A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst bus gate describes a short bus lane often used as a short cut for public transport. Bus lanes are a key component of a high-quality bus rapid transit (BRT) network, improving bus travel speeds and reliability by reducing delay caused by other traffic.
A dedicated bus lane may occupy only part of a roadway which also has lanes serving general automotive traffic; in contrast to a transit mall which is a pedestrianized roadway also served by transit.
The first bus lane is often erroneously attributed to Chicago, where in 1939 Sheridan Road was installed with reversible lanes north of Foster Avenue. [1] [2] The setup consisted of three-lanes towards the peak direction (south in the morning; north in the evening), and one contraflow lane. None of the lanes exclusively carried buses, but were designed to facilitate bus operations. In 1948, the East Side Trolley Tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island was converted to bus-only use and became the first dedicated busway in the United States, continuing to operate to this day. In 1956 Nashville became the first city to implement on-street bus lanes. Later that year, Chicago implemented a bus lane in the center of Washington Street, a five lane one-way street downtown. [3] [4]
The first bus lanes in Europe were established in 1963 in the German city of Hamburg, when the tram system was closed and the former dedicated tram tracks were converted for bus travel. Other large German cities soon followed, and the implementation of bus lanes was officially sanctioned in the German highway code in 1970. Many experts from other countries (Japan among the first) studied the German example and implemented similar solutions. On 15 January 1964 the first bus lane in France was designated along the quai du Louvre in Paris and the first contraflow lane was established on the old pont de l’Alma on 15 June 1966. [5]
On 26 February 1968 the first bus lane in London was put into service on Vauxhall Bridge. [6] The first contraflow bus lane in the UK was introduced in King's Road, Reading as a temporary measure when the road was made one-way (eastwards to Cemetery Junction) on 16 June 1968. The initial reason was to save the expense of rerouting the trolleybus, which was due to be scrapped on 3 November of that year. However the experiment proved so successful that it was made permanent for use by motor buses. [7] In October 1971 Runcorn opened the world's first bus rapid transitway. Upon opening, the 7-mile (11 km) busway featured specialized stations, signal priority, grade separation, and was expanded to 14 miles (23 km) by 1980. [4] [8] [9]
By 1972 there were over 140 kilometres (87 mi) of with-flow bus lanes in 100 cities within OECD member countries, and the network grew substantially in the following decades. [10]
The El Monte Busway between El Monte and Downtown Los Angeles was the first dedicated busway in the US, constructed in 1974. [11]
Bus lanes may be located in different locations on a street, such as on the sides of a street near the curb, or down the center. They may be long, continuous networks, or short segments used to allow buses to bypass bottlenecks or reduce route complexity, such as in a contraflow bus lane. [12]
Bus lanes may be demarcated in several ways. Descriptive text such as "BUS LANE" may be marked prominently on the road surface, particularly at the beginning and end. Some cities use a diamond-shaped pavement marking to indicate an exclusive bus lane. The road surface may have a distinctive color, usually red, which has been shown to reduce prohibited vehicles from entering bus lanes. [13] Road signs may communicate when a bus lane is in effect. [14]
Bus lanes may also be physically separated from other traffic using bollards, curbs, or other raised elements. [15]
In some cities, such as The Hague in the Netherlands, buses are allowed to use reserved tram tracks, usually laid in the middle of the road and marked with the text "Lijnbus".
