Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have better capacity and reliability 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 metro with the claimed flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus system.
The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. As part of the Dual Contracts, the IRT and BRT would build or upgrade several subway lines in New York City, then operate them for 49 years.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a special district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California. It serves San Jose, California and the surrounding Silicon Valley. It is one of the governing parties for the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves the county.
Calgary Transit is the public transit agency which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 2019, an estimated 106.5 million passengers boarded approximately 1,155 Calgary Transit vehicles. It operates light metro (LRT), urban tramway, bus rapid transit (BRT), para-transit, and regular bus services.
The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections among many existing transit lines that project radially from downtown Boston. The Urban Ring Corridor is located roughly one to two miles from downtown Boston, passing through the Massachusetts cities of Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge, and Brookline. The project was expected to convert 41,500 car trips to transit trips daily.
The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is the largest transit agency in Wisconsin, and is the primary transit provider for Milwaukee County. It ranks among the top 50 transit agencies in the United States for total passenger trips. Milwaukee Transport Services, Inc. is a quasi-governmental agency responsible for the management and operation of the Milwaukee County Transit System. Its bus fleet consists of 382 buses.
Winnipeg Transit is the public transit agency, and the bus-service provider, of the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Established 139 years ago, it is owned by the city government and currently employs nearly 1,600 people—including approximately 1,100 bus drivers.
The METRO Red Line is a bus rapid transit line between the Twin Cities suburbs of Bloomington, Minnesota and Apple Valley, Minnesota. The Red Line travels primarily on Minnesota State Highway 77 and Cedar Avenue from the Apple Valley station in Apple Valley, north through Eagan, Minnesota, to the Mall of America station in Bloomington where it connects to the Metro Blue Line. The line has bus rapid transit elements including bus-only lanes, specially branded vehicles, transit signal priority, and dedicated stations.
The Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit project in San Francisco is designed to bring bus lanes to the Van Ness Avenue thoroughfare from Mission Street to Union. Dedicated bus lanes, which will be used by the 49 Van Ness–Mission trolleybus route and Golden Gate Transit routes, are to be constructed along the road's median, with 6-inch-tall (152 mm) side platforms at stations for boarding and alighting passengers away from the curb. The project also involves underground water and sewer replacement as well as landscaping along the corridor. The project is estimated to cost more than $300 million and is scheduled to open by April 2022 after numerous delays.
MAX is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service operated by Utah Transit Authority (UTA) along the Wasatch Front in Utah, United States. It is described by UTA as "light rail on rubber tires". As of December 2016 there is only one line in service so far, but several more are planned.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is a non-governmental non-profit organization that focuses on developing bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, promoting biking, walking, and non-motorized transport, and improving private bus operators margins. Other programs include parking reform, traffic demand management, and global climate and transport policy. According to its mission statement, ITDP is committed to "promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide."
Walter B. Hook is an urban planner and expert in the field of sustainable transportation policy and practice. Since 2015, Dr. Hook has been a Principal at BRT Planning International, LLC, a boutique BRT planning firm. From 1993 until 2014, Hook worked as the Chief Executive Officer for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a nonprofit agency that promotes environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects in the developing world. Under the auspices of ITDP, Hook worked on the design and implementation of numerous bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and is considered a leading expert on BRT design and policy. He collaborated extensively with Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, and creator of the TransMilenio, one of the world's premier BRT systems. Additionally, Hook has campaigned for sustainable transport and urban planning practices in the U.S..
Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit is the bus rapid transit (BRT) system of the city of Guangzhou in the People's Republic of China. Its first line was put into operation on 10 February 2010. It handles approximately 1,000,000 passenger trips daily with a peak passenger flow of 26,900 pphpd. In fact, this rapid transit system contains the world's longest BRT stations - around 260m including bridges - with bus volumes of 1 bus every 10 seconds or 350 per hour in a single direction. The BRT system has two new lines and two extensions planned.
Bus rapid transit in New Jersey comprises limited-stop bus service, exclusive bus lanes (XBL) and bus bypass shoulders (BBS). Under the banner Next Generation Bus New Jersey Transit (NJT), the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), and the metropolitan planning organizations of New Jersey (MPO) which recommend and authorize transportation projects are undertaking the creation of several additional bus rapid transit systems (BRT) in the state. In 2011, NJT announced that it would equip its entire bus fleet with devices for real-time locating, thus creating the basis for "next bus" scheduling information at bus shelters. The introduction and expanded use of bus rapid transit in Garden State is part of worldwide phenomenon to bring mass transit to heavily trafficked corridors in both high and medium density areas as a cost-saving, and sometimes more flexible, alternative to rail transportation, thus reducing automobile dependency and traffic congestion.
Metro is a transit network in Minnesota serving the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It also provides service to some suburban areas. As of 2021 the system consists of two light rail lines and four bus transit lines all of which are operated by the local public transit company: Metro Transit. The five lines connect Downtown Minneapolis and St Paul with the Bloomington, Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, Roseville, Richfield, Burnsville and Brooklyn Center.
Winnipeg RT is a bus rapid transit system of Winnipeg Transit in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, currently consisting of the Southwest Transitway. Future expansions are in the planning stages, consisting of an Eastern Corridor connecting downtown to Transcona and a West-North Corridor connecting St. James with Downtown and West Kildonan.
Bus rapid transit creep is a phenomenon commonly defined as a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that fails to meet the requirements to be considered "true BRT". These systems are often marketed as a fully realized bus rapid transit system, but end up being described as more of an improvement to regular bus service by proponents of the "BRT creep" term. Notably, the ITDP published several guidelines in an attempt to define what constitutes the term of "true BRT", known as the BRT Standard, in an attempt to avert this phenomenon.
The GRTC Pulse is a bus rapid transit line in Richmond, Virginia, United States. The line runs along Broad Street and Main Street in central Richmond, between The Shops at Willow Lawn and Rockett's Landing. It opened on June 24, 2018, and is the third bus rapid transit service to be constructed in Virginia. The Pulse is the first regional rapid transit system to serve Richmond since 1949.
Ogden Express (OGX), is an under construction 5.3-mile (8.5 km) line in southern Ogden, Utah, United States. The line will be operated by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and will run between the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center FrontRunner station) to the McKay-Dee Hospital, by way of Weber State University (WSU). It is anticipated to be completed by 2023. It is the third of several BRT lines that UTA has along the Wasatch Front. UTA refers to its BRT routes as "light rail on rubber tires".