How can a bus district carry more riders without buying more buses? The answer is bus rapid transit (BRT), a combination of strategies to make bus trips faster, so the same number of buses can make more trips. BRT buses do not run on schedules, instead using a "headway" system that sets a minimum time between buses, and they use routes where changes have been made that speed them through congestion.
Rex Gephart, Director of LA Metro, was the capstone speaker at a recent forum held in Oakland by the Mineta Transportation Institute. LA Metro now has a growing network of successful BRT bus routes. Gephart said that BRT is the best choice when buses are already doing well but trips are too slow, and ridership is too low to justify light or heavy rail. Heavy bus ridership can be handled by articulated buses. BRT also works when the alternative is a rail-bus transfer to make the trip.
Buses in Los Angeles were found to be moving only half the time they were on a route—the other half was spent at bus stops or sitting in traffic. With BRT, passenger trip time has been cut up to 29%. According to staff members from AC Transit and the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA), the East Bay's first BRT route, the Rapid Bus on San Pablo Avenue through several East Bay cities, has decreased travel time by 17% over the previous "limited" service on the route, and ridership has increased by 66%. Surveys have shown that 19% of new riders used to drive alone. AC Transit's second BRT route will run along Telegraph Avenue and International Boulevard/East 14th Street.
Implementation of BRT can be done in stages. The most basic stage is changing the location of transit stops, providing shelters and information signs showing when the next bus will arrive, and adding technology to buses to hurry or slow signal changes at intersections, called signal prioritization. The next stage includes shifting transit stops to the far side of intersections, so that a bus can enter traffic again as soon as passengers are on board, using "low floor" buses to speed boarding, and clearly marking buses as special service. Full-scale BRT uses dedicated bus lanes with boarding platforms; tickets are sold in machines on the platforms so that passengers can board at any door.
Speakers at the forum included ACCMA board members from the cities of Albany and Berkeley. The forum was hosted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Other sponsors included Caltrans District 4, the Commonwealth Club, and the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area. An edited transcript and other materials from the forum are available on the Mineta Transportation Institute website, http://transweb.sjsu.edu.