We Went From Trains, to Trolleys, to Subways, to Local Buses, to Light Rail. Now, BRT is seen as the Least Costly, and Fastest to Produce, System, World Wide.

The Next Big Thing in Urban Transit: Fast-Bus Systems

After years of unsuccessful efforts to create a light-rail system in Florida's Tampa Bay area, transit leaders are falling back on an old technology-buses. This isn't your average city bus. The service, known as bus rapid transit, would operate for long stretches on dedicated lanes and feature modern, comfortable vehicles and raised station platforms level with bus entrances for smooth boarding.

From article, (After years of unsuccessful efforts to create a light-rail system in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, transit leaders are falling back on an old technology—buses.

This isn’t your average city bus. The service, known as bus rapid transit, would operate for long stretches on dedicated lanes and feature modern, comfortable vehicles and raised station platforms level with bus entrances for smooth boarding.

Officials envision a 41-mile system to connect the region’s five main employment centers, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, at a cost of up to $455 million and a five-year construction time frame. An alternative nine-mile rail project was projected to cost $620 million and take up to 10 years to complete.

“It’s a rapid-transit system on rubber tires,” said Ramond Chiaramonte, executive director of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, which plans to open the blueprint to public comment in July.

A growing number of U.S. cities are pursuing these bus systems as cheaper and easier-to-build alternatives to light rail at a time when transit budgets are tight. While such services have been around for years in cities like Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, they have been rolling out at a faster clip in recent years.

There are now about 10 U.S. cities, including Hartford, Conn., and Eugene, Ore., with established lines, said Michael Kodransky, director of global and U.S. initiatives at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in New York, which created a grading system for the services. Another dozen or so metro areas, including Miami-Dade County and Boston, are evaluating or developing them.

BRT systems, which got their start in Latin America, generally run about a quarter to a third of the cost of light-rail systems to build, with similar passenger-carrying capacities, according to Mr. Kodransky’s organization. Proponents say they also can serve as economic engines. The one in Cleveland—regarded as one of the most successful—triggered economic development along its corridor.

It is part of a broader rethinking of bus networks in the U.S. Ridership on city buses has declined steadily in recent years, decreasing nearly 5% in the third quarter of 2017 compared with a year earlier, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Reasons include service cutbacks after the recession and the rise of ride-share services like Uber and Lyft. Cities like Houston and Seattle have responded by completely redrawing bus routes.)

For More Info