In the United Kingdom bus gates are common in towns and cities. A bus gate consists of a short section of road that only buses and authorised vehicles (typically taxis) can pass through. They are normally marked with the same street signage as bus lanes, but have "BUS GATE" marked on the road surface. [16] Bus gates are normally used as "short cuts" for public transport at junctions, roundabouts or through one-way systems. [17]
Bus lanes may have separate sets of dedicated traffic signals, to allow transit signal priority at intersections. [18]
Peak-only bus lanes are enforced only at certain times of the day, usually during rush hour, reverting to a general purpose or parking lane at other times. Peak-only bus lanes may be in effect only in the main direction of travel, such as towards a downtown during morning rush hour traffic, with the buses using general purpose lanes in the other direction. [19]
Entire streets can be designated as bus lanes (such as Oxford Street in London, Princes Street in Edinburgh, or Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn), allowing buses, taxis and delivery vehicles only, or a contra-flow bus lane can allow buses to travel in the opposite direction to other vehicles. [20]
Some locations allow bicyclists or taxis to use bus lanes, however where bus or bicycle volumes are high, mixed traffic operations may result in uncomfortable conditions or delays. [21] Certain other vehicles may also be permitted in bus lanes, such as taxis, high occupancy vehicles, motorcycles, or bicycles. Police, ambulance services and fire brigades can also use these lanes. [22]
In the Netherlands mixed bus/cycle lanes are uncommon. According to the Sustainable Safety guidelines they would violate the principle of homogeneity and put road users of very different masses and speed behaviour into the same lane, which is generally discouraged. [23]
Some locations have allowed access to bus lanes to electric cars and/or hybrid cars. Oslo removed one such exception in 2017 following protests due to congestion in bus lanes. The large number of electric vehicles on Norwegian roads slowed buses, defeating the purpose of bus lanes. [24]
Bus lanes can become ineffective if weak enforcement allows use by unauthorized vehicles [25] or illegal parking. Center-running bus lanes avoid the problem of private vehicles blocking the lane by double parking for loading of passengers or cargo.
Evidence from the operation of urban arterials in Brisbane shows that a properly enforced bus lane, operating as designed without interference, can increase passenger throughput. In 2009 and 2010 traffic surveys showed that in Brisbane on a number of urban arterials with bus and transit lanes, noncompliance rates were approaching 90%. Following enhanced enforcement of the lanes, noncompliance rates dropped and overall efficiency of the bus and transit lanes improved with an up to 12% increase in total passenger throughput in the lane. Average bus journey times dropped, in some cases, by up to 19%. [26]
Some cities, including San Francisco and New York, employ automated camera enforcement, using either stationary cameras adjacent to the bus lane, or cameras on the front of buses to automatically issue citations to vehicles obstructing the bus lane. [27] [28]
Bus lanes give priority to buses, cutting down on journey times where roads are congested with other traffic and increasing the reliability of buses. The introduction of bus lanes can significantly assist in the reduction of air pollution. [29]
Bus lanes marked with colored pavement have been shown to reduce intrusions into bus lanes, speeding travel time and increasing bus reliability. [30]
Some network lengths of bus lanes in major cities, listed by buses per km of bus lane):
City | Country | Population (million) | Buses (#s) | Population per bus | Bus lanes (km) | Buses per 1 km of bus lane |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Helsinki | Finland | 0.6 | 470 [31] | 1,238 | 44 [32] | 11 |
Sydney | Australia | 4.3 | 1,900 | 2,260 | 90+ [33] | 21 |
Santiago | Chile | 6.5 | 4,600 | 1,400 | 200 [34] | 23 |
London | England | 8.7 | 8,600 | 1,010 | 304 [35] | 28 |
Singapore | Singapore | 5.5 | 3,775 | 1,200 | 200 (23 km are 24-hour restricted bus lane) [36] | 29 |
Seoul | South Korea | 10.4 | 8,910 | 1,167 | 282 [37] | 32 |
Madrid | Spain | 7 | 2,022 [38] | 2,720 | 50 [39] | 40 |
Jakarta | Indonesia | 10.1 | 524 | 5,000 | 184.31 [40] | 30 |
Bogotá | Colombia | 6.7 | 1,080 [41] | 6,200 | 84 [41] | 13 |
São Paulo | Brazil | 10.9 | 14,900 [42] | 730 | 155 [43] | 96 |
Kunming | People's Republic of China | 5.7 | ~ | ~ | 42 [44] | |
Beijing | People's Republic of China | 19.6 | 26,000 | 754 | 294 | 88 |
Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 6.8 | 19,768 [45] | 666 | 22 [46] | 899 |
Vienna | Austria | 1.8 | 56 [47] | |||
New York | United States | 8.5 | 5,777 | 1,480 | 222.7 [48] | 26 |
Auckland | New Zealand | 1.6 | 1,360 [49] | 1,176 | 128 (by the end of 2017) [50] | 11 |
Country | Highway | Bus lanes (km) | Section |
---|---|---|---|
South Korea | Gyeongbu Expressway | 137.4 | Hannam IC (Seoul) ~ Sintanjin IC (Daejeon) |
