BRT is a simple cafe of Bus toys, Pick up two or more of the cool ideas and call your system BRT. New Buses, HOV lanes, dedicated busways (bus expressways), pre-pay fares, gps, etc... As you can see you could build a
Light BRT with HOV and a few of the better ideas for very little money, or, you could take the JTA approach and reinvent the wheel. Build a bus expressway over the railroad, buy EVERY available toy, and say, "think rail ride the bus." This is a very HEAVY way to build BRT, and there could be a very heavy price to go with it as my friends in Chile are finding out. BTW, I am FOR a LIGHT-BRT, and a hell of a lot more of it then JTA plans. But this expressway stuff is insane.
Santiago, Chile: Senate awards Transantiago $2 subsidy
Chile’s Senate has refused to fund the struggling Transantiago transit
system, offering just two dollars in
support for 2008. The Transportation
Ministry had asked for $145 million to
keep the system from going bankrupt,
but lowered the request to $92 million
in an effort to assure passage of the
budget. The government has already
paid out $290 million in subsidies
during 2007.
Transantiago officially debuted in early
2007, integrating existing subway
service with significant bus service
changes. However, the system of
limited-stop bus routes has been
unable to meet passenger demand,
and the system’s design requires
multiple transfers that have extended travel times significantly.
Boy sounds like we could use some of that good old HEAVY-BRT success here!
Ocklawaha