 
operating cost is around 3,6 €/km. 
This new line, totally conceived as a tram line, but operated by buses, also has 
ITS tools such as dynamic information system - on board and  at the stop points -, 
or crossing priority. 
Another example of BHLS is the TEOR lines of Rouen. This city, located in the 
northwest of France, has a population of more than 400.000 inhabitants including 
the urban area. 
Rouen, also with a tramway line since 1994, decided to implement three bus lines, 
called the TEOR lines. 
The first phase of these TEOR lines – T1, T2 and T3 – was opened in 2001, with a 
total length of 29.8 km, from which 13.4 km (45%) run on a segregated platform. 
The investment cost of this new infrastructure is 5.5 M€/km. 
 
 Rouen: the TEOR line (2001) 
 
Two types of vehicles are used: the 
Irisbus Agora, which has capacity for 
115 passengers / vehicle, and the 
Irisbus Citelis, for 110 pass. / km. The 
average speed of the TEOR lines is 
17.5 km /h. 
 
Conceived as a modern system, the TEOR lines have characteristics just 
conceived for trams normally, such as optical guidance  at the stop points, 
dynamic information system - on board and in stop points -, or crossing priority. 
Also, Rouen is an example of urban renewal, as it can be seen in these two 
pictures: the same street, before and after opening the TEOR lines. 
 
 Rouen: urban renewal as a result of the TEOR implementation 
 
3. DISMANTLING THE MYTH 
Comparing the experiences previously detailed, it could be said that BHLS 
investment costs are around 30% of the investment cost of a tramway line. 
System City Investment cost (M€/km) 
BHLS 
Rouen 5.5 
Nantes 7.5 
Tram 
Bordeaux 29 
Madrid: Metro Oeste 24.5 
Source:COST Action TU-603 and own data from the munipalities 
And are not only the investment costs which are cheaper, but the cost of the 
vehicles or those for maintenance and operation  
 Tramway BHLS 
Cost of vehicles (€/veh) 2.5 0.4 
Maintenance cost (€/km) 0.15 0.05 
Operation cost (€/seat-km) 0.03 0.05 
Source:COST Action TU-603 and own data from the munipalities 
This brings up several questions: 
Are trams so efficient and sustainable from the 3 well known points (economic, 
social and environmental), to make profitable such a big investment instead of 
buses? 
Are buses a real competitive alternative in terms of capacity, speed and even 
attractiveness? 
Indeed, there are still some myths to break. Under this epigraph, and using the 
examples previously defined, we will try to do so regarding some of the most 
embedded common beliefs in the transport planners’ minds. 
 Dedicated platform 
Trams, which had disappeared from the cities surface since they were 
considered old fashioned, have reemerged recently as a medium capacity 
transport means whose key success feature is based on the dedicated platform. 
But dedicated platform is not concerned with the vehicles running on it.  
Moreover, buses can use not only the dedicated platform but the whole road 
network, which means more flexibility.  
 Capacity 
If we should only consider the vehicle capacity, then it is true that buses cannot 
compete with trams. 
System City Commercial speed (km/h) 
BHLS 
Rouen 110 
Nantes 110 - 115 
Tram 
Bordeaux 220 
Madrid: Metro Oeste 186 
Source:COST Action TU-603 and own data from the munipalities 
But capacity does not depend on the means of transport, but on the design of 
the whole system, i.e. vehicles, frequencies and service organization. In this 
sense, by fostering BHLS corridors it is feasible to get the “magic” number of 
6,000 passengers/hour and direction. And, even more important, buses 
flexibility makes possible its design for smaller demands. 
 Speed 
Buses are slower than trams, they said. Wrong again: with an adequate 
prioritization system, such as traffic lights, exclusive platform, contactless card, 
etc., buses could easily get a 15-25 km/h speed, more or less the same as 
tram: 18-25 km/h. 
System City Commercial speed (km/h) 
BHLS 
Rouen 17.5 
Nantes 21 
Tram 
Bordeaux 17 
Madrid: Metro Oeste 24 
Source:COST Action TU-603 and own data from the munipalities 
 Attractiveness / image 
BHLS does not have to do with old buses at all, since they use the modern tram 
technology for the tire’s tread with a similar design. It is even possible the use of 
hybrid or electric feed and optical or electronic guidance, which permits a softer 
movement, and a considerable reduction in terms of noise and emissions 
together with an increasing comfort.  
 Environment  
Excluding upstream emissions, the comparison between buses and trams leads 
to the conclusion that these last are the most ecological means of transport. But 
is that true? Maybe the answer is not so clear. First because, as stated before, 
upstream emissions are not taken into consideration and, second, because 
BHLS introduce clean technologies into the conventional network, such as 
trolley, hydrogen, hybrids, etc.  
 Economic impact on cities: urban regeneration such a way to attract 
investors, residents, business, etc. 
In this aspect, designed as trams, buses could generate a very positive impact 
on the cities, providing greater accessibility and contributing to remove private 
cars from the streets, which helps to attract investors and residents to the area.  
As an example, the city of Nantes has removed lanes from the roadway when 
implementing the Busway line. 
 