Hong Kong | Tuen Mun Road | 8.5 [51] | So Kwun Wat ~ Sham Tseng |
The busiest bus lane in the United States is the Lincoln Tunnel XBL (exclusive bus lane) along the Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix in Hudson County, New Jersey, which carries approximately 700 buses per hour during morning peak times an average of one bus every 5.1 seconds. [52] In contrast, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong carries 14,500 buses per day, [53] or an average of about 605 an hour all day (not just peak times), but the bus lane must give way to all the other road users resulting in long queues of buses.[ further explanation needed ]
Some residents and observers criticize bus lane plans and implementations because they take space from other vehicles or require road widening, [54] which can require the use of eminent domain. [55]
Hong Kong has a highly developed transport network, encompassing both public and private transport. Based on Hong Kong Government's Travel Characteristics Survey, over 90% of daily journeys are on public transport, the highest rate in the world. However, in 2014 the Transport Advisory Committee, which advises the Government on transportation issues, issued a report on the much-worsened congestion problem in Hong Kong and pointed at the excessive growth of private cars during the past 10–15 years.
Light rail is a form of passenger urban rail transit using rolling stock derived from tram technology while also having some features from heavy rapid transit.
A high-occupancy vehicle lane is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, including carpools, vanpools, and transit buses. These restrictions may be only imposed during peak travel times or may apply at all times. There are different types of lanes: temporary or permanent lanes with concrete barriers, two-directional or reversible lanes, and exclusive, concurrent, or contraflow lanes working in peak periods.
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also referred to as a busway or transitway, is a trolleybus, electric bus and public transport bus service system designed to have much more capacity, reliability, and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes roadways that are dedicated to buses, and gives priority to buses at intersections where buses may interact with other traffic; alongside design features to reduce delays caused by passengers boarding or leaving buses, or paying fares. BRT aims to combine the capacity and speed of a light rail transit (LRT) or mass rapid transit (MRT) system with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus system.
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening, the times during which most people commute. The term is often used for a period of peak congestion that may last for more than one hour.
A bus bulb, also called a bus boarder, bus border, bumpout, bus cape, or a kerb outstand is an arrangement by which a sidewalk or pavement is extended outwards for a bus stop; typically the bus bulb replaces roadway that would otherwise be part of a parking lane. With bus bulbs or boarders, a bus can stay in its traffic lane to discharge and pick up passengers, instead of having to pull over to the curb.
The Transitway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) network operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It comprises a series of bus-only roadways and reserved lanes on city streets and highways. The dedicated busways ensure that buses and emergency vehicles on the Transitway rarely intersect directly with regular traffic, making it possible to run quickly and consistently, even during rush hour traffic. OC Transpo operates a network of rapid routes which use the Transitway to connect communities with the O-Train light rail system. Additional bus routes also use segments of the Transitway.
Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike railbuses, trolleybuses or rubber-tyred trams, for part of their routes guided buses are able to share road space with general traffic along conventional roads, or with conventional buses on standard bus lanes.
In transport engineering nomenclature, a counterflow lane or contraflow lane is a lane in which traffic flows in the opposite direction of the surrounding lanes.
The metropolitan area of Adelaide, South Australia is served by a wide variety of transport. Being centrally located on the Australian mainland, it forms a hub for east–west and north–south routes. The road network includes major expressways such as the Southern Expressway, the South Eastern Freeway, the Port River Expressway, the Northern Expressway and the South Road Superway. The city also has a public transport system managed by Adelaide Metro, consisting of a contracted bus system including the O-Bahn Busway, six metropolitan railway lines, and the Glenelg-Adelaide-Hindmarsh Tram. According to a study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Adelaide has the highest passenger vehicle travel to work (84%) and the second lowest proportion of people walking to work (2.9%)–something that is being combated by the South Australian government in an effort to increase citizen ridership and use of public transport.
