Bus Rapid Transit that Makes Sense?
A The Seattle Times article reports on a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Eugene, OR.
The project may be one of the few BRT projects that makes sense, for a couple of reasons:
- Smaller Population - The town's population is ~325,000 -- not high enough to justify the expenses of light or heavy rail.
- Proactive Rather than Reactive - The line is being designed and installed early, as there currently isn't a horrible traffic problem but one is anticipated.
- Dedicated Lanes - Two-thirds of the BRT travel will be in a dedicated lane (this should be 100%, but what can you do?)
- Traffic Priority - Buses have priority at traffic signals, speeding them through traffic.
- Better Information - Digital signs will announce the arrival of the next bus
The system will certainly not be perfect. But as transit proponents, we have to realize that transit will hit all our desires, and a system that accomplishes 85-90% of the goals is really the best we can hope for. This BRT system may be one of the few that accomplishes that to date.
Mind you, BRT still should never be used in large cities or to transport significant numbers of people. But that's for another blog entry.
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amg | 11:24 AM |
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Well, it did sorta work OK in Ottawa.
