STUDY: Bus Rapid Transit * USA
* DC - Projects Improve Transit Service and Can Contribute to Economic Development
Washington,DC,USA -GAO, by David J. Wise -Jul 25, 2012: -- What GAO found: U.S. bus rapid transit (BRT) projects we reviewed include features that distinguished BRT from standard bus service and improved riders’ experience. However, few of the projects (5 of 20) used dedicated or semi-dedicated lanes— a feature commonly associated with BRT and included in international systems to reduce travel time and attract riders. Project sponsors and planners explained that decisions on which features to incorporate into BRT projects were influenced by costs, community needs, and the ability to phase in additional features... The BRT projects we reviewed generally increased ridership and improved service over the previous transit service. Specifically, 13 of the 15 project sponsors that provided ridership data reported increases in ridership after 1 year of service and reduced average travel times of 10 to 35 percent over previous bus services... Capital costs for BRT projects were generally lower than for rail transit projects and accounted for a small percent of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New, Small, and Very Small Starts’ funding although they accounted for over 50 percent of projects with grant agreements since fiscal year 2005... We found that although many factors contribute to economic development, most local officials we visited believe that BRT projects are contributing to localized economic development. In addition, BRT project sponsors highlighted other community benefits including quick construction and implementation and operational flexibility...
Labels: bus rapid transit - BRT
posted by Unknown @ 4:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home