Showing posts with label BRT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BRT. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Honolulu Transit


Professor Kodama sent me an interesting article to put on the blog.

Residents of Honolulu will be getting a new mass transit system. On February 22, the city of Honolulu was recommended by experts to install a rail system. While only one other official objected the rail system, instead preferring a BRT system. It's interesting that the city would think a rail system would be better for them than a BRT system. With all the enthusiasm for the rail line it seems like the BRT system will not be properly thought out. You can read more about the article here.

The article is also featured on youTube and can be seen here.

Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide

From Professor Kodama!

The Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide is the most comprehensive resource for planning a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, beginning with project preparation all the way through to implementation.

Click here for online purchase

It is the culmination of over five years of efforts to document and improve the state of the art in cost-effective public transport solutions for cities. This edition, expanded to over 850 pages, includes contributions from a wide range of professionals and practitioners with direct experience in designing and implementing BRT systems all over the world. It is currently only available in English, but it is being translated into Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Download it below or purchase a printed copy by clicking here.

Beginning with an overview of BRT, the Planning Guide proceeds to give a step-by-step description of the planning process, including operational design, financial modeling, physical design, multi-modal and land use integration, business plan development, communications and marketing, contracting, vehicle and fare collection technology, evaluation, and implementation.

The BRT Planning Guide is intended as a guidance document mainly for planning and engineering professionals. However, others, such as non-governmental organizations, national and regional policymakers, and business groups, will find it a valuable resource as well, when advocating for their issues and finding solutions to the problems that they are addressing.

BRT systems have proven to be catalysts in transforming cities into more livable and human-friendly environments. The appeal of BRT is the ability to deliver a high-quality mass transit system within the budgets of most municipalities, even in low-income cities. Planning and implementing a good BRT system is not easy. This guide aims to make the task a little easier.


BRT Planning Guide - June 2007


Click on the chapter title to download the PDF document:


* Introduction (2.5 MB PDF)
* Part I, Project Preparation (13.5 MB PDF)
* Part II, Operational Design (11.4 MB PDF)
* Part III, Physical Design (12.6 MB PDF)
* Part IV, Integration (9.3 MB PDF)
* Part V, Business Plan (9.6 MB PDF)
* Part VI, Evaluation and Implementation (4.9 MB PDF)
* Resources, Annexes and References (788 KB PDF)

Complete Guide (55.7 MB PDF)

Additional Resources

* Annex 1, BRT System Comparisons (224 KB PDF)
* Annex 2, BRT Consultant Directory (116 KB PDF)
* Sample operator contract (1.5 MB Word file)
* BRT Infrastructure Cost Calculator (40 KB Excel file)

The Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide is copyrighted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). It is intended for technical and educational use only and may not be used for commercial purposes. It may not be reprinted or modified without the explicit authorization of ITDP.

The BRT Planning Guide is co-edited by Lloyd Wright, Executive Director of Viva; and Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). It was developed through support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Global Environment Facility/United Nations Environment Programme, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.

For more information, please contact brtguide@itdp.org

Friday, February 8, 2008

Los Angeles ranks exactly ranks in the middle for Sustainability

The GoingGreenDC blog recently posted an article showing a list of sustainable cities as reviewed by SustainLane.com

Sustainlane, is an independent online media company that offers peer reviews, where you can quickly find over 20,000 green products and great local businesses.

They recently listed the 50 most sustainable cities in the US and Los Angeles ranked at 25. Right in the middle of the pack. For all the details click here.

While they praise Los Angeles' SustainLA program, their study showed that we ranked 49 overall for metro congestion. On the bright side, LA was ranked 8th overall for mass transit.

Overall, an interesting read for anyone curious about how much progress Los Angeles has made the past few years.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Bogotá

Professor Kodama found an interesting post about the Bus Rapid System in Bogota. The post comes from Streetsblog and offers a great 7 minute video talking about the BRT system in Bogota.
The Bogota BRT line travels at amazing speeds and runs like a subway. With stations located in the middle of large roads and smaller buses that bring people to their destinations to the smaller areas. Plus those smaller buses are free. With this "hive" sort of system the BRT line has bicycle use become an integral part of their BRT system and found a great balance for most commuters. Lastly their BRT system is monitored like air traffic. Maybe the MTA can change the road use on Wilshire to something like this.




You decide.