I say, use both! express buses in dedicated lanes to complement and feed into a rail system. No one transit system is the be-all and end-all of solutions. You need buses and trains to work together to help take the load off of vehicle traffic.
This is a great overview of and introduction to BRT. Well done. One blemish is the inclusion of the Chinese straddle "bus". It has now officially died but it was never viable - how are trucks and tall vehicles going to be banned from the road when its running. Worse is that it is actually a train because it is so heavy it need to run on rails. Unlike BRT, not everything new is an improvement.
I will say that in the bus vs rail debate in regards to speed, it depends on the rail being used. I live in Los Angeles, where they have a BRT right of way system called the orange line, that connects with a subway called the red line. In that scenario the subway is obviously faster as it doesn't have to stop for traffic lights. On the other hand, comparing the orange line BRT to any of our street level light rail lines (the blue line for example), and the speed is about the same.
Cars are much more convenient & even cost-effective (including roads). Why use either buses or rail. BRT usually takes lanes from cars, lowering overall capacity & time.
I say, use both! express buses in dedicated lanes to complement and feed into a rail system. No one transit system is the be-all and end-all of solutions. You need buses and trains to work together to help take the load off of vehicle traffic.
Not to mention the article in the Star Advertiser today stating the rail car size is not adequate passenger seating...What a joke...Go Bus Go!!
This is a great overview of and introduction to BRT. Well done.
One blemish is the inclusion of the Chinese straddle "bus". It has now officially died but it was never viable - how are trucks and tall vehicles going to be banned from the road when its running. Worse is that it is actually a train because it is so heavy it need to run on rails. Unlike BRT, not everything new is an improvement.
I will say that in the bus vs rail debate in regards to speed, it depends on the rail being used. I live in Los Angeles, where they have a BRT right of way system called the orange line, that connects with a subway called the red line. In that scenario the subway is obviously faster as it doesn't have to stop for traffic lights. On the other hand, comparing the orange line BRT to any of our street level light rail lines (the blue line for example), and the speed is about the same.
thumbs up.
Cars are much more convenient & even cost-effective (including roads).
Why use either buses or rail.
BRT usually takes lanes from cars, lowering overall capacity & time.