Bus Rapid Transit: A Sustainable Approach to Mass Transit

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Bus Rapid Transit: A Sustainable Approach to Mass Transit

Transportation accounts for about 25% of fossil fuel consumption. One way to decrease the negative environmental effects of burning fossil fuels (e.g. smog and global warming) is to improve mass transit. An efficient mass transit system speeds travel time, cuts travel costs, and makes service more reliable. Consequently, it discourages the use of private vehicles, reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions. A type of mass transit that has proven to be environmentally and socially successful in many cities across the world is Bus Rapid Transit. BRT uses a variety of a variety of innovative system designs and technologies to achieve to the aforementioned qualities of an efficient mass transit system. The innovative system designs and technologies include: lane priority, signal priority, vehicle design, stop location, fare collection, rider appeal, and land use policy.

Lane priority gives buses exclusive use of lanes to increase travel time. There are three types of priority lanes: curbside, median, and contraflow. Curbside bus lanes are usually effective during peak hours in peak directions; otherwise the lane is reserved for parking and deliveries. Since bus stops are in this lane, buses do not waste time remerging with traffic. Double curbside bus lanes allow them to pass one another, such as Madison Avenue in New York City. Median lanes are those located in the middle two lanes of traffic, usually separated from all other traffic by a raised curb. Median lanes are only appropriate for wide boulevards because space is needed to build the passenger platforms. Even though median lanes are less likely to be congested than curbside lanes, some di...

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...a2.html; provides a case study of the transit system in Curitiba, Brazil.

2. http://www.solutions-site.org/default.htm; provides a case study of the transit system in Curitiba, Brazil including a history and schematic maps of the city.

3. http://www.atlanticplanners.org/whatnew/conf99/curitiba.htm; an overview of the success of the BRT system in Curitiba, Brazil, provides links for more information on the city’s BRT system.

4. http://www.fta.dot.gov/brt/index.html; an overview of the elements that comprise a BRT system, case studies of Curitiba, Miami, Orlando, and Vancouver are included.

5. http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_cur02.htm; offers criticisms of implementing a BRT system in Detroit, MI.

6. http://www.iea.org/public/studies/bus.htm#tables; offers a .PDF to a table (2.4) comparing a traditional bus transit system to a BRT one.

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