 
 
Hence, it is a matter of political decision rather than of the means chosen. 
 Facilities 
Do really trams provide a better service than buses? Again, it depends. Big 
investments in BHLS may lead to achieve similar results than tram, keeping at 
the same time flexibility regarding demand.  
 Investment costs 
 
System City Investment cost (M€/km) 
BHLS 
Rouen 7.5 
Nantes 5.5 
Tram 
Bordeaux 29 
Madrid: Metro Oeste 24.5 
Source:COST Action TU-603 and own data from the munipalities  
 
4. CONCLUSIONS: INTERMODALITY, AS USUAL 
This exercise of reflection leads to the following conclusions: 
The first one has to do with the concept of BHLS: should this term only apply for 
bus lines totally conceived as tramway lines, or should include a wider range of 
solutions, having in common the incorporation of quality of service? 
Since mobility is a complex problem, influenced by several factors,that have to 
be taken into consideration when defining the transport network,elements such 
as the size of the city, urban density, distribution of activities or congestion 
problems, will always result in different transport needs and, hence, in different 
transport modes. . 
And we should be aware that constraining the BHLS definition, together with the 
success of the first experiences in Europe, may bring about the fashion of 
BHLS, as it occurred with trams, and we could be assisting to a scenario with all 
the municipalities willing to implement this kind of system,   instead a cheaper 
solution that could provide the same level of quality. Indeed, there is no a “one 
system fits all” formula, since each city has its own needs and demand. 
The ÖPNV-Trasse of Oberhausen is a good example of particular solutions to fit 
its own needs. 
Oberhausen (Germany) has a population of 215.600 inhabitants. The city had 
an old industrial area, no longer in use, programmed to become a commercial 
area. As it was located in the city outskirts, this urban development should 
include public transport facilities attractive enough to compete with car. 
So, the solution implemented is an exclusive platform for collective transport, 
shared by buses and tramways. At the same time, one of the existing tramway 
lines has been extended to the commercial area, and the bus lines running 
along the corridor also enter the platform, being better off due to the new 
infrastructure not only people acceding from the city to the commercial area, but 
also those acceding from the surrounding municipalities, or  coming from these 
municipalities to  Oberhausen. 
The cost of the new infrastructure (22 M€/km) includes not only one line, but 
one corridor which has gained with this investment. 
On the other hand, the users do not make distinction when boarding bus or 
tram, because it doesn’t matter which one choose. This is very important since 
reveals that is not a matter of the system, being tramways preferred to buses, 
as tramway defenders argue.  
However, evidence shows that one size does not fit all: public transport 
networks must be based on intermodality. Each means has its own advantages, 
so they are complementary into an intermodal network; always through and 
adequate analysis aiming to the most efficient solution, since not always the big 
cost investments are fully justified. 
 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Acción Cost TU-603 BHLS: Buses with a High Level of Service: www.bhls.eu 
Finn, B., Heddebaut, O., Rabuel, S. (2010) Bus with a high level of service: the 
European BRT concept. Transportation Research Board – 89th Annual 
Meeting. Washington D.C. 
Gray, G., Kelley, N., Larwin, T. (2006). Bus Rapid Transit, A Handbook for 
Partners. Mineta Transportation Institute Report 06-02, San José State 
University, 66 pp. 
Levinson, H.S., Zimmerman, S., Clinger, J., Rutherford, S.C. (2002). Bus Rapid 
Transit: An Overview. Journal of Public Transportation 5 (2), pp. 1-30. 
Rabuel, S. (2009) Tramway et Bus à Haut Niveau de Service (BHNS) en 
France : domains de pertinence en zone urbaine 
Transport/Environnement/Circulation (TEC), n° 203 


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Squaring the circle: The BHLS concept

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