The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, abbreviated SCATS, is an intelligent transportation system that manages the dynamic timing of signal phases at traffic signals, meaning that it tries to find the best phasing for a traffic situation. SCATS is based on the automatic plan selection from a library in response to the data derived from loop detectors or other road traffic sensors.
A transit mall is a street, or set of streets, in a city or town along which automobile traffic is prohibited or greatly restricted and only public transit vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, and emergency services are permitted.
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except where cyclists are barred such as many freeways/motorways. It includes amenities such as bike racks for parking, shelters, service centers and specialized traffic signs and signals. The more cycling infrastructure, the more people get about by bicycle.
The Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit service in Greater Manchester, England provides transport connections between Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley, Ellenbrook and Manchester city centre via Salford. The guided busway and bus rapid transit (BRT) scheme promoted by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) opened on 3 April 2016. Built by Balfour Beatty at a total cost of £122 million to improve links from former Manchester Coalfield towns into Manchester city centre, the busway proposal encountered much opposition and a public enquiry in 2002 before construction finally started in 2013. A branch route from Atherton, and an extension to the Manchester Royal Infirmary have been added to the planned original scheme.
Since 1963, New York City has been using a system of bus lanes that are intended to give priority to buses, which contain more occupants than passenger and commercial vehicles. Most of these lanes are restricted to buses only at certain days and times, but some bus lanes are restricted 24/7. As of May 2021, there are 138.4 miles (222.7 km) of bus lanes within New York City.
Terminology related to road transport—the transport of passengers or goods on paved routes between places—is diverse, with variation between dialects of English. There may also be regional differences within a single country, and some terms differ based on the side of the road traffic drives on. This glossary is an alphabetical listing of road transport terms.
A managed lane is a type of highway lane that is operated with a management scheme, such as lane use restrictions or variable tolling, to optimize traffic flow, vehicle throughput, or both. Definitions and goals vary among transport agencies, but managed lanes are generally implemented to achieve an improved operational condition on a highway, such as improving traffic speed and throughput, reducing air pollution, and improving safety. Types of managed lanes include high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, express toll lanes, reversible lanes, and bus lanes. Most managed lane facilities are located in the United States and Canada, although HOV and bus lanes can be found in many other countries; outside of the US and Canada, many countries use active traffic management that manage all lanes of a highway.
The SODO Busway, also referred to as the E-3 Busway, is a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) busway in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It has four stops, including two that connect to Link light rail stations, and functions as an extension of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, which was formerly used by buses. The busway is served by ten bus routes—seven King County Metro routes from southern King County and three Sound Transit Express routes from Pierce County.
Road signs in Georgia are similar to the road sign system of other post-Soviet states that ensure that transport vehicles move safely and orderly, as well as to inform the participants of traffic built-in graphic icons. However, some road signs look a bit different from Soviet ones and closer to the European ones. These icons are governed by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
The Marq2 transit corridor is a north–south thoroughfare in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It consists of the parallel streets of Marquette and Second avenues in the downtown area. Each public streetway has two contraflow bus lanes with two lanes available for general-purpose traffic in the opposite direction. Vehicular transit flows south on Marquette Avenue and north on Second Avenue. The inner curb lane allows buses to stop for riders, while the second bus-only lane allows buses to pass each other along the corridor. Bus routes that operate on the corridor stop at every other block at an assigned gate with each route assigned a northbound and southbound gate. Gates are assigned letters A, B, C, or D on Marquette Avenue and E, F, G, and H on Second Avenue. Custom bus shelters are installed at each stop with heaters and real time transit information. The corridor primarily serves express buses operated by all five public transit agencies in the Twin Cities